Spree (2020 film)

Spree is a 2020 American black comedy horror film directed by Eugene Kotlyarenko. The gonzo-style satire follows a social media obsessed ride-hail driver played by Joe Keery. The film also stars Sasheer Zamata, David Arquette, Kyle Mooney and Mischa Barton. It was executive-produced by Drake.[1]

Spree
Theatrical release poster
Directed byEugene Kotlyarenko
Produced by
  • Matthew Budman
  • Sumaiya Kaveh
  • Eugene Kotlyarenko
  • John H. Lang
Written by
  • Eugene Kotlyarenko
  • Gene McHugh
Starring
Music byJames Ferraro
CinematographyJeff Leeds Cohn
Edited byBenjamin Moses Smith
Production
company
  • Forest Hill Entertainment
  • DreamCrew
  • SuperBloom
Distributed byRLJE Films
Release date
  • January 24, 2020 (2020-01-24) (Sundance)
  • August 14, 2020 (2020-08-14) (United States)
Running time
93 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Spree premiered on January 24, 2020 at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival as part of the NEXT category, and was released theatrically and via video on demand in the United States on August 14, 2020, by RLJE Films. The film received mixed reviews from critics.

Plot

Kurt Kunkle is a young man who is obsessed with being a social media star and becoming viral. He frequently livestreams and makes video content but rarely surpasses more than single-digit views. A child he used to babysit, Bobby, is now an internet star who frequently livestreams and has high viewer numbers making Kurt jealous and reliant on Bobby to spread Kurt’s videos in order to reach viewers. Kurt, who works as a driver for a rideshare app called Spree, fits out his car with cameras and begins a new livestream one day titled "The Lesson" where he instructs viewers on how to get famous on social media. Bobby promises to share the stream with his viewers later while leaving disparaging comments on Kurt’s stream.

Kurt starts picking up passengers and poisoning bottles of water that he hands to them, killing them. Kurt spends his time killing and disposing of his passengers but doesn’t have any viewers besides Bobby who believes the killings are fake and accuses him of being boring. While driving a new passenger and trying to get him to drink the water, Kurt accepts another passenger, Jessie Adams who is a comedian with a large social media following. Kurt is awestruck by Jessie who is unimpressed by Kurt and his obsession with gaining social media followers and leaves the ride. Kurt then kills the other passenger.

Night falls and Kurt picks up and manages to kill three passengers all at once, but this fails to go viral. Kurt learns that Jessie will be performing in a comedy show that will be livestreamed to millions. Kurt goes to Bobby’s house, demanding that Bobby shares Kurt’s stream but Bobby refuses and starts livestreaming their argument, attracting a large viewing audience. Kurt kills Bobby and takes his gun before livestreaming for Bobby’s fans who assumes the murder is fake and spends their time insulting Kurt. Kurt’s father Kris who is a wannabe DJ asks Kurt for a ride to a club where he is performing, claiming that a famous DJ called uNo will be there and that she will tag Kurt in a photo.

Kurt picks up Kris and takes him to the club before trying to get uNo to tag him on a photo of him she took only to learn from his viewers that she’s lying. Kurt storms out and buys a ticket to Jessie’s show before being asked by uNo to take her to a taco truck and she promises to tag him in a photo if he does. While waiting for Kurt to get her some food from the truck, uNo discovers Bobby’s gun and poses with it on a livestream before drinking some of the poisoned water and passing out. Realizing what has happened upon his return, he attempts to drive away but is stopped by two police officers who grow suspicious of him and it is revealed that Kurt’s murders have been discovered by the public and an unidentified Kurt is being called “The Rideshare Killer”.

While Kurt is being talked to, uNo wakes up and panics, shooting dead one of the officers before fleeing, pursued by the second officer. Kurt takes advantage of the chaos to flee but is pursued down the highway by police. He escapes and crashes while livestreaming, destroying his car. With Kurt’s murders becoming more well known, Spree is shut down. Jessie performs her show, performing a bit about her encounter with Kurt and how disgusted she is by people’s desperation for social media fame. Her speech goes viral and after getting drunk, is picked up by rideshare app GoGo. Kurt is revealed to be the driver, having killed the previous driver and livestreaming his drive with Jessie. Kurt unsettles Jessie who tries to escape after learning he is taking her to his house.

Unable to get out of the car, Jessie strangles Kurt with a phone charger causing them to crash but Kurt recovers and beats Jessie unconscious. He arrives at his house and places Jessie’s unconscious body outside before being requested by his viewers who now love him to kill Jessie. Distracted by a faulty camera, Kurt doesn’t notice Jessie has woken up and Jessie manages to take control of the car. She crashes into Kurt’s house while trying to run him over and Kurt flees into the house. Jessie is confronted by an intoxicated Kris and the pair discover the dead body of Kurt’s mother who he killed at the start of his livestream. Kurt shoots dead Kris and tries to kill Jessie but Jessie pins him to the wall with the car, killing Kurt. Encouraged by Kurt’s viewers, Jessie takes a selfie with Kurt’s corpse.

Jessie becomes a nationwide star after taking credit for stopping Kurt’s rampage while Kurt and his massacre becomes worshipped in small corners of the internet. The film ends with the footage we’ve been watching being revealed to be part of a fan film edited together from Kurt’s livestreams and various other footage recorded that night by a fan online.

Cast

Production

Filming occurred in February 2019 in California.[2] Keery worked closely with Kotlyarenko to understand his character, and the pair filmed in-character social media posts such as unboxing videos, shopping trips and vape reviews.[3][4] As research the cast also spent hours watching content from influencers on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok.[5]

Release

Spree premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 24, 2020. Shortly after, distributor RLJE Films paid $2 million to acquire the rights to the film.[6] It was released in the United States in theaters and via VOD on August 14, 2020.

Reception

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 60% based on 47 reviews, with an average rating of 5.83/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Joe Keery's magnetic screen presence can't disguise Spree's shallow critique of social media culture -- although that lack of depth may be precisely the point."[7] Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 41 out of 100, based on 14 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[8]

John DeFore of The Hollywood Reporter praised Keery's performance, saying: "Stranger Things' sneakily charming Joe Keery gets the spotlight here, balancing the character's contradictory aspects (dork, fumbling people pleaser, psychopath) with ease" and "[to] the extent that it works, much credit goes to Keery, for finding the real human need inside this twentysomething cipher."[9] Dan Jackson of Thrillist also praised Keery's performance, writing: "One of the best parts of Keery's performance is the way he plays the strange combination of naive earnestness and calculated cynicism that drives a person like Kurt to act in such a desperate manner, begging for followers and turning every awkward interaction into an opportunity to hawk his cringe-inducing brand."[10]

Jessica Kiang of Variety gave the film a negative review, saying: "If you are in need of more reminders of the most extreme of the potential evils of internet interaction than you get every time you fire up an app, by all means, smash the like button on Spree. For the rest of us, the best advice might be to mute, block, vote down, unfollow or simply log off and go look at a tree."[11]

References
  1. ‘Spree’ Review: Joe Keery Leads This ‘American Psycho’ for the Digital Age | Sundance 2020 Collider. 26 January 2020
  2. Joe Keery on 'Spree' and 'Stranger Things 4' Being Worth the Wait
  3. Stranger Things' Joe Keery Is The Ego-Free Talent That Pop Culture Needs Right Now GQ. 30 June 2019
  4. “Sitting in Front of That Whiteboard for Two Days, Joe Came Up With Some Hilarious and Strange Drawings”: Eugene Kotlyarenko | Spree Filmmaker magazine. 24 January 2019
  5. How Logan Paul and Ninja Helped ‘Spree’ Cast Capture Influencer Culture Gone Wild Variety. 25 January 2019
  6. "RLJE Films Acquires Sundance Gonzo Satire 'Spree' In Near $2M North America Deal". Deadline Hollywood. January 31, 2020. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
  7. "Spree (2020)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  8. "Spree Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  9. 'Spree': Film Review | Sundance 2020 The Hollywood Reporter. 25 January 2019
  10. Social Media Thriller 'Spree' Is a Bloody, Funny Ride Through Online Hell Thrillist. 26 January 2020
  11. "'Spree': Film Review". Variety. January 26, 2020. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
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