I started my first night of exploring the Shudder catalog by loading up "Deadstream." From the concept of found footage filmed by an online streamer spending a night in a haunted house, I had high hopes it could deliver some scares and laughs.

The movie wastes no time plunging us into live streaming as we meet Shawn, our protagonist, who runs a channel called "Wrath of Shawn," where he puts himself in supposedly dangerous situations for viewers.

Joseph Winter portrays Shawn as an obnoxious but charming douchebag, a character you love to root against. The footage is found seamlessly through GoPro-style cameras mounted on Shawn and his crew as they explore the haunted house, maintaining the first-person perspective throughout.

I was impressed at how effectively the film blends horror and comedy in the early going. Shawn's exaggerated screaming and pleading with his viewers made me and my wife laugh, but the creepy atmosphere and unsettling sounds kept us on edge, wondering what might jump out.

The derelict setting of the abandoned mansion is used to great effect, with many ominous rooms left untouched to allow the viewers' imagination to run wild. The shadows and creaky noises alone build tension without ever revealing the source. It calls to mind classic haunted house films like The Changeling in how it uses the location itself as almost an antagonist.

Where the film starts to lose me a bit is when the comedy starts to take precedent over the scares in the second act. Shawn continues playing to the camera with his bravado, but it begins to feel a bit much and takes me out of the horror elements.

I know the film was going for more of a black comedy approach, mixing things up, but to me, it disturbed the tone they had been establishing effectively. There were still a few genuinely unsettling jump scares peppered in, but the jarring tonal shifts didn't quite land for me. It felt like two different movies spliced together - horror in the first half, then a horror spoof in the second.

The end climactic confrontation brings things back around and delivers the goods with plenty of spooky visuals and gore practical effects reminiscent of an Evil Dead movie. While not entirely successful, I appreciate Deadstream trying something a bit different within the found footage space instead of rehashing the same old formula.