Spree – Review/ Summary (with Spoilers)
You’ll either weirdly find Spree funny, disgusting, or something which might make you paranoid about ever using a ridesharing app ever again.
You’ll either weirdly find Spree funny, disgusting, or something which might make you paranoid about ever using a ridesharing app ever again.
| Director(s) | Eugene Kotlyarenko |
| Screenplay By | Gene McHugh, Eugene Kotlyarenko |
| Date Released (Digital) | 8/14/2020 |
| Genre(s) | Action, Adventure, Comedy, Crime, Horror, Thriller, Young Adult |
| Duration | 1 Hour, 32 Minutes |
| Rating | Not Rated (But Definitely R) |
| Noted Cast | |
| Kurt | Joe Keery |
| Jessie Adams | Sasheer Zamata |
| Kris | David Arquette |
| DJ uNo | Sunny Kim |
This content contains pertinent spoilers.
Plot Summary
Kurt, for ten years, has tried to go viral and make his channel a success. However, his vlogs barely reached double digits while kids he used to babysit went on to be big, get swag, and leave him in the dust. So, in what could be considered an act of desperation, Kurt decides it is time to go to extremes. Of which includes drugging people and even murder. Leaving you to wonder, how will this all end for Kurt, if it does at all?
Review
Highlights
You Can’t Take Your Eyes Off Of It
Spree is utter madness, and what you have to appreciate is it knows how to escalate gently so that you don’t necessarily find yourself getting accustomed to what Kurt does. For it begins with Kurt talking a lot and seeming weird, but likable. Sort of like your friend from middle school who you lost touch with.
But then as you see Kurt takes things up a notch with drugging people, running over people, and you can see his mental state deteriorating, it gets wild. Mind you, as noted in the “On The Fence” section, there isn’t a whole lot of development when it comes to Kurt. However, Kurt’s actions will surely get parts of your brain firing off. For even with it not being the most violent thing you’ll ever see, adjusting to Keery being the best babysitter/ big brother type on Stranger Things to a psychopath killing people for views, it may mess with you a bit.
Though, in many ways, it also reminds you why actors choose these types of roles. For this was definitely not what I expected.
Low Points
Indifference Towards Kurt’s Victims
No matter which victim of Kurt’s you name, especially the ones he kills, it’s hard to say you feel bad about what happens to them. The ones we spend the most time with are terrible people and the ones who you could feel bad about, we spend so little time with that they are as much strangers upon their death, or disappearance, as when we were introduced to them.
Makes it so, as shocking and crazy as Kurt is, what he does feels akin to you taking out characters in a video game than you getting the feelings of, “Oh s***! He killed a person.”
On The Fence
Unsure How To Ultimately Feel About Kurt
Kurt is not made to be a complex character. Yes, this can be seen as a satire, and if a person truly wanted to imprint their own opinions on influencers and the culture they exist in, they could. But, as for Kurt, the person McHugh and Kotlyarenko wrote? There is an utter lack of complexity. He is an only child with a dad who is a dead beat and mom who tried her best, but apparently, wasn’t enough?
As for friends? It seems the closest thing to friends Kurt had was kids he formerly babysat, and that’s it. Mainly due to him being a bit socially awkward. All of which gives you enough to compare him to this person that was in the news or that, but Kurt on his own? He’s a blueprint that doesn’t become the structure he could have been.
Overall Rating
Would Watch Again? – One and Done
Rating: Mixed (Divisive)
Spree is primarily just a violent movie. Not one which reaches what SaW did when it came out and surely didn’t top the original Martyrs for us, but for an indie film, it tries. Thus leading you to get a shocking performance out of Kerry but only because of what his character does. For with Kurt’s victims being underdeveloped and Kurt’s own backstory sparse, in the end, it’s just another film which knows that, between violence or sex, either one can always be used as a crutch when you need it.
Where To Watch
Ending Explained (Spoilers)
In the end, Kurt gets his wish. With over 56,000 people watching, on or around April 12th, 2019, he goes viral. Mind you, it took killing over 7 people who were strangers, his mom, dad, and almost an up and coming comedian, but he did it! However, in the end, his love for the camera ends up doing him in.
You see, what would have been one of his last victims, Jessie Adams, an up and coming comedian, he had plans for her. Despite originally desiring to kill her, for clowning him, he watched her set, where it seemed he was going to execute her, but then she spoke to him. Not directly, but in general, about the challenges of trying to gain fame and meaning.
With that, Kurt knocks out, kills, who knows, since it happens off-screen, a driver for the app Gogo, and picks up Jessie. Thus leading to her realizing who he is, and while she is weirded out at first, she was cool. That is until Kurt decides he is taking her to his house, talks about a sex tape, and Jessie tries to choke him with a charging cable.
This leads to Kurt decking her, and with Jessie recently drinking, she is out cold for a bit. However, not long enough so that Kurt can put her body behind his car and run her over, without his camera falling. That is ultimately what screws him over. If he just did it, he might have lived to stream another day. However, with him worrying about his camera, and then leaving his car when he notices Jessie is gone, that was the beginning of the end.
That’s when he finds himself running from her, Jessie driving into his mother’s home, where his dad, Kris, is, and then we watch as Kurt kills his dad, who apparently was shooting up, learn Kurt killed his mom, and Jessie would have been next. Thing is, Kurt used all his bullets on his dad, so when he tries to shoot Jessie, he fails. Leading to her driving into him and bashing his head in when she checked if he was alive.
But here is the kicker, all of this is still streaming on Kurt’s phone. And with him taking the fans of two far more popular people, he has over 56,000 people watching him die. Leaving Jessie a hero, who blows up BIG, HBO special and all, and Kurt gaining massive internet infamy. Which, in the end, leads to this film, Spree, being presented as a fan film of all Kurt did up until the night he died.
Sequel Potential
Kurt’s dead so, that’s not possible.
Things To Note | Question(s) Left Unanswered
- When DJ uNo killed the cop and ran, what happened to her after?
