Game Over, Man!
Stay Alive is Clever but Flawed
There comes a point in every horror movie when the audience has to either jump on board or not. Either the audience will believe that children can be killed in their dreams or not. Either a hockey-wearing psycho can rise from the dead or not. In Stay Alive, the new horror film by director William Brent Bell, the moment comes very early when a gamer finds his real life in danger from the video game world.
Written by: William Brent Bell & Matthew Peterman
Starring: Jon Foster, Samaire Armstrong, Frankie Muniz,
Sophia Bush, Jimmi Simpson, and Adam Goldberg
Rated
(for
horror violence, disturbing images, language, brief sexual and drug content.)Running time: 85 min.
FilmGuru's Rating : 5 out of 10.
After Loomis Crowley (Milo Ventimiglia) dies his new video game, he begins to see things in his house. Before he can say "Who's there?" his death in the video game is mirrored in real life. It becomes clear that this is not a simple computer virus. This is something supernatural. Call it a cursed program code.
Jon Foster plays Hutch, a young man who has lost his best friend to a grizzly murder. Hutch was supposed to see Loomis on the night of his death, and the guilt of not being there weighs heavily on him. After the funeral, Loomis' little sister gives Hutch a bag full of video games -- the ones mom wouldn't let her play. Among the games is Stay Alive, a beta version of a survival horror game like Silent Hill or Resident Evil.
Hutch gathers his gamer friends for a LAN party (and if you don't know what that is, you're not this film's target audience) to try out Stay Alive in memory of Loomis.
The friends all fulfill stereotypes, from the small kid trying to be tough (Frankie Muniz) to the goth girl dealing with her angst (Sophia Bush). Her brother Phineas (Jimmi Simpson) is the game freak of the group, whose lack of social skills is a tired stereotype for gamers. The only anomaly of the group is Abigail (Samaire Armstrong), a young photographer who bumps into Hutch at Loomis's funeral. Considering how out-of-place she was, I figured her to be more important to the story. But her character was just another plot hole in the film (to call her a red herring would be giving the writers too much credit).
The first night the gang plays Stay Alive, Miller (Adam Goldberg) dies in the same way that his character died in the game. The police, oddly enough, don't bother interrogating Hutch, even though he says that he had talked to Miller only shortly before the time of death. It's only when more bodies start popping up (including one cop, killed in his own car) that the police begin to see Hutch as a potential mass murderer.
Stay Alive is part horror film, part mystery. Actually, it's two parts mystery to one part horror, because the mystery of what is happening (people are dying after playing a video game) is fairly obvious. The deeper mystery is why it is happening and how to stop it. Oddly enough, there is no thought given to clearing Hutch's good name or finding evidence to present to the police.
The creepy game within the film is based on the infamous Elizabeth Bathory, the Blood Countess, who allegedly murdered 600 young virgins and bathed in their blood. For the sake of the story, however, the Countess was moved from Hungary to New Orleans. The reason for this change becomes evident later in the film, although how a 17th century Hungarian countess ended up entombed in New Orleans is never explained. Likewise, the girls the Countess killed are now associated with an old Southern plantation that is something of a local legend.
A high point of the film comes when the line between video games and reality begins to blur. While Swink (Muniz) plays the video game to distract the Countess, the others begin a search of the old plantation. When doors are locked or ways are jammed in the real world, Swink uses the video game to unlock doors and drop needed objects at their feet. It's a nice touch that would should have received more development.
All told, Stay Alive is what it is. As a horror movie about a video game, it's about as good as could be expected. The only kink in the story is the useless need to include Elizabeth Bathory when a fictional New Orleans witch would have done just as well. Moreover, the end of the film leaves too many questions unresolved (probably in a desperate attempt to set up a sequel).
The only thing missing was the chance to play the game itself. Don't bother looking. It won't be available any time soon. Looks like the marketing folks missed the boat on that one. Maybe there will be a demo with the DVD release.
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