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.
Release Year: 2006
Rating: 4.6/10 (16,954 voted)
Critic's Score: 24/100
Director:
William Brent Bell
Stars: Jon Foster, Samaire Armstrong, Frankie Muniz
Storyline Loomis Crowley is testing the underground game Stay Alive with his friends Sarah and Rex. When the game is over, Loomis finds Rex and Sarah dead in their room, and he is pushed by a shadow from the staircase, breaking the banister and hanging the same way he died in the game. Loomis' sister, Emma, gives his game to his best friend, Hutch. They, and his friends Miller, Phineus with his sister October, Swink and Abigail play the 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. She 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.
Writers: William Brent Bell, Matthew Peterman
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
Monica Monica
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Mrs. Crowley
Rio Hackford
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Detective King
Billy Louviere
-
Fidget
J. Richey Nash
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Young Rookie
(as Richey Nash)
Maria Kalinina
-
Countess
Taglines:
The only thing you'll lose in this game is YOUR LIFE
Trivia:
In the final Scene, a blue and a green controller are show right after the game store employee puts the game into the system. These are off brand Sega Dreamcast controllers.
Goofs:
Factual errors:
October finds a book called the "Malleus Demonium" and claims it's the Witches' Hammer. The ACTUAL Witches' Hammer is titled the "Malleus Maleficarum"
Quotes:
[Phineus licks Swink's controller and hands it to him]
Swink Sylvania:
Dude... Phineus Bantum:
Put your hands on it. Swink Sylvania:
That's disgusting... Phineus Bantum:
Touch it.
User Review
Not the best I've ever seen... but decent.
Rating: 7/10
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.
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