Stay Alive (2006)

User Rating:

4.4/10   

Director:

William Brent Bell

Writers (WGA):

William Brent Bell (written by) &
Matthew Peterman (written by)

Release Date:

24 March 2006 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

It's the game of life and death....

Plot:

For a group of teens, the answer to the mysterious death of their old friend lies within the world of an online video game based on the true story of an ancient noblewoman known as the Blood Countess.

Plot Keywords:

Blood | Blood Countess | Video Game | Hanging | Tower

Cast

Jon Foster	...	Hutch
Samaire Armstrong	...	Abigail
Frankie Muniz	...	Swink
Jimmi Simpson	...	Phineus
Wendell Pierce	...	Detective Thibodeaux
Milo Ventimiglia	...	Loomis Crowley
Sophia Bush	...	October
Adam Goldberg	...	Miller Banks
Billy Slaughter	...	Rex
Nicole Oppermann	...	Sarah
April Wood	...	Loretta
Monica Monica	...	Mrs. Crowley
Rio Hackford	...	Detective King
Billy Louviere	...	Fidget
J. Richey Nash	...	Young Rookie (as Richey Nash)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for horror violence, disturbing images, language, brief sexual and drug content.

Runtime:

USA:85 min | 100 min (Unrated Director's Cut) | Argentina:85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:PG-13 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Ontario) | Australia:M | UK:15 | Portugal:M/16 | Singapore:PG | Malaysia:18SG | Ireland:15A | Norway:15 | Finland:K-18 | Canada:14A | Philippines:PG-13 | Australia:MA (director's cut) | Argentina:13 | Singapore:M18 (director's cut) | Germany:16 (director's cut) | Italy:T | France:U (with warning) | Brazil:16 | South Korea:15

Filming Locations:

Esplanade Mall - 1401 West Esplanade, Kenner, Louisiana, USA

Company:

Hollywood Pictures

Trivia:

Milo Ventimiglia had to wear contacts in order to see through his glasses.

Goofs:

Continuity: When everyone first boots up the game and Swink puts on his gaming glove, he puts it on his right hand. Yet, when the group is customizing their characters, the camera switches to a close-up of his controller, and the glove is now on his left hand. In the following shot, the glove is back on his right hand.

Quotes:

October Bantum: If you had any less sense, you'd be half a penny.

Movie Connections:

References Suchîmubôi (2004)

Soundtrack:

Sweet Dreams

Good Concept, Lazy Execution

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