Spree (2020)

Spree (2020)

In German, the film is also called ‘Spree – Alles für die Klicks,’ which means: Everything for the clicks! Yes, anything for the buzz! And it really makes sense here.

The main character can be described as an Incel, i.e., part of a rather dark movement. It’s an internet culture of men who feel involuntarily condemned to celibacy. Incidentally, I found this review very thorough:

‘Spree tackles the abundance of social networking in everyday life by putting a psychopath, some would say incel, into action, all sprinkled with anti-white bien pensance, and when I say sprinkled, I’m talking about spilling the bowl. To such an extent that, having seen in 20 minutes the incel white man, then the racist white man, then the privileged white woman, and finally the sexist white man, when a person of colour appears on screen, you quickly realise that it is she who will win at the end of the film. Clearly, diversity is not compatible with diversity in the script.’

As for the form, it’s not much better! The protagonists’ reactions are often inexplicable, and the same applies to the way the story unfolds, with a few gross inconsistencies.

We can clearly say that this feature film is a scripted, visual, and political train wreck.

This is the story of Kurt, a young man who has been posting about his life on social networks for several years, but without his content really taking off. Desperate for attention, he decides to take things to the next level. To do so, he transforms himself into a crazed killer who lures his victims with his car since he works as a chauffeur (understandably, Spree is inspired by Uber). Of course, he films absolutely everything so that his audience doesn’t miss any of his carnage.

Eugene Kotlyarenko thinks he’s being relevant with his film denouncing this kind of drift on social networks, but it’s quite the opposite. Like the main character, everything is completely stupid. Maybe I took the film too literally, but there’s nothing entertaining or funny about it. It’s low-grade black humour.

So, sure, this film is, in some ways, pretty crazy and scary… but not for the right reasons! Sure, the film is exaggerated in its situations, but deep down it hides a certain reality. It’s a good denunciation of the madness and power of the internet. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people today who are obsessed with fame, and some are capable of the worst things to achieve it. In fact, I still don’t know who the worst people are in all this! The sadistic influencers or the perverts who encourage them? Surprisingly, there’s also a false moral and a certain irony at the heart of it all.

The cast has some nice elements like Mischa Barton (who we only see for a few minutes) but also the famous David Arquette from Scream.

But with Spree, Eugene Kotlyarenko makes an ersatz American Psycho (2000) for teenagers, so it’s pretty much meaningless. Are you interested in an ‘American Psycho for the digital age’? To find yourself immersed in the daily life of this failed YouTuber who, in an attempt to grab a few likes and followers, sows death at every street corner… we’ve had much better!

Under the guise of denouncing the appalling practices of YouTubers and other influencers (the eternal quest for likes and followers), the director paints a portrait of a teenager constantly seeking attention to satisfy his over-inflated ego. While Joe Keery (Stranger Things) does the job perfectly, the film itself remains too redundant and staggeringly empty. For 90 minutes, the scenes follow one another and resemble one another; the protagonists (and the soundtrack) are tiresome, as is the direction (shot entirely on found-footage, using GoPro, phone cameras, and live streaming to capture the action).

In fact, the film is pretty badly shot, especially the murders. Honestly, apart from showing the stupidity of people who, once again, will do anything to get views and be famous on the internet, it’s a film that really has no interest.

Instagram and YouTube (among others) have spawned a generation of pretentious morons, and the film is meant to be a satire of these users/influencers, except that it takes a lot more to convince.

Classified as Action, Comedy, Crime by some, Drama, Horror, Thriller by others. And yet, with everything I’ve told you, you can see that it’s not unclassifiable. But you can safely take out Action & Thriller. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a horrific, dramatic teenage found footage.

A film that tries to talk about celebrity and social media culture in everyday life, but…

Right! If ever, let’s be clear, because this is important: it’s not right to kill people to become famous or poison your customers just to have fans who adore you!!!!