Stay Alive

The kiddie horror market continues to baffle me.

Films like this get pounded by the critics as unimaginative, but them often achieve high viewer ratings on IMDb. This movie suffers low ratings in both spheres but is making money. Lots of it.

The genre demands predictability: some kids die, some survive (always including and often just a boy-girl pair), and at the end, the very end we see how the evil has survived to threaten the exiting audience.

I'll tell you why I went to see it, because I like movies where the "movie within" overlaps in some way with the containing movie. In this case, its a video game; same same. Some viewers compare this to "Jumanji," but in that case, the players enter the game, a fantasy world. In this case, the game enters the real world, more in the "Ringu" fashion.

Is it scary? Are any of these? Who cares? What I care about is whether the folding is done coolly, like in "eXistenZ." And whether the characters are as clever as the fold. A couple of these guys were fun, but typically the girls were clones.

I saw this with "I, Madman." Similar values: clever fold, boring presentation.

Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

STAY ALIVE Rated PG-13 for horror violence, disturbing images, language, brief sexual and drug content. Directed By: William Brent Bell Starring: Jon Foster, Frankie Muniz, Samaire Armstrong, and Sophia Bush Runtime: 85 minutes

TO MAKE A LONG STORY SHORT

7 out of 10. Not very scary, but it is enjoyable.

THE LONG VERSION

OK. I was not expecting much from this flik from the get-go. Script although more original than most of the crap movies to come out lately, was still nothing ground breaking. And, having a relatively unknown director on the project wasn't giving this film any better buzz. Then the trailer was released, which made this movie look even worse. So today I see a matinée for this film with a friend of mine, and I'm surprised to find myself watching a genuinely interesting film.

Is it scary? Not really. There's a few boo scares thrown around, but none of them really work. I like during some of the creepy scenes how silent it was, but it never really paid off properly.

Is it at least suspenseful? Yes. It is, in fact, very suspenseful. There are some really cool chase scenes, and some pretty decent "what was that!?" moments.

Is it gory? No. The pictures were, as most suspected, quick shots in the film, and you barely saw any of it. This was, of course, to keep this flik pg13. That's annoying, but whatever, I could get over it rather quickly.

Editing, Directing, etc. was all pretty solid, nothing shocking, but nothing horrible either.

And now, to the part most people are probably interested in: How was the video game sequences? Awesome. This is by far the best part of the movie. When it goes into the video game, it gets really cool. The beginning shines best in this particular style the movie goes for. With some creepy "Samara" like ghosts crawling around, and plenty of stabbing, the video game sequences are the scariest and goriest parts of the flik. These are the scenes that truly shine.

So what else can I say? It's an enjoyable flik that floats in mediocrity until the video game sequences. Thats when it shines. Which makes this a 7 rather than a 6 out of 10.

All in all: Not very scary, but suspenseful. A pretty solid film that can entertain you, but there will definitely be haters. I say lean back and enjoy a decent rental (when it's released on DVD that is) It will be worth the 6-8 bucks you pay for it.

The teenager Loomis Crowley (Milo Ventimiglia) is testing the underground game Stay Alive with his friends Sarah (Nicole Oppermann) and Rex (Billy Slaughter). When the game is over, the impressed Loomis finds in the middle of the night Rex and Sarah dead in their room, and his is pushed by a shadow from the staircase, breaking the banister and hanging the same way he died in the game. Loomis's sister Emma gives his games to his best friend, Hutch (Jon Foster), and he joins his friends Miller (Adam Goldberg), Phineus (Jimmi Simpson) and his sister October (Sophia Bush), Swink (Frankie Muniz) and Abigail (Samaire Armstrong) to play the unknown game together. When Miller and Phineus die the same way they died in the game, the survivors disclose that the game is based on the life of the evil Countess Elizabeth Bathory, who was buried alive in the tower of her real state in the Geronge Plantation. With the police chasing them, and after the death of October, the survivors reach the house and try to find the corpse of the Countess to destroy her fiend.

"Stay Alive" is flawed, but it is very entertaining and underrated in IMDb. The story is not scary, but a pleasant adventure with good special effects, the actors and actresses have good performances and show good chemistry. The attitude of the police chasing the teenagers is the flawed and silliest part of the plot, and is simply forgotten in the rest of the story. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Stay Alive - Jogo Mortal" ("Stay Alive - Mortal Game")

Stay Alive is a new game in which you have to stay alive or suffer the consequences in real life, it's a pretty cool concept and one that could have been executed way better than it actually was.

Surprisingly the film is far less cheesy than i figured it would be, the cast are quite convincing, albeit as pretty shallow characters and the direction, editing and general production are adequate enough. What let it down was the way it sets out the rules and then picks which ones it will follow depending on what stage the story was at, contriving every step of the way to make it fit.

It was mildly entertaining to watch and there is a decent sense of tension throughout, although the scares were all a bit cheap and clichéd, and it definitely didn't need the twist at the end, i hope it's not a setup for a sequel.

5/10

A group of geeky kids, surprisingly not all living in their parents' basements, stumble across an underground game - "Stay Alive". But they're in for a treat: when you die in this game, you're going to die in real life, too! This is an amateur effort from both the writer and the director, whose names I don't recall. In all fairness, for a first time effort, this film was watchable and in some ways quite entertaining. It wasn't wonderful, or scary or much of anything else... but good enough that it seems to help people pass the time. Which, in the end, maybe is all we can hope for from movies.

I liked the video game theme. Unlike the Internet theme of "Fear Dot Com", this was more realistic and the game featured in the movie was the sort of game I could actually see people playing. It reminded me of "House of the Dead", which is too bad now that Uwe Boll ruined that arcade classic. The video game references to Fatal Frame ,the Konami code, and the word "w00t!" were nice touches, and I got the sense that the writer actually knew something about video games. Which is a huge plus. The Mario Brothers "1up" sweatshirt was also a nice touch.

Now, the film has a vampire element because the villain is Elizabeth Bathory, who has somehow been risen from the dead and haunts a video game. Bathory makes a great monster, though maybe not in this movie. A lot of questions remain unanswered about this... because, seriously, if I'm a vampiress from the Middle Ages, I'm not coming back in a video game.

The cast was strong as far as the teen slasher genre goes. Jon Foster played Hutch O'Neill, the fire-fearing leader of this Scooby gang. My only complaint is that he looked like a dead ringer for Jamie Kennedy, which will ultimately boost or kill his career, I think.

Samaire Armstrong was the bleach-haired Abigail, who has a very strong role and exudes some kind of sensuality I can't explain. In one scene she's almost nude, but either her, the writer or the director ruined this... and made it really cheesy. How many girls who unexpectedly get hung upside down have their shirt tucked into their bra?

Frankie Muniz is in this movie, and not nearly as annoying as you probably think. For a 50-year old man trapped in a kid's body (like Haley Joel Osment and Gary Coleman), he's decent.

Sophia Bush was October Bantum, the rebel goth girl... as far as rebel goth girls go, she's alright. You'll find yourself (if you're a young man) getting torn between her and Abigail as your favorite female lead.

Last, I want to point out the great character name of "Loomis Crowley", which I can only assume is an homage to both Aleister Crowley and Dr. Loomis from "Halloween". If not, well, you still get the point for it.

Some of the game elements are a bit cheesy (especially when the game is outside the computer) and the overall story makes little sense and is very teen-oriented. (In other words, it has no depth whatsoever.) But it wasn't bad. You might want to save this for a night when you're drunk and just want something to be amused by without actually wanting to appreciate the film itself.