Stay Alive (2006) User Reviews

Good Concept, Lazy Execution

[mjw2305 · 5/10 · 7 January 2007]

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 fun watch, but nothing deep

[JurijFedorov · 6/10 · 5 November 2021]

The only slasher movie Disney ever made.

This is a movie I just had to watch. I read the original was a recut version to make it PG-13. It's very short and many scenes, plot points, and all bloody stuff is removed from the movie. So it feels kinda like a glorified trailer for a Disney movie. This is the version I could find online. I suggest people who love movies to watch it to see how a studio can butcher a movie. Because there is a very fun movie in here that was just cut one time too many. Ironically the villain in the movie uses scissors to kill her victims.

A bunch of young people play a video game that influences real life. It's a very clever and cool idea with fast pacing. There is a blonde love interest who is a 20 something actress who already had her face done. So it's just weird to see her twitch in her role. Probably some girlfriend of the director? The actors overall were charismatic and there are some big names here. It's just one of those "filmed in 30 days" movies. So all scenes look like a homemade documentary. It's lazy cinematography and looks overly cheap and rushed. You film, move on, film, move on. No one has time to really act well or do their best, but you do get a movie out of it. Then the PG-13 cut makes it even worse. There are scenes that just appear. We see Frankie Muniz die in the game. Then in the next scene the protagonist couple are chased by the carriage. It's quite clear there should have been some scene to connect the 2 scenes. It's jarring and weird. You also have miscoloring between scenes in the same location. In the former mentioned location you have bright daylight then in the next scene everything is grey and dark. Then it switches back again. It's not even just a small change. It's like going from day to nearly night and it just switches back and forth. You could say the magic did it? It's for sure a huge post-production error anyhow and shouldn't be acceptable.

There are also points and plots not revealed. The first scene is 3 people dying. We only see one person die though and it was never clear the other 2 people even died until it's mentioned later in the movie. Later the protagonist explains that they died the same way in the game. He also found a bunch of crime scene photos of the real bodies. Of course he wouldn't know how they died in the game or if they even died in the game. I assume there was a scene cut out explaining this point? Maybe he got the info via a phone call with the victim before he died? The plot itself seems super cool, so I do think editing ruined this no the script. Then of course he seemingly hacked into an FBI database or something? It's not clear. He just has access to these crime photos only FBI would have. Again, lack of scene or bad plot? How are we supposed to watch this and then accept that he just magically gains crucial info that saves their lives?

There is also a really cool plot with the police constantly chasing the protagonists and finding dead bodies where they have been. Very cool stuff! But the cops never appear again and the plot is never resolved. We just know the protagonists are being chased by cops and they run away. But as their hot friend dies in a house we never really see what happens to her body. She seemingly died? We know she was bleeding, but did they drop her off at a hospital or call the cops? Just showing the cops find the body would be such a cool scene. But it's just all cut out.

There is also some extremely lame "cool teen" dialogue here. It's ridiculously bad for Jimmi Simpson. Unacceptable. The rest of the characters are sorta realistic. The hot girl, Sophia Bush, is really great when she whispers. At times she tries to debate and shout and it makes no sense and is bad acting. She just suddenly gets angry at the group for not listening to her, but I assume some scenes have been cut because in the film she just starts shouting out of nowhere. No one has even said anything to her. There are a lot of such fleeting scenes that kinda make sense if you consider that they are a reaction to something we didn't see. Like when we see Frankie Muniz die in the video game and assume he is gone, but then suddenly he appears out of nowhere. Yet we never see how he returned or what will happen to him now. Assumingly he helped down the blonde plastic girl and saved her life. But we just see her having escaped her chains and have to connect the dots ourselves. It just jumps from scene to scene like this. The video store actor is also horrible. Again this "cool teen" stuff that is fake as hell. Seemingly in the unrated version there are also 2 more main characters. But I don't see how they would even fit them into just 15 minutes more screen time to make it a 100 minute long R-rated movie.

I don't know how good the R rated version is. I don't assume it's great or anything. But I can say that if this movie had better editing where more plot scenes were included it would have become a cult horror movie that everyone would still be talking about. All it would take is an extra week in the editing room and then the editor being allowed to make it longer than 85 minutes. There is a cult movie here somewhere. It could have made $150m and got a ton of sequels with better editing. But obviously Disney would never accept an R-rated slasher movie. Someone else needs to remake it. This feels like Scream or IKWYDLS. A movie that is easy to watch and produces a billion sequels. But Disney killed it. Probably smart as they don't want to make horror movies.

like the idea but not executed well

[SnoopyStyle · 5/10 · 6 April 2015]

Loomis Crowley beta-test video game Stay Alive with his friends Sarah and Rex. All three are killed with Loomis dying exactly the way he died in the game. Loomis' sister gives the game to his friend Hutch (Jon Foster). Hutch, his work friend Miller Banks (Adam Goldberg), brother and sister friends Phineus (Jimmi Simpson) and October (Sophia Bush), geeky Swink (Frankie Muniz) and Sarah's friend Abigail (Samaire Armstrong) play the game together. Miller is killed by the Countess Elizabeth Bathory in the game and she comes to kill him in real life. Police detectives Thibodeaux (Wendell Pierce) and King investigate. Phineus continues to play the game but leaves before getting killed. However the game plays by itself. He is killed in a freak accident like in the game. The remaining group tracks down the origins of the video game. Bathory had drained the blood of young women to bath in to maintain her youth. She was walled up alive in a tower on her plantation. Detective King plays the game and is killed. The cops are after the group and they all go on the run to battle Bathory.

This reminds me of 'The Ring' plus the orderly killing sequence of 'Final Destination'. I like the idea of a real haunted horror video game. I like most of the actors in this movie. I want to like this movie more and I wish it was executed better. First of all, the kills are not bloody enough. The violence should be more gory and bloodier. Too much of it occurs off screen. The backstory is way too complicated. The movie tries to explain too much. It's better to leave it as something creepy killing them. I had a similar problem with 'The Ring' but this movie is much more severe. This movie starts with an interesting idea but the poor execution leaves a lot to be desired.

Try Staying Awake

[christian123 · 3/10 · 28 April 2006]

A group of teenagers discover a bootleg video game, but once they start playing it, they each start dying just like they do in the video game. As they become addicted to the game, they need to find a way to beat the game's central villain, The Blood Countess, before she kills them all.

The premise does sound a little stupid and familiar but this film could have still been mildly entertaining. However, this "horror" movie is not scary at all. It's actually more of a comedy than anything else. The film takes itself way too seriously and the movie is not a lot of fun to watch. Sure, there is the occasional laugh but for the most part, the film is very dull. PG-13 horror films can still be good like The Ring or Cry Wolf. The Ring and Stay Alive aren't really the same type of horror film though. Stay Alive is more of a slasher movie and since its rated PG-13, the death scenes are very tame. It should have been the movie's main sell and since it had an interesting concept the deaths could have been really good. Unfortunately, the studio wanted a bigger audience and the film had to be altered.

The acting is a complete joke and most of the cast give awful performances. Jon Foster is not a very good leading man. He lacks charisma to really engage the audience or for the audience to care about him. His character isn't unlikable just very bland. Samaire Armstrong actually gives an okay performance though a little too bland to truly stick out. Frankie Muniz probably gives the best performance in Stay Alive. That's an honor on the level of being the best player on the Houston Texans. Sophia Bush is absolutely terrible as October. Her performance feels so rushed and so fake. The most annoying character in the movie is Phineas played by Jimmi Simpson. His character is so unlikable you will be rooting for him to die.

In fact, most of the characters are pretty unlikable so that makes it even harder to become interested in the film. It's just hard to feel sorry for some of these annoying kids and it's a lot more fun to watch if you want the characters to actually survive. The only real good thing about the movie is the atmosphere. It's a little old but it still kind of works. The film is also really short so it's not too much of a pain to sit through. I wouldn't really blame the cast though because they were working with an inexperience director and writer. The direction is not very good and the screenplay isn't much better. Stay Alive is actually not the worst horror film of 2006. That honor would go to When a Stranger Calls. Stay Alive is still a missed opportunity though. In the end, this cheesy and lame horror film is better left on the shelf. Rating 4/10.

Amazingly Terrible

[lavieneko-1 · 1/10 · 25 March 2006]

I haven't laughed so much in a theater in years. The only problem is that it was not the intent of the movie to make my throat raw from laughter.

This movie is absolutely overflowing with bad CGI, absolutely terrible duologue, absolutely terrible *acting*, and enough geek references to make the whole thing come off as nothing but complete cheese.

As a gamer and a geek-type girl myself, I did recognize all of the obvious game references in this movie as well as the geek STUFF that was just thrown into the background as eye candy (the Steamboy poster, the t-shirts from thinkgeek.com and j-list.com), and that didn't redeem the movie at all.

The only thing that might have been good at ALL were the ghost children type characters that were purposefully badly done in CGI to make it look like they were from a game, and who were OBVIOUSLY stolen from Japanese horror movies.

To be honest, it was hilariously bad, and something I'd expect from a midnight showing of a made-for-TV b grade Sci-Fi channel movie. Don't expect more than that and you'll have a great time. Just don't get a soda or you'll spit it everywhere when you get great lines like: "Why did you bring that game into our lives?! WHY?!"

Incredibly tame.

[OMGlolROTFL · 4/10 · 26 March 2006]

OK, so you know this movie is going to be cheesy before you even go see it. It's about a game that kills you if you die in it. I already knew that, but I was hoping to be at least entertained. First off, most of the acting was actually pretty good. Some of it was terrible, but I blame the script more than the actors, some of those lines were impossible to deliver realistically. The plot was ehh, well you already know the plot. It was not the strong point of the movie, to say the least. The thing that really bothered me was the fact that the movie cut away right before everyone got killed. I guess that's what happens when you make a PG-13 horror movie. I get the feeling this movie would have been a LOT better if they had just let it get an R rating, and include all of the violence. Violence doesn't necessarily make a good movie, but in this case, what else would you watch this movie for? It doesn't build tension very well, and is generally not very scary. The makeup for the countess looks pretty good, she is a creepy looking woman.

All together the movie wasn't terrible. It was at least entertaining to some extent. Don't expect to be scared unless you are a 14 year old girl. 4/10 stars.

Not the best I've ever seen... but decent.

[imoen4ever · 7/10 · 24 March 2006]

I saw "Stay Alive" tonight, and I was surprised to come home and read reviews discounting it as stupid or pointless.

Actually, I think that the plot was fairly substantial and well thought out for a horror movie--especially a PG-13 one. Granted, it probably would have been better as an R version, but there's always a chance for an unrated DVD. This movie made me think AND scared me, which is a combination hard to find. The time line is fairly stable and simple to follow--except parts of the end--which makes for an enjoyable experience. Without worrying about when things are happening, you are free to instead concentrate on WHY they are happening.

I really liked the video game plot--it was entertaining enough just to watch the gamers get so into it! Everything is interconnected, so it kept me interested enough to look past the "jumpy" parts to the underlying meanings and symbolism.

The characters were fairly dynamic and complex, and the acting was much better than I expected. I actually FELT for them, an element often missing from horror films. The procession of events may have been slightly predictable at times, but the characters remained real and believable throughout. I was happy to see that everything wasn't discarded simply in the name of gore.

The lighting was surprisingly good for this genre--every scene was well-lit and easy to make out what was happening. The colors were perfect to set the mood, and the cinematography was on the better side of average: no complaints here.

Overall, although the ending was a bit of a let-down, I believe this is worth seeing if you like horror movies that also make you THINK--it's not all about scares. I'm also a novice gamer, so I might have appreciated it more than a non-gamer--I don't know.

In conclusion--it's worth a shot.

Atrocious slasher flick.

[HumanoidOfFlesh · 3/10 · 30 August 2006]

After the mysterious death of an old friend,a group of teenagers find themselves in the possession of Stay Alive,a horror survival video game based on the gruesome story of Erzebet Bathory known as The Blood Countess.The group begins to play the grisly game and soon they are murdered one by one in the same method as the character they played in the game.As the line between the game world and the reality disappears,our heroes must find a way to defeat vicious Blood Countess. "Stay Alive" is an incredibly poor teen slasher flick without any iota of suspense.Writer-director William Brent Bell doesn't have the damn clue how to make a watchable horror movie.The jump scares are irritating,the blood/gore level is almost non-existent and the story doesn't make sense.The dialogue is utterly bad and the acting of all involved is embarrassing."Stay Alive" is easily one of the worst mainstream horror flicks of 2006.Stay away from this stinking turd.

A Decent Movie -- But wait for the DVD

[RobZombie01930 · 7/10 · 27 March 2006]

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.

Stay Alive? Stay Away!

[Tootsie_Fruitsie · 1/10 · 25 March 2006]

Yeah, so I just watched this tonight. (I just got back actually). And I have to tell you, I have never laughed so hard in the movie theater before. My friends and I almost got kicked out because we couldn't stop laughing at how ridiculous this movie was. Do people really think this is scary? Sure, I liked the Silent Hill and other 1st person survival/horror references, but c'mon. The acting was so horrible it sounded like they were TRYING to sound like the voice acting from the first Resident Evil game. I was waiting for a "master of lock-picking" quote to be said. Not only was the acting bad, the special effects were horrible and lame as well. The way Countess Bathory looks in the "game/movie", I would be surprised if she frightened the toddler we had behind us with his family. In fact, I recall the kid giggling during one scene. And correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Countess Bathory in Europe? (In fact, I believe she was in Transylvania). How is it possible for them to get to her "plantation" when they are in New Orleans? Or did I just miss something there? Luckily, I know a guy who works there and he got us all in for free because I would have kicked myself for paying to see this movie. This made the remake of Texas Chainsaw Massacre look like a masterpiece.

it's entertaining!

[seraphim-jane · 8/10 · 27 March 2006]

For what it is, this movie rocks! I know it's silly and predictable and even just plain-out awful, but it is ENTERTAINING, and yeah, I had fun laughing at it. Also, Some of it was creepy, but in a very formulaic way. Very fun. You should see it if you want a silly horror movie that doesn't completely suck. The countess was weird-looking, and that was somewhat purposeful because she's a VIDEO-GAME CHARACTER. Malcolm in the Middle was in it -- too bad, I thought that kid was actually good. The house itself is pretty creepy, and the game, if it does or will exist, would be very fun to play. C'Mon! You can't hate it for being bad, it even makes fun of itself! It is really a good hour and a half of...something. Something okay in my book.

Fun all through **WARNING: SPOILERS**

[lubna_mrf · 7/10 · 24 March 2006]

One of the most fun movies I have had the pleasure of watching this year! But then again, i am a regular movie junkie. The plot line was very gripping and intense. The story behind the countess was just downright spooky and the graphics were amazing! I loved the fact that the game looked so much like all those other horror games out there, like clock tower 3 or sirens.

The only reason I am giving this movie a 7 and not a higher ranking is that there were a bunch of unanswered questions, like 'who exactly made the game and for what reason?' and the most annoying unanswered question 'why did the characters die even before they died in the game?' Otherwise it is very VERY entertaining! I'll think twice before playing a horror genre game!!! ^_^

fun movie with great graphics and scary scenes

[bigtron · 5/10 · 16 April 2006]

Overall the movie is well done, the ghost are scary without having to show a lot and the acting are generally OK. What really gets me is the script. How they always manage to make the characters so stupid is beyond me. It one thing watching a char die because of the circumstance but watching a char die because of his/her own stupidity is another. It just makes the audience feel cheated and resentful to the characters. Its a shame that horror flick cannot be more intelligent. 'The Ring' was great and it looks like a great beginning for the new age of scary, intelligent movies but this movie push the genre back a few notches.

Basically there should be 2 types of scary movie, 1) intelligent ones and 2) stupid but with lot of T&A. This movie is stupid without the T&A (replaced by really nicely rendered video game scenes). guess that is not enough to please the audience.

Bad execution of Good Premise

[pete-563 · 3/10 · 7 August 2006]

Regrettably, the premise outweighs the execution! Not even approaching a bad John Carpenter movie. A lot of inaccuracies regarding Elizabeth Bathory (If "Countess Dracula" is anything to go by). How did they find the Château/Tower? What would have been a nice touch is the blonde girl who joined the group of friends was a descendant or part of the game! I was really proud about guessing that (even though I began to think it was obvious, and anyone with average intelligence would figure that out; Hardly figuring out "Sixth Sense" or "The Others") But No....she was a victim too! I think the Writer/Director probably realised during the project, that it wasn't as he envisaged. In the hands of Cronenbourg ("Existenz"), he would have given it a warped edge which it really required.

Stay awake

[asda-man · 2/10 · 2 October 2012]

Stay Alive is yet another contrived slasher that offers nothing new but the same formulaic pattern with a bunch of clichéd losers ho we don't care about at all. Just like "The Cabin in the Woods" set out we've got the virgin/s, the scholar, the whore, the jock and the fool/s. The only thing original about them is their names. One girl's called October and one boy is even called Twink!

Now hats off to the writers, they've actually tried to do something new in the form of playing a game that is cursed. It's an interesting concept and sort of a disc version of "The Ring" but they get it completely wrong from the off. What made "The Ring" successful was the simplicity of the tape. It had mystery surrounded by it that wasn't obvious by first glance. It was creepy and absolutely right. Imagine if that video was a DVD that showed an all-action blockbuster. It wouldn't be the same would it? Instead of creating a simple creepy game that didn't give anything away, they've created a full-on game with high graphics that couldn't be found creepy at all and sometimes even completely takes you out of the film. It's like watching someone playing a PS3. It's just wrong! They also map everything out about the mystery by creating the clichéd haunted mansion, exactly like the real one, so it's obvious what the finale's going to be.

In fact the entire film is predictable. You can predict who is going to die first and which couple end up at the end. No prizes for guessing that it's the wholesome virgins who make it! It's not even an entertaining ride getting there like "The Breed" was. It's just dull and uninvolving and offers little thrills due to the poor editing and directing during the 'suspenseful' parts. All of the suspense is sucked out because of the awful character development and flashy editing. It's also very unfocused up until the final 10 minutes or so, but by then you don't even care what happens to them.

Stay Alive is an attempt at trying something different but it was gone about in the completely wrong way. Even the death scenes weren't fun as most of them were off-screen and weren't creative in the slightest. There's nothing we haven't seen here before. It's a clichéd ghost story put in a stereotypical slasher and it's not as much fun as it sounds. A dull, pointless and silly horror film that will only have the under thirteens jumping for joy.

I felt cheated as a gamer and as a movie goer.

[trackkkid14 · 2/10 · 25 March 2006]

I was not very excited to see this movie in the first place but a group of us decided to go see it on opening night. I felt like getting up and walking out and attempting to get my money back 20 minutes into this film. I felt that the movie was very boring, uninteresting, and not true in many aspects including "gaming". I tried my best not to fall asleep during the movie as i watched one of the worst horror films i have ever seen. The scary movie series was scarier than this movie. The sad attempt to pull in a Gothic girl, an overworked business man, and 15 year old geek, and some random guy into a video game that kills you is a bad plot to begin with. Then they try to throw in a very horrible love scene where the main character kisses another girl after saving her 10 minutes after his girlfriend was murdered. The theater was packed when the movie started by then end a little over half of the people had left before it was over. If you feel the need to waste only 1 hour and 16 minutes of your time seeing this movie ... prepare to feel cheated.

Pleasantly Surprised

[lorilou14 · 7/10 · 25 March 2006]

I really enjoyed the film. First off, whenever I go to see a horror film, I never set the expectations high because no horror film is usually up for an Oscar right? But this one really surprised me. Taking the film for what it's worth (a horror film) I think it's really good. The biggest perk for me was the fact that it kept me interested. There is one major setback, the plot is laced with holes. You will leave wondering how a lot of stuff in the movie happened & have many unanswered questions but if you just want to enjoy a scary film, then this is the one for you.

Also, I think you'll enjoy it if you're a gamer, as I am.

Stay away!

[BA_Harrison · 2/10 · 12 September 2008]

In The Ring, it was a videotape; a website was the problem in Feardotcom; the danger in Pulse came from computers; and Phone and One Missed Call featured—you guessed it—deadly phones. In Stay Alive, the piece of technology that causes all manner of problems is an online game: those who play it wind up dead soon afterwards. How clever!

Directed by William Brent Bell (who?), and featuring an unimpressive cast of twenty-somethings that you might have seen before, but probably can't remember where or what the hell their names are, this is an extremely derivative piece of film-making aimed squarely at the PG-13 horror set; seasoned scary film watchers will no doubt find Stay Alive extremely tedious, highly predictable and not in the least bit frightening.

The poorly developed plot follows a group of gamers with extremely daft names (October, Loomis, Phineus, Hutch, and Swink!?!) who attempt to unravel the mystery behind the deadly game before they too become victims. Eventually, they discover that it is the evil spirit of the legendary Countess Elizabeth Bathory who is killing anyone who dares to play, and that their only hope of survival is to continue with the game to the end.

With a story as dumb as this, viewers should expect a film with loose ends aplenty, not one iota of logic (who made the game, how, and why is never explained), very little in the way of scares or gore, and a dumb closing scene to leave the door open for—God forbid—a sequel.

Flawed But Very Entertaining

[claudio_carvalho · 6/10 · 15 July 2007]

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")

Worst Horror movie of '06

[mistorpotatomoto · 2/10 · 25 March 2006]

If not the worst horror movie ever made.

Let us start with the beginning shall we? The movie starts off as generic gamer #1(Milo Ventimiglia) begins his beta test of a new survival-horror video game much like the Resident Evil and Silent Hill franchises. You are sucked in with the cheesy video game graphics as a bunch of zombie babies begin to attack him.

He walks into a torture room (which makes no sense right now, since later on in the movie the same torture room is portrayed somewhere far deeper in the mansion) and is assaulted by a lady in a red dress. He is thrown off of the balcony with a chain wrapped around his neck.

The game ends with a very original "Game Over" message as generic gamer #1 starts to tremble in fear.

Cue roommates having sex in pig masks for no apparent reason.

Several boring minutes pass until he finally wanders downstairs to get a glass of milk before bed. A glass of milk which he throws at THE GHOST OF THE LADY IN THE RED DRESS! Didn't see that coming did you?

Anyway, his roommates are dead now (good, who wants a bunch of furries living anyway?) and he is thrown off of the balcony of his home with a chain wrapped around his neck, just like the video game.

This movie has more plot holes then swiss cheese. Something happens, and then they give you no explanation as to how that happened.

For instance, towards the end of the movie several characters are being chased by the police because they are the prime suspects in the recent murder of a police officer who also played the game. The only problem is, the movie ends before they resolve that. It's as if nothing went wrong.

Second, who made this game? Who has the programming knowledge to form something like this? When they reach their final destination, they actually show some evidence that there is someone living in this mansion. The only problem is they don't go anywhere with it. I can assume that the person is dead but they show no evidence at all. So let's just say he doesn't exist at all and that this movie sucks.

Third, at the end, as soon as they finish their task...that's it. They don't show you anything, no talking, no cheesy punchlines, nothing.

"Hey, instead of an actual ending, let's just make an obscure reference to this game actually being released to the public"

"But, what about the rest of the story? What about the police and the kids? What happens to them?"

"Nope, we wasted all of our money on cheesy graphics and crappy actors. We cant possibly afford a plausible ending."

Let me wrap this up before I start to hurt myself. Do not see this movie unless you want to waste your money. The graphics are cheap, the acting is poor and the story is weak. You will not laugh, you will not shriek, you will not enjoy yourself.

Really cool

[coconn4 · 8/10 · 27 October 2006]

After seeing the movie, I was freaked out to even go down to my basement in fear that I may see "The Bloody Countess". I was truly freaked out by this movie. The whole storyline of the video game tied in very well. Made it almost believable. The next day I checked the movie out online to find that this was based on the REAL bloody countess, Elizabeth Bathory. I found it quite interesting the life this woman led. That people (NOBLE PEOPLE) can get away with things like this. The depths she would go to, to stay youthful and the harm she put on to so many girls. I would recommend this to anyone to enjoys a heart stopper and to encourage them to check out the real story behind this woman. Quite graphic and gross to be truthful but interesting at the same time.

Early Review

[FFPwriter · 7/10 · 23 March 2006]

This movie was obviously cut down from R to PG-13. It was nevertheless enjoyable, a few creepy scenes. Blood and guts do not make a horror film, lets remember that. Because this movie was cut down, a few scenes don't make sense. But after seeing the previews we all know this isn't going to be the next cult classic, it was fun. Just enjoy for what it is.

This movie was basically The Ring meets Brainscan (A Edward furlong film from the 90s) It follows a group of kids who find a horror game. They play the game and start realizing when you die in the game, you die in real life. It has a ridiculous amount of pop culture references. But the creepier scenes in the movie really worked well.

Not worth renting

[forgotten707-1 · 1/10 · 15 April 2006]

Aside from Frankie Muniz chattering too fast to understand (Malcolm in the Middle flashbacks?) this film still cannot conjure up a scare. The idea with the "Countess" and the history surrounding her placed into the story was fun but the plot, and many side plots, just don't tie together. Plot synopsis: murdering ghost lures victims through video game. Toss in some blood spatters and a special effects and you've got yourself another bombed out would be horror flick. The ghost cronies resemble the ghost in "The Ring Two" far too much. The acting and constant and dramatic change in everyone's emotions is unbelievable. Save your money.

Did You Really Expect This To Be Good?

[gavin6942 · 5/10 · 14 December 2006]

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.

Watchable but Weak

[lilac_point_burmese · 4/10 · 14 August 2006]

I think the main problem is there are just too many of these movies lingering about. They are all the same, group of teenagers, gruesome deaths etc etc. The premise is pretty ridiculous, a haunted video game, having said that the plots of all these films usually have some ludicrous element, my main problem with this one is that they don't even bother trying to explain it! At least in The Ring they suggest that Samara projected her evil thoughts onto the videotope using her psychic powers, they don't even bother with that here! That Blood Countess must have some fantastic programming skills and a decent distributor as well because that is the only explanation the film seems to offer! But I digress - it is watchable, but it gets very boring towards the end and the Blood Countess looks like a graphic out of Kings Quest 1! I think it also takes itself seriously which is a bad move, these films are supposed to be hammy and cheesy, but this one actually seems to think it is a seriously scary film which it is not.

If you want a stupid horror movie about teenagers getting sliced up stick with Urban Legend, Friday the 13th and the like, they are all terrible but at least they have a bit of fun.