From drawing attention to its trailer online to buying tickets for complete strangers, a small army of horror die-hards is willing to do whatever it takes to support Michael Leavy ‘s “ Stream ,” in theaters now. While genre buffs have been ride-or-die for Leavy since he appeared in “Terrifier,” they were more important than ever for his latest indie gore fest. After saving the production from folding to COVID, Leavy made them official members of the “Stream” Team by giving them producer credits as thanks.
“COVID hit us right in the middle of production and we had used all of our funds for PPE and the HEPA filters,” Leavy explained. “So we ended up saying, ‘Let’s bring this to the horror community.’ And we offered producer credits and things like that for anybody who wanted to get involved.
” “Stream” follows a family of four who goes on vacation to soothe their infighting. But after checking into their hotel, they soon discover they cannot leave and become pawns in a deadly game of cat and mouse broadcasted to the world. Ahead of the release “Stream” on Aug.
21, Leavy sat down with Variety to discuss indie filmmaking, his love for gore and how he assembled the Avengers of horror. It’s funny — that started for me later in life. Growing up, I was a huge horror fan, but it was more of the classic stuff like “Halloween.
” I like fun movies. I’m a big comedy guy as well. But it wasn’t until I met Damien Leone , director of “Terrifier.