Powerful

Masterful Movie

Crappy film

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

I was really looking forward to seeing this movie. As a gamer, a HUGE fan of survival horror games (Silent Hill especially), and someone who absolutely loves supernatural horror, I thought this movie had the potential to be like a dream, or nightmare, come true. Unfortunately, the writers of the movie must not really be into gaming, and even that would be okay if the movie creators actually did a little research. Stay Alive is a beta version of a computer game, Frankie Muniz uses an alienware laptop, but it's played with playstation controllers (I think-at least its a PS controller on the movie cover). The tester plays the game with a couple of friends, and if you die in the game, you die for real. (I even found the tag line of the movie annoying.."you die in the game, you die for real" sounds too much like a nightmare on elm st's +you die in your dreams, you die for real.")I was disappointed in this movie in the first ten minutes. The main character, Hutch, works as some kind of clerk in an office. His boss calls him in to ask advice on the game he's playing, Silent Hill 4. He needs to know how to beat the last boss. Hutch tells him to "dop the hyperblaster-it has unlimited ammo but drop it anyway-then go down the stairs to the boss, and she'll just die. First of all, no last boss just dies when you do nothing. Second of all, there is no hyperblaster in SH4. Finally, the last boss in SH4 is a man, not a woman. I realize I may sound like a nerd, but I honestly think if you're going to make a movie about a survival horror game and you want to reference a game, at the very least wikipedia it first.So anyway Hutch ends up with Stay Alive, and he gets together with some gamer friends and one girl who has never played anything before, and they all play. These are supposed to be serious gamers. So at one point Hutch's character is standing in a room with a fireplace and a closet, and there's a GLOWING LIGHT coming out of the closet and the door is ajar. Pretty obvious you'd think.. but he doesn't see it. The girl who had never played a game before goes "wait! wait! the wardrobe!' to which Hutch responds "NICE eye!!!!" The friends then praise her for noticing the completely obvious hidden room. If he's a serious gamer and he didn't know to check the door with the glowing light coming out of it..he should find a new hobby.Besides silly things like that though, the movie isn't all bad. I wouldn't call it scary, but it was a cool idea. The story wasn't explained as well as I would have liked, and there were some things left unanswered (I noticed people saying they never said who made the game, but they did) for example, the cops were looking to arrest Hutch bc he knew all the murder victims. When the cops show up at the house his friends are hanging out in, they run (Nevermind that Hutch had an alibi for all the murders, apparently knowing people is all it takes to be thrown in jail.) and at the end of the movie, I guess the cops just give up? There were a few loose ends that were kind of annoying. Altogether though it's worth a watch. The idea was solid, the game scenes weren't bad, and if this actually comes out as a game, I would definitely play it. As a gamer it offended me a little, but as a horror movie fan I liked it, because it was a unique idea and hasn't been done to death. Overall I'm glad I watched it, but I don't think I would sit through it again.

I'm going to keep this very short. 1) Don't write a gore/ slasher type horror film and make it PG-13. 2) Bad video CG monsters are not scary in the real world. 3) If you are going to make a game about survival horror films, research the subject first so you at least SOUND like you know what you're talking about. 4) Constant, predictable startle scares do not make it a horror film.Don't bother watching it. It'd be a decent drinking game, except for the lack or gore, sex, or good violence. On the plus side, the plot is easy to follow and makes sense (as much as a movie about a video game that kills you can be.) There are some cool moments when the characters blend the real world and the game together, but they are very few and are all in the last 30 minutes of the movie. The characters are poorly fleshed out, despite the bad attempt at a flash back, and mostly unlikeable. I do not recommend it.

Stay Alive is a horror film in where the main gimmick is that there is a video game where if you die in, you die in real life. That seems like it would've been a remake of some obscure Japanese horror flick....well it's not. I feel like this movie got a bad rep because it came out during a time when Hollywood attempted to cash in on PG-13 Horror films. If anyone saw the theatrical version, and the uncut version side by side, you'd know your missing out on a lot. A. Lot. Let me warn everyone first off all. Though this may be a horror film, it's not terrifying at all. There is a sense of dread during the whole film, but no real sense of terror. All in all, this movie is a very fun movie. It's one the most cheesiest horror films I've seen for a while. All the actors play their stereotypical characters perfectly. All the kills are very bloody, though there is a bit of CGI (IF you watched the Uncut version.) The video game scenes are amazing. I kind of wished at times that there would be a few more video games scenes since they were made so well. This movie is a great B-movie. If you like B-movies, then yeah...watch it.

A dull and generic teen horror film, aimed squarely at the PG-13 crowd. This one has a dumb premise to begin with: a bunch of kids end up playing an online horror game. When their characters die in-game, they end up dying in real life. Now, with the right people behind it this could have been an arresting survival horror with an interesting slant on mankind's increasing reliance on computer technology for both business and pleasure. It isn't, and you end up thinking that playing the game featured in-film would be a more interesting experience.The characters are bland and dull, the type you'll forget about just minutes after they stop appearing on screen. There isn't a single person you get behind and want to see make it till the end (bringing in safe, popular TV actor Frankie Muniz doesn't help, either). The antagonist in the film is Countess Elizabeth Bathory, although she's a virtual representation of the character, which means the CGI animators don't have to worry about making her look realistic (instead she looks pretty crappy, like a ghost in a bad GRUDGE rip-off). The deaths are derivative and bloodless, and any attempts at suspense are negated by the overly familiar nature of the storyline. My advice is to give this one a miss.