Who doesn’t love Joe Keery? When he isn’t too busy saving the world in Stranger Things, he’s releasing killer psych rock albums under the Djo alter ego (check it out) and portraying homicidal rideshare drivers in genre movies produced by Drake and Future the Prince (Adel Nur). He’s like the Bo Jackson of cool shit.
His latest film, Spree, deals with the ramifications of social media and how the never-ending quest for online attention has warped our sense of identity and morality–or at least that’s how director Eugene Kotlyarenko sees it. He goes on to say:
SPREE | Directed by EUGENE KOTLYARENKO
“Our lead, Joe Keery, and I spent many hours poring over videos of popular influencers, unknown wannabes, and the media footprint of mass murderers, looking at where the character of Kurt fit in the nexus of this Venn Diagram. We approached the role with a seriousness of responsibility towards the subject matter, a sensitivity towards the character, and a sense of humor towards the critique.
The conceptual approach of the film as a reconstructed livestream aims to put the audience in the seat of Kurt’s theoretical viewer. The directness of shooting through GoPros and Smartphones facilitates viewer immersion into the mindset of amorality; that characterizes a vast swath of influencers and conjures an all-too-real sense of horror. The fixed nature of the cameras also offers a detached and brutal look at a violence far too often aestheticized by cinema and entertainment at large.”
So yeah–a super dark horror/comedy with Joe Keery murdering people in his car while livestreaming. I’m in.
Spree premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and will be available in theaters, on digital, and On Demand August 14, 2020. We’ll have more on this one soon.
Kurt Kunkle, a rideshare driver thirsty for followers, has figured out a deadly plan to go viral. As his disturbing livestream is absurdly embraced by the social media hellscape, a comedienne emerges as the only hope to stop this rampage.
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