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Stay Alive
2006 - PG-13 - 85 Mins.
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| Director: William Brent Bell | | Producer: McG, Matthew Peterman | | Written By: William Brent Bell, Matthew Peterman | | Starring: Jon Foster, Samaire Armstrong, Frankie Muniz, Sophia Bush, Jimmi Simpson, Adam Goldberg |
| Review by: Chris Beaumont |
| Official Site: stayalive.movies.go.com/ |
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Just keep saying
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Stay Alive? More like Stay Awake. Yet another sub-par, PG-13 horror movie targeted at the teen market. The movie is rather predictable, and about as much fun as watching someone play a video game. For those of you who have never done that, it isn't all that much fun, video games are interactive for a reason, you are meant to interact with them. When you get relegated to video game viewer, the reason to care about it decreases dramatically.
We open with, what else, the video game. We watch as a young guy plays said game, which shares its name with the movie. After playing for a few minutes, he gets killed in the game. Shortly after that he starts to see things, and is quickly dispatched in the same way that his character died. If you couldn't guess by that, or just the commercials, you have a plot that centers on the video game world and the real world crossing over. Just like what is said about dreams, if you die in the game, you die for real.
The focus switches to the dead guy's best pal and his gaggle of friendly rejects. They gather to mourn the loss of their friend, and what better way to celebrate his memory? By playing the game. Of course, one of the gaggle knows the real world story behind the premise of the game. It concerns some old child killer who vowed to come back, blah, blah, blah. Then some more people start to die, in incredibly bloodless ways (need to preserve the PG-13). This spurs on our intrepid heroes to try and track down the real world inspiration. The plot goes through hoops to get our band from point A to point B in as few steps as possible.
The plot, such as it is, does not tread any new water, nor is it all that interesting. I didn't find any of the characters to be all that likable, or have any reason to care whether they lived or died. The rules change as they go along, some die hours after playing, while some die immediately after. The game escalates on its own with no real rhyme or reason. We never learn why these people were targeted, or any real explanation as to how this happens. Now, I don't need the writers to explain every last detail, but I do expect there to be enough clues to reasonably explain it. This fails on all counts.
I am reminded of J-horror films. It is almost like this is a remake of a Japanese film. The structure is survival horror, where the characters are being pursues by these evil forces, and no matter what happens, they are not going to get out alive. Japanese horror has a certain sense of dread, unlike American horror, where the dread is there, but not quite as palpable. Granted, this is not nearly as good, or effective, but the impression is there. I am also reminded of a fun movie from the 90's with a similar concept, 'Brainscan,' which involves a hypnotic video game with all too real results.
The acting is decent, if unspectacular. Adam Goldberg seems uncharacteristically restrained as one of the side characters, and Frankie Muniz stays within his range in a character that seems a logical extension of his Malcolm character ('Malcolm in the Middle'). The main characters are relative newcomers, with Jimmi Simpson as the goofy Phineus.
Bottomline. Not a good movie. There are a couple of good looking scenes, but nothing that would save it. Far from the worst I have seen, but again, it is not all that much fun to watch. There is an over-reliance on the jump scare, and not much blood. I smell Unrated DVD. Watch at your own risk.
Not Recommended.
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