As a long standing fan of survival-horror video games, I've found myself wondering in the past why horror films never come close to being as scary or original as the cream of the video game crop. So, when I heard about a horror film with a plot based around a horror video game, I was both intrigued and hopeful.
PLOT
The story begins with Loomis (Milo Ventimiglia - Heroes), an oddly-named video gamer, playing a not yet released video game called Stay Alive. In short order, his character in the game dies, having fallen through a banister and hung. The following morning finds Loomis similarly hung over the stairs in his house after falling through his banister.
After his funeral, some of his possessions, including his video games, are given to his best friend Hutch (Jon Foster). Before long Hutch and a group of friends Phineus (Jimmi Simpson) and Swink (Frankie Muniz - Malcolm in the Middle), his boss Miller (Adam Goldberg - Eddie from Friends), Phineus' sister October (Sophia Bush - One Tree Hill) and a random chick he met at Loomis' funeral, Abigail (Samaire Armstrong - The O.C.), get together for an evening of gaming - playing Stay Alive, naturally! Before long the characters are turning up dead in circumstances mirroring their deaths in the video game. Eventually they realise that they are being picked off by the Blood Countess, the villain of the computer game. In the mean time, the police
want to get their hands on the group in connection with the growing string of murders. Can our heroes defeat the Blood Countess in the real world and thus continue to STAY ALIVE!?! (Do you like what I did there, using the name and all? Yup, I’m good :-D )
MY THOUGHTS
Whilst I enjoyed watching this film, my overriding feeling looking back is disappointment that it didn't fulfil its potential. The basic concept is a good one, albeit fairly similar to The Ring, but a number of plot flaws spoil things somewhat. The largely young cast did a fairly good job with the script they had and appeared to have the sort of chemistry you'd expect of a group of close friends. Still, I found it odd that Abigail was suddenly a part of the group having been met by only one the characters, once.
Another major flaw is the supposedly terrifying video game isn't particularly scary at all. Granted it was pretty jumpy and indeed scary in the opening sequence, but it seemed to be a pretty standard first-person shooter by the time the whole group started playing. Given that the game is the basis of the story, they really should have got that right. One of the things that irritated me most is the phoney legend of Elizabeth Bathory (a.k.a. the Blood Countess) that was concocted to suit the story. Maybe I'm being picky but I'd guess that the legend, if not necessarily the facts, regarding Elizabeth Bathory, is well known enough that many viewers will find it odd that a 17th century Hungarian should be found in a plantation in the US! Personally, I'd have been far happier with the setup if they'd created an entirely new 'legend' without feeling the need to use an actual historical character. Perhaps they were banking on the name being familiar without you necessarily knowing who she was, which may have worked for other people for all I know. As an aside, I also wondered if Loomis' family name, Crowley, was another half-hearted attempt to lever an occult related name into the mix. If so, why not have one of the characters make that connection purely as a red herring? It may be that they were being subtle, but if so then probably way too subtle for most to notice it!
My final bit of nit-picking is regarding the police investigating the murders. Given that Hutch is the one connection between the first 5 victims, I'd have expected them to at least take him in for questioning, even if his remaining friends could give him a solid alibi for at least 2 of the murders. The most ridiculous point of all is that one of the policemen actually has a quick go on the game on a victim’s laptop at the crime scene! Surely it would have been far more believable to have him confiscate the game with the other evidence and play it later on out of pure curiosity, after the outlandish claims of Hutch and co.
So what's good about the film? Well it's engaging enough and it rattles along at a fair pace. Given that it's fairly short (85 mins. for the standard edition or 100 mins. for the directors cut), it ought to hold your attention and keep you entertained for the duration, which is more than I could say for many of its competitors!
One of the things the makers got right is the death scenes, the earlier ones at least. The half-seen movements at the periphery of the shot and shadows moving just out of shot, is textbook stuff and well executed. I also liked the use of the rumbling noise of a vibrating controller on a hard surface as a warning of imminent doom, in much the way that a rumbling controller might alert you to the same if you were actually playing a game. So there are some pretty tense and unnerving scenes there, which is perhaps as much as you can expect in a 15 rated horror.
Having complemented the early death scenes, it’s probably fair to say that the opening few minutes is the best part of the film! I was amused by the fact that Loomis invited his buddy over to play the game, when clearly what he is after is some company, because he’s scared. Furthermore, I was particularly tickled that Loomis described the game as “the sickest sh*t since Fatal Frame”, given that I’d been playing, and indeed scared by, Project Zero (the European name for Fatal Frame) 3 earlier that evening!
A final compliment is that the writers neatly avoided a genre cliché regarding Abigail, the newcomer to the group and thus a prime contender for involvement in the murders. At the same time, they also manage to disappoint with the final scene, which anyone familiar with the Evil Dead series, or numerous other horrors I could mention, will have seen coming a mile away.
SUMMARY
It's a mixed bag in terms of quality, though probably with more flaws than redeeming points. Still, in the tired genre of horror it provides an entertaining watch that's a cut (no pun intended) above your average teen slasher. My verdict would be that it's one to rent rather than buy.
Copies are available from Amazon for £7.97 (new) or from £3.15 through Amazon marketplace, which appears to be similar to prices on eBay at the time of writing.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
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![Stay Alive [DVD] [2006]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78235111.jpg "Stay Alive [DVD] [2006]")
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