Throughout the entirety of Eugene Kotlyarenko’s horror comedy Spree, Kurt Kunkle teaches his viewers “The Lesson” but never fully defines what it is. While the film initially introduces its plot as pertaining to a murder spree that the main character goes on, it is far deeper than that. Kurt and his “lesson” commentate on the impact of social media and the infatuation with internet fame.
Starring Joe Keery of Stranger Things, Kurt works as a ride share driver and picks up various people who he then kills. Throughout its entirety, he live streams the events. At the very beginning of the film, his viewer count remains in the double digits until he kills the famous social media influencer he used to babysit named Bobby. In the aftermath, Kurt gains hundreds of the now deceased internet celebrity’s viewers. After each kill, he explains that the method of the murder is part of “The Lesson”, which seems to pertain to the amount and style of killing that he is exposing to his viewers.
Spree is an unusual movie with its unique use of social media that attempts to create Kurt into a real person as well as its choice of cinematography. It shifts from vertical to horizontal in order to capture the essence of changing from a phone to a camera, unlike other social media driven horror movies like Cam (2018) and Deadcon (2019). Spree showcases Kurt’s excitement as he successfully executes “The Lesson” by gaining a large internet following. Yet, he reaches this point mid-way through the film, while the remaining scenes highlight the true lesson behind the one Kurt is teaching. This is what “The Lesson” actually means.
The Real Meaning Behind “The Lesson”
Ultimately, Kurt teaches his followers how to successfully kill someone and get away with it. Despite the fact that he is broadcasting the murders to an unknown group of people, he does not get in trouble until his viewers realize that he is actually committing these crimes and not faking them. While he initially appears as a somewhat innocent young man in his early-twenties, Kurt begins to showcase signs of becoming the next Patrick Bateman (American Psycho). He enjoys killing and had no remorse for his actions, going so far as to even murder his own mother off-screen. His lesson isn’t teaching people how to successfully commit these crimes, he represents a cautionary tale about the infatuation with internet fame and how far an individual is willing to go to achieve it.
The internet is a wide space filled to the brim with deep dark pockets of information. Spree exposes that they aren’t as hidden as they once were when the digital realm first appeared. In fact, it proposes that violent people are hiding in plain sight, whether they are murderers or stalkers. This is an extreme case, as not everyone online is out to commit heinous crimes, but Kurt surely is, and there may be others like him. The Instagram account @kurtsworld96 showcases how fiction transforms into reality. His profile depicts an attention starved individual who won’t be entirely satisfied until he achieves stardom. In fact, Kurt Kunkle will do it at whatever cost which, for him, means murder.
He innocently introduced “The Lesson” in a way that would make his viewers believe that they could do the same and rise to the ranks of internet fame. Unexpectedly, Kurt taught them how dangerous the internet can be in the wrong hands or utilized by someone similar to him. This lesson is commonly taught in social media-based horror films but Spree takes it a step further by stating that there will be a lesson to be learned without making its point too obvious.