Trying to simulate a playthrough for a survival-horror video game isn’t easy, yet filmmaker Michelle Iannantuono comes close to recreating the unique experience in Livescreamers, the sequel to her 2018 film Livescream. Visually speaking, this is an estimable imitation of the real thing. However, what the movie achieves in technical accuracy is often undermined by other creative elements — specifically that deluge of contextualized social issues innate to livestream culture. These diatribes hinder much of the fantastical gameplay horror happening on the screen.
Livescreamers goes straight to work, not wasting any time with exposition. The characters and their relationships are fleshed out along the way. Even so, there are hints of their underlying tensions early on, which Iannantuono expands on at the worst moments (at least for the characters). The movie begins with popular livestreaming group Janus Gaming inviting a guest, a Discord mod named Lucy (Neoma Sanchez), to a playthrough of a new horror game called House of Souls. As one might expect, this is no ordinary game.
Like in the 2000s movie Stay Alive, Livescreamers has its characters’ reality being affected by the game they’re playing. If you die in the game, you die in real life. This is hardly a novel concept, but when done right, it can be fun. And this movie is off to a good start when one of Janus’ own suddenly (and bloodily) croaks after her House of Souls character is bludgeoned to death with a sword. While it would have been nice to see this first victim, a character of color, live past the first act, this moment remains the most shocking and effective, despite the audience knowing full well what was in store.
The proceeding deaths don’t carry out with the same clarity and entertainment as that first one, seeing as Iannantuono uses the rest of the movie as a platform to air out multiple grievances with problematic livestreamers and gamers at large. The subsequent murders are married with these topical social messages, ones indeed worth talking about, but the manner they play out is both hasty, awkward and overwhelming. Before the bodies are even cold, the movie rushes into shallow discourse about sex pests, racism and queerbaiting. The script squeezes in all the proper buzzwords, sure, but there is no actual substance here. Had Livescreamers picked just one of its several social issues and focused on that in a way that felt profound rather than cursory, then maybe it would have been more rewarding.
A lot goes on in Livescreamers. Too much, in fact. Iannantuono crams a great deal into a relatively small space, and little of that is given the reverence and attention it deserves. As for performances, those are are mixed all across the board. A few end up impairing the overall sense of verisimilitude. On the plus side, the movie’s technical aspect comes out looking the best; the mere gameplay, while not as polished and innovative as the real deal, is quite convincing at times. Even eerie. Sadly, that feature becomes an afterthought as the story transforms into an exhausting and surface-level soapbox.
Livescreamers screened as part of Salem Horror Fest 2024.
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