We continue our 31 fights of Halloween with Stay Alive from 2006. A group of teenagers decide to pass idle time by playing an online game that has a horror theme. But the action taking place on their computer screens becomes a terrifying reality when they realize that each time a character dies during the game, the figure’s human overseer dies as well.
Stay Alive is a cool movie. Is it a good movie? Not really. It honestly could have been so much more. This concept is so cool. Play the game, and if you die in it, you die in real life. The oddest thing about this movie is who the killer is. The game is all about Elizabeth Bathory. If you don’t know who that is, she was an alleged serial killer in the 1600s.
It’s kind of funny to think that this historical figure found a way to come back through a video game that kills people. Why not Vlad the Impaler or Ted Bundy? It’s really odd, but it’s kind of fun. She carries around these huge shears, which she uses to kill people once they die in the game, and it is intimidating. The only real problem is that the CGI is really bad here. Bathory never truly looks like she is really there.
The movie does a good job of being fast-paced and having dynamic characters. It isn’t a long film, so we get to the action pretty quickly. Also, we spend a decent time with a bunch of characters that we end up liking some of them. Frankie Muniz plays a character named Swink, and he is insanely likable.
The lore is really interesting, and the kills have good buildup, but overall, the movie doesn’t reach its full potential. This one would benefit from a remake. With how popular online gaming is, I feel this would do very well today. You could do something with VR as well. Even though the movie is far from perfect, it is still entertaining to watch. It has likeable actors, a great concept, and it doesn’t take itself too seriously. Check it out and see what could have been.
Stay Alive is not currently streaming.
Come back tomorrow for some more spooky reviews.
