‘Livescreamers’ Unnamed Footage Festival 2024 Review: Screen Life Horror Done Right
Mary Beth McAndrews
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As silly as it may sound to some, watching other people play video games on YouTube is one of my favorite things to do when I want to just relax and turn off my brain. It’s not just the games, but the personalities, people who are funny and have your particular sense of humor that you just vibe with. It’s also an incredibly easy way to forge parasocial relationships where you see these people as your friends rather than people doing a job. It can lead to some pretty terrifying places, which Michelle Iannantuono addresses in her new screen life film Livescreamers which recently played as part of the Unnamed Footage Festival. Using video game design and simple (yet effective) camera techniques, Iannantuono constructs a very relevant horror film that speaks to how deeply the internet has shaped our daily interactions with strangers and friends alike.
In Livescreamers, Janus Gaming is a popular YouTube channel that plays video games for their large online community. The team is made up of eight members: Mitch (Ryan LaPlante), the group’s founder; Nemo (Michael Smallwood), an older Black gamer who has enough horror stories to fill books; Zelda (Anna Lin), the happy-go-lucky one with a big smile; Dice (Maddox Julien Slide), a queer Black non-binary member with their guard up; hot married couple Taylor (Coby C. Oram) and Gwen (Sarah Callahan Black); and to round it out there’s Jon (Christopher Trindade) and Davey, (Evan Michael Pearce) the act-gay-for-the-fans guys. It’s quite the group with a little something for everyone. In this particular stream, they’re hosting super fan Lucy (Neoma Sanchez) as she won a recent fan contest. They gather in the group’s studio to play House of Souls, a horror game with a mysterious origin.
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As they settle in for a few hours of terrific terror, they quickly realize there’s something strange about this game. And by strange I mean extremely deadly. As they start the first boss fight of sorts, they discover that if you die in the game, you do in fact die in real life. The group must keep playing no matter how much blood is spilled. They have no other choice.
As they progress through a mansion reminiscent of Resident Evil (this entire game was designed by Iannantuono, by the way), the group not only discovers the truth behind the game, but also exposes secrets about each other. The game does help with that, especially when it comes to revealing incriminating text messages or secret videos. Iannantuono melds video game horror with social commentary to create a special kind of horror film, unlike anything we’ve seen so far in the genre, particularly when it comes to tackling toxicity in the gaming world.
Like in her previous film Livescream, Iannantuono both directs the film and makes the game the group plays, tackling two difficult mediums to make one unique package. The cinematography is simple, with each player having their own static camera on their computer. Those cameras never move, and characters run in and out of frame as chaos unfolds in the studio. Layering media like this emulates how many of us interact with YouTube rather than typical horror films, and it’s refreshing to see Iannantuono continue to take risks with this format, further proving the originality still living and breathing in this genre.
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Some of the performances are a bit overwrought and over the top, and not because they’re playing influencers. It’s a tricky line to walk when playing a public figure in a film like this, because you want to capture the constructedness of an online celebrity while remaining authentic. While most of Janus Games can walk that line well, performances are not always consistent. However, that inconsistency isn’t enough to outshine a smart script by Iannantuono that deftly tackles so many issues within online gaming communities.
This is Stay Alive for a new generation, a tense yet entertaining piece of video game horror that emulates our ever-changing relationship with technology, video games, and the digital world. Where Stay Alive was tackling the growing fears surrounding video games, Livescreamers goes deeper, interrogating parasocial relationships, expectations of digital celebrities, and navigating male-dominated spaces online. Iannantuono imbues the films with a unique and nuanced perspective that deftly tackles all of these issues without feeling too overstuffed or preachy. This is video game horror filmmaking at its finest and most innovative. So press play and get ready to play a game because Livescreamers is waiting to grab your heart.
Summary
‘Livescreamers’ is Stay Alive for a new generation, a tense yet entertaining piece of video game horror that emulates our ever-changing relationship with technology, video games, and the digital world.
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