Spree

Name: Spree
Genre: Thriller, Comedy
Released: August 14, 2020
Duration: 93 min
Rating: 42
Cast: Caroline Hebert, David Arquette, Frankie Grande, Joe Keery, Joshua Ovalle

2020

METASCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 14 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 37 Ratings

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6.1	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 37 Ratings

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Spree

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Movie Details & Credits

RLJE Films | Release Date: August 14, 2020 | Not Rated

Starring: Caroline Hebert, David Arquette, Frankie Grande, Joe Keery, Joshua Ovalle, Kyle Mooney, Lauryn Kent, Mischa Barton, Reatha Grey, Sasheer Zamata

Summary: Meet Kurt (Joe Keery), a 23-year-old rideshare driver for "Spree", who is so desperate for social media attention that he'll stop at nothing to go viral. He comes up with a plan to livestream a rampage as a shortcut to infamy - coining his evil scheme "#thelesson", he installs a set of cameras in his car and begins streaming his rides.Meet Kurt (Joe Keery), a 23-year-old rideshare driver for "Spree", who is so desperate for social media attention that he'll stop at nothing to go viral. He comes up with a plan to livestream a rampage as a shortcut to infamy - coining his evil scheme "#thelesson", he installs a set of cameras in his car and begins streaming his rides. Wildly miscalculating the popularity that would come from his lethal scheme, Kurt’s desperation grows as he tries to find a way to overcome the plan's flaws. In the middle of all this madness, a stand-up comedian (Sasheer Zamata) with her own viral agenda crosses Kurt's path and becomes the only hope to put a stop to his misguided carnage.… Expand

Director: Eugene Kotlyarenko

Genre(s): Thriller, Comedy

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 93 min

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Critic Reviews

The Film Stage Joshua Encinias

Aug 14, 2020

An equal parts terrifying, thrilling, and satirical look at how social media can warp the mind. Read full review

The Playlist Marshall Shaffer

Aug 13, 2020

Koltyarenko serves a bitter pill for viewers of his film, many of whom will likely see themselves as part of the solution to the problem of online radicalization by attempting to grapple with it in this film. The viewers are actually more part of the problem by tuning into Kurt’s stream in the first place. Read full review

Richard Roeper

Aug 13, 2020

Every frame of the film is bursting with sensory overload information, from the shaky, hand-held camera angles to the constant scrolling of viewer messages to the occasional use of split screens. Read full review

Adi Robertson

Jul 23, 2020

The film leans hard into dark comedy rather than outright horror, which saves it from seeming like technophobic scaremongering or a “kids these days” moral panic. If you’re the kind of person who can laugh at slapstick murder vignettes, a lot of Spree works very well. Read full review

The Guardian Cath Clarke

Aug 14, 2020

Spree is meant to comment on the shallowness of social media culture; the trouble is, it’s a film with the depth of a puddle. Read full review

Empire Ian Freer

Aug 12, 2020

A forced, over-ripe satire on the hunger for social media, bolstered by an engaging performance by Joe Keery. But if you really want to feel the real-life impact of the ’Gram on a young psyche, stick with Eighth Grade. Read full review

Jeannette Catsoulis

Aug 13, 2020

Coarsely merging social-media critique and slasher comedy, this shallow take on the evils of internet addiction is as unoriginal as it is unfunny. Read full review

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User Reviews

HOLYHOLLY

Jul 3, 2022

Love the main characters unethical methods to becoming viral. It's really funny watching how desperate he is. I can definitely see him as a real person

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

VoodooDudeMan

Aug 19, 2020

Amazing!! Great dark black mirror esc satiric commentary on our social media driven world and how young kids and teens know the world only through the new norm of social media. "If you're not documenting yourself are you even alive"? Interesting story, Joe Keery gives an incredibleAmazing!! Great dark black mirror esc satiric commentary on our social media driven world and how young kids and teens know the world only through the new norm of social media. "If you're not documenting yourself are you even alive"? Interesting story, Joe Keery gives an incredible performance as and awkward young person who had a very tough upringing and clearly has unaddressed issues. He's performance gives the feel of the bland awkward boring online personality which makes sense that he doesn't have any followers despite his extensive uploads but his desperate need and want for attention and trials of becoming something and failing show layers of the character and really lets Keerys performance shine.
The film also if one of the first to succeed in the technical way in terms of the new age found footage esc film. So many films before like "darknet" and "unfriended" tried to make the webcam social media found footage film but grossly failed. Spree not only gives you a lot of action and angle coverage through its many cameras setup by our fame hungry protagonist and other social media personalities it also fully justifies all the cameras being there without the viewer questioning the likeliness of them being there. Everything flows very smoothly and there isn't a single angle which is not from a phone, go pro, or cctv cameras. Spree is comparable to Taxi Driver as Taxi Driver was a timecapsule of the 1970s LA Spree is a very much time capsule of 2020 and how this very new social media filming and posting everything and living vicariously through other can and is harmful to everyone and in the case of our protagonist Kurt can lead a man to do Crazy, unjustifiable actions just to get viewers and likes.
Truly an amazing film and recommendable to everyone who can think a bit more about the themes and commentary and not dissmiss the character or his actions just because you dont understand social media mr. Newspaper journalist movie reviewer who probably still has a flip phone. Recommended to everyone!… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

uncreativensad

Aug 23, 2020

honestly?? i love this movie so much, the style that it was edited and shot in was really great, and they were able to mix comedy in with the genre of the movie really well without making it campy. Joe is absolutely amazing, but I think that Sasheer's performance stole every scene she washonestly?? i love this movie so much, the style that it was edited and shot in was really great, and they were able to mix comedy in with the genre of the movie really well without making it campy. Joe is absolutely amazing, but I think that Sasheer's performance stole every scene she was in, she's great. I loved how they eventually tie up the entire movie.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

Voodoo123

Aug 19, 2020

Some fascinating and authentic UI designs with camera angles, and a realistic slur of comments all add to the atmosphere of this dark satire. Joe Kerry delivers an electric performance as a Norman Bates styled 'everyman' serial killer as he attempts to grow his online media presence with aSome fascinating and authentic UI designs with camera angles, and a realistic slur of comments all add to the atmosphere of this dark satire. Joe Kerry delivers an electric performance as a Norman Bates styled 'everyman' serial killer as he attempts to grow his online media presence with a spate of live publicly streamed executions. It's hard not to think of natural born killers as I watched through this with my teenage son as the irreverent kills rack up in service of protagonist Kurt's need to connect with a larger online audience to express his developing 'online persona'. Some of director Eugene Kotlyarenkos choices seem at odds as he attempts to navigate the line between satire and horror comedy but the unique split screen format and keerys performance won me over in the end. This is an essential watch if the subject matter is of interest to you.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

rappM95

Sep 19, 2020

So indicative of society today, where existing on social media is all that matters. Of course, this takes it to the extreme, but the message is still relevant. Good use of alternate cinematography; similar to Searching (2018).

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

DawdlingPoet

Aug 17, 2022

This is very much an MTV type 'found footage'-esque film, which would mainly appeal to a teenage audience, I'd imagine. Its pretty high octane, once it gets going and it doesn't take long to get going, all things considered. It's very much 'in your face' style - fair enough. I found itThis is very much an MTV type 'found footage'-esque film, which would mainly appeal to a teenage audience, I'd imagine. Its pretty high octane, once it gets going and it doesn't take long to get going, all things considered. It's very much 'in your face' style - fair enough. I found it distracting trying to read some of the live stream comments that appear in the bottom left hand corner constantly - it uses the split screen feature a lot too, with multiple camera views showing different angles (of the same place usually).

While there is undoubtedly violence, some bloody violence, depicted, there isn't much in the way of especially gory or explicit detail shown (thankfully). I suppose its more about a moral story than it is about showing every inch of everything that happens - its obvious enough what becomes of certain people, we don't really need to see everything in complete detail, I reckon.

The themes interest me but it does have a bit of a trashy, throw away feel to it, which will alienate many people I imagine. There's no doubt there have already been people in real life who have ended up committing dangerous acts partly to get some form of online notoriety, so it should perhaps make for some sobering thoughts but this film felt a bit too immature and doesn't really question or answer things fully in the way that perhaps me, as an adult in her 30s, would ideally like. So yeah, maybe I am a bit too old for this kind of film but what can I say? I remember (just about!) life before the internet was available to all, life as a kid prior to social media. I've got numerous social media accounts and I dont have the biggest number of followers ever I suppose but im glad to say I've never felt the drive to pursue my supposed owed '5 minutes of fame', though I can understand some people do crave it.

This is nearly a good film but not quite, in my opinion. It poses more questions than it answers but it'd be a good starting point for discussing the points it covers.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Natata

Sep 21, 2021

Abysmal movie. The mediocre acting was the only highlight of this entire garbage pile of a movie, if that. It was all over the place, extremely repetitive, unfunny, and had no redeeming features whatsoever. None of the characters were likeable at all. From start to finish, it felt like thisAbysmal movie. The mediocre acting was the only highlight of this entire garbage pile of a movie, if that. It was all over the place, extremely repetitive, unfunny, and had no redeeming features whatsoever. None of the characters were likeable at all. From start to finish, it felt like this was no consequence. Whatever commentary was intended with this "film" was completely lost in all the nonsense, unrealistic actions and empty dialogue in it. This movie is as vapid as social media itself. Don't waste your time.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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