Death Streamer (2024) – Film Review
Death Streamer is an American-made indie horror film released in October 2024. Nicely done but not without flaws, it puts a fresh spin on vampire movies by introducing a blood sucker who streams his kills to a loyal fanbase via the internet. Advertising his existence in the way that he does may seem like a bad move, but it’s not without forethought. This becomes clear in the later stages of the film, when the true agenda is revealed.
Not for the squeamish or those who don’t like the sight of messy kills and spurting blood, like a lot of vampire films before it, Death Streamer also contains several scenes of female nudity, but, if you watch it, don’t expect things to get hot and steamy; when the vampire in this film takes a girl to his bed, he has no interest in making love. All he cares about is making blood—and plenty of it—most of which is wasted for the benefit of his audience. He bites his victims and then pulls away so soon it suggests he’s more interested in delivering a bloody show for his internet followers than he is in feeding—not typical vampire activity.
The vampire, played by Sean Ohlman, transmits his shows from an old mansion where young women appear to like to hang out and think nothing of losing their clothes for the camera and baring their assets. The place looks reminiscent of an old-style brothel and, although the vampire is not without help, it’s unclear if the girls are humans (possibly lured there) or more creatures of the night.
His two accomplices are a woman who walks around wearing nipple caps and very little else, and a big guy wearing a studded gimp mask, who carries the victims to his master’s bed after his provocatively (almost) dressed associate has served them drinks that are tainted with vampire blood; which, in this film, appears to work a little like a date rape drug
Bringing the vampire mythos well and truly into the 21st Century, the vampire films his kills via a special pair of glasses that provide the livestream, while also allowing him to monitor subscribers and views.
If you think all this sounds unconventional, you are right, but it’s certainly something a little bit different.
After the first kill, there’s a WTF???! moment that threw me for a while because I suddenly found myself watching the beginning of a TV Show called Church of Chills, where the host, Alexander Jarvis (Aaron McDaniel), and his two “grisely gals” Edwina (Emma Massalone) and Juniper (Kaitlin Moore), present tales of ghosts, mutants, the undead, and similar dark things.
I had to stick with it a while to figure out what was going on, but Church of Chills is an internet show produced from the old church where Alex and his two partners live and work, sleeping in tents on the floor when they aren’t in front of the camera or behind their computers. The relationship between the three can be a little strained at times, but they make a great team and the show they present is very well done and has a cheesy essence that makes it very watchable. To be honest, I find the sections with Alex and his gals more entertaining than the main subject of the film.
After Juniper somehow stumbles across the rival show and sees how many hits it’s getting, it sets her mental gears in motion and she wonders if there’s a way their show can use it to their advantage. Alex initially stomps on the idea, believing any coverage they provide may be more beneficial for the death “streamer” than it will be for them. However, when Juniper wakes him up in the middle of the night to watch another livestream, and, due to former medical training, he realizes the kills are real, Alex decides to cover the show after all. That turns out to be a very bad move.
Although Alex can tell the death scenes are genuine, he believes the pointy fanged killer is a fake vampire. Alex is wrong. The vampire is the real deal and he’s not happy about the unexpected coverage of his show, which he only makes available to selected followers. So, using supernatural means, he quickly locates the Church of Chills crew and transports his mental essence to the church, where he makes it clear they have made a fatal mistake. That’s when things get more interesting, and, after flexing her research skills, Edwina discovers exactly who they are dealing with, along with the real reason behind his livestreams.
With a runtime of around 1 hour and 12 minutes, Death Streamer isn’t a long film. The truth is, it could have benefited from being a little longer because some of the early scenes at the vampire den appear a little rushed, and, unlike the scenes with the gang from the Church of Chills, they lack the opportunity for character development. There is hardly any conversation between the vampire and his two supernatural kill buddies and their names are never revealed. Viewers are left to assume they are both vampires as well, but they never show any blood lust and could easily belong to a different supernatural fraternity.
Things pick up after the Church of Chills airs it’s coverage of the vampire death stream, and the girl with nipple covers actually speaks for the first time, while her buddy in the gimp mask continues to be the strong, silent type to the end of the film.
The vampire also becomes a more formidable foe, not only demonstrating some of his previously unseen abilities but also becoming a little more vocal and bagging one of the best lines in the film: when Alex asks him what he wants from them, he replies “What does a cat want with a mouse?” and the delivery is perfect.
However, the Church of Chills actors (Aaron McDaniel, Emma Massalone, Kaitlin Moore) steal the show from its star (Sean Ohlman); doing an excellent job of bringing their characters to life and providing them with depth in a way that Ohlman never gets the chance to do because the script he was given wasn’t sufficiently beefy.
As for the special effects in Death Streamer, they range from acceptable to very good, with the scenes of spurting blood being very realistic, while the scenes with flying bats are obviously the result of CGI, and, instead of looking hi-tech the vampire’s special glasses look like something someone’s six year old kid may have knocked together during art class.
Despite the fact that I would have liked to have seen more character development for those in the supernatural camp, and some of the special effects are a bit ropey, I still enjoyed watching Death Streamer and I’m sure many other viewers will too. It could be a good choice for Halloween viewing, although not a film you can watch with the kids.