David Roggenkamp
Stay Alive is one of those slasher flicks – yes, one of 'those'. The idea is that a game can haunt reality by killing off the gamers that play the game in the same fashion that they died in the game. The game is simply a beta, and due to it being based off of an urban legend, those that play it unwittingly unleash a spiritual force that vowed revenge. Sound simple enough, and it is a simple enough premise – the character have definite personalities – the fact they are portrayed as gamers and the fact the movie is surrounding a game, is a unique premise which makes it a very enjoyable watch. The deaths are hardly anything out of the ordinary, but the movie seems to play more with plot than anything else. Does the movie have a twist at the end? Not really, it is a slow buildup from start to finish and everything gets wrapped up as usual. Don't expect there to be a sequel.Originally posted to Orion Age (http://www.orionphysics.com/? p=4829).
Python Hyena
Stay Alive (2006): Dir: William Brent Bell / Cast: Jon Foster, Samaire Armstrong, Frankie Muniz, Sophia Bush, Jimmi Simpson: Irritating horror film about video game violence. Lame plot regards illegal video game that kills its players the very method that instrumented their death in the game. This is all too ridiculous yet it could have worked had it been presented beyond juvenile level of intelligence. There is even a nauseating sound that accompanies the danger that is about as scary as breaking wind. Director William Brent Bell plays with the notion of video game violence and its influence but his screenwriter wallows in stupid horror film clichés that ultimately reduce the film to a joke. The cast basically wait until it's their turn to die, and we don't care because the screenwriter's only ambitious is on how creative a death scene can be. If that is a horror film's prime ambitious then it's game over from the get go. Jon Foster plays the hero who has a fear of fire, which indicates that he will have to face this fear. Samaire Armstrong is pointless as a photographer who appears at the opening funeral. Frankie Muniz can do better than this, and Sophia Bush is there because she is dressed goth. It doesn't matter because these characters are only assembled for a graphic death warrant. Worthy theme derailed within a laughable film that makes it difficult to stay awake. Score: 4 / 10
Leofwine_draca
A dull and generic teen horror film, aimed squarely at the PG-13 crowd. This one has a dumb premise to begin with: a bunch of kids end up playing an online horror game. When their characters die in-game, they end up dying in real life. Now, with the right people behind it this could have been an arresting survival horror with an interesting slant on mankind's increasing reliance on computer technology for both business and pleasure. It isn't, and you end up thinking that playing the game featured in-film would be a more interesting experience.The characters are bland and dull, the type you'll forget about just minutes after they stop appearing on screen. There isn't a single person you get behind and want to see make it till the end (bringing in safe, popular TV actor Frankie Muniz doesn't help, either). The antagonist in the film is Countess Elizabeth Bathory, although she's a virtual representation of the character, which means the CGI animators don't have to worry about making her look realistic (instead she looks pretty crappy, like a ghost in a bad GRUDGE rip-off). The deaths are derivative and bloodless, and any attempts at suspense are negated by the overly familiar nature of the storyline. My advice is to give this one a miss.
Aaron1375
This movie could have been really good, it had a nice premise and I liked that the reason behind the killings was a supernatural force. However, what failed in this film is the execution. It was sloppily done, and it failed to be so bad that it was good and funny. It was to weak in the killings, for some reason trying to pull in a PG-13 rating rather than going for the throat and just making the movie have more of an edge. The story is interesting though as a gamer I enjoyed the idea of a game where if you die in it, you die in real life. The game itself is the title of the movie as well, it did not look like anything special though as it looked like at the most it would be an hour or two worth of game play. Heck there is only a mansion that is not particularly big, a graveyard and a tower. The actors in the film are pretty good and they do seem to act like your typical social gamer. The murders is a bit light as most of the action takes place off screen. The killer is weak as well as it does in fact look like something that came from a video game, which may look okay in said game, but not in a movie. This movie is just so much of a mixed bag, cool concept badly done. This movie also features a pointless plot point of the cops suspecting one of the gamers as the murderer and it just does not work because near the end the officers just vanish. The death of the one officer was rather poorly done too as it was obvious the cop did not play the game long enough to get to the point he was at. The one gamer mentioned that the game moved rather slowly so it is highly unlikely he could catch up with the others in what amounted to maybe two minutes of game playing. Still a little work here and there and this one could have been a pretty good horror movie. There is a slight resemblance to another horror movie "Dead Silence" too, though that movie is a bit more complete and rated R like a horror show ought too.
AD
