Hmmmm, I may have finally found the perfect horror movie for my 13 year old son, with the possible exception of the fact that it has profanity, gore and (gasp) nudity. You see, it's a movie about a bunch of gamers who get together to play an underground video game where (legend has it) you die in real life if your character dies in the game. Why anyone would want to take a risk like that, however implausible that it may be, is beyond me. I'm also against trying the Japanese fish where, if it is prepared wrong, you risk dying. My thrill seeking generally has a limit not much further than telling my wife she is wrong about something. Plus, I'm just not into video games at all. I try to play from time to time but I had a hard enough time playing the home version 'Pong' when it first came out, you can imagine my trying to pull someone's spine out in "Mortal Kombat."

Now my son on the other hand, is totally into video games. If it were up to him, he'd play morning, noon, night, mid-afternoon, early mid-morning, sunset, dinner time… I think he'd set up an Xbox in the bathroom is given the chance. "Stay Alive" is right up his alley as the teens in this flick are vidiots of the highest order. Once they get into the game and learn the truth, they try to solve the mystery behind the game's origins in order to survive. But in spite of their best efforts, one by one they bite the dust.

I didn’t have very high hopes for "Stay Alive", in spite of the possibility of a decent plot. With two exceptions the actors in it were pretty much newbies, which is usually a bad sign. Then there was the fact that there were no press screenings right before it opened in theatres, also a bad sign. Finally it was out of the theatre in what seemed like minutes… bad sign numero tres. But where life ends in theatres, second chances arrive with the DVD market. The film hits store shelves in an Unrated version, which as I understand it even adds a new character and subplot. So now that I've seen it… well…

For the most part, "Stay Alive" lived down to my expectations. I can't rightfully say it was a terrible movie as there were some decent special effects allowing for some very clever kills. The only 'special effect' that didn’t work for me was the representation of the ghost causing all the mayhem, the design there was really bad. The plot was okay, but of course there were holes you could drive a truck through. Even with my limited knowledge of gaming, I could tell the game in the movie was rather improbable in the way game play was set up. However, I will say that the visuals in the game did look pretty cool.

It was interesting to see the casting of Frankie Muniz as 'the nerd', who was able to spout off unintelligible techno babble in a single bound. I wondered if Muniz was going to have much of a career past "Malcolm in the Middle" and if this is any example I don’t think he's heading in the right direction. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that it will eventually come out in the press that his other career consists of donning a wig to create the persona of Lindsey Lohan. After all, most of us know Lindsey Lohan is a fictional character. I knew it the first time I saw the trailer for "Mean Girls" and I immediately thought it was Muniz in a wig. Go back and check the trailer out and see if I'm wrong.

Anyhow, getting back to "Stay Alive", the DVD does offer up a couple of odd special features, the least of these being a commentary by director William Brent Bell. He throws in the usual anecdotes and the like and does make a few good observations about the project. There is also a Visual Effects reel, which was really hard on the eyes. It runs about a minute or so and shows a lot of the progression shots for some of the scenes, but they are very rapid fire and I think if I was epileptic I might have been in trouble. Finally there is an interactive menu where you 'build' a character. Once you do, you hit an 'activate' button and usually you are hit with some scene of dying from the movie. Supposedly if you hit the right combination of character, shirt and weapon there's a prize Easter egg of some sort. I gave up after three tries, but am sure I'll go at it again later.

"Stay Alive" has its moments and It does exhibit some creativity in its filmmaking style. It's not a movie that will give you a lot of scares, but it might be fun to watch with a big group of gaming friends on a Saturday night… with a few drinks… and a copy of the game hooked up and ready to play…

Directed by: William Brent Bell
Starring: Jon Foster, Samaire Armstrong, Frankie Muniz, Jimmi Simpson, Adam Goldberg
Extras: Visual Effects Reel, Filmmaker Audio Commentary, Interactive Bonus Menus - Build Your Character
Specifications: Widescreen (2.35:1), Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Studio: Hollywood Pictures Home Video
Release Date: 9/19/2006
Region 1
MPAA Rating: Unrated
Website

We'll give Stay Alive a C.