25. Review of Spree (Dir. Eugene Kotlyarenko, 2020)

 "If you don't document yourself it's simple, you just don't exist." 

Spree follows the story of Kurt (played by Joe Keery) an outcast individual who aspires to be a social media influencer. Whilst working as a Spree driver, Kurt comes up with a deadly plan to become viral with his account KurtsWorld, with a series which he titles 'The Lesson.' 

This social media thriller starts off painting Kurt in a somewhat positive light, revealing that his family is struggling and that he really just wishes to have friends or people who find him cool and want to listen to him, which is a major aspect of how social influencers stay relevant. 

I initially felt quite sorry for Kurt, however things took a sinister turn as Kurt's 'Lesson' is revealed - he is murdering his passengers live as a ploy to gain viewers and buzz around his channel.

The murders are set up in a prank style format, which makes the one viewer which he does have believe that he's not really poisoning his victims and that they are just stupid pranks. This however progresses to Kurt murdering a passenger out of anger for behaving in a manner which Kurt finds morally wrong, which then leads Kurt to spiral and take to much more gruesome methods of murder as he gains more viewers.

Spree gets a little bit ridiculous towards the end, however overall I found that the film was enjoyable and makes an interesting commentary on how consumed with social media and obtaining virality people can become. 

The overall 'Lesson' which the film is aiming to get across is to not get lost in trying to gain fame online, as it is an extremely unrealistic aspiration due to algorithms. However, this message gets slightly lost with certain narrative points, for example the surviving victim monopolises off of Kurt's stream and death to become world famous, and Kurt gains a cult following and becomes a meme for committing all of the murders.

I found Spree an interesting watch and that it is executed quite well, plus I am always happy to watch anything with Joe Keery in it. I would recommend Spree, however I would not suggest going into watching this with super high expectations, as it is definitely not a film without fault.

~ Paige Nicole