Director:Â William Brent Bell
Writer: William Brent BellÂ
Producer: Gary Barber/Roger Birnbaum/Jonathan Glickman/McGÂ
Starring: Frankie Muniz/Jon Foster/Adam Goldberg/Sophia Bush/Milo VentimigliaÂ
Year: 2006
Country: US
BBFC Certification: 15
Duration: 100 minutes
All gamers have most probably imagined, dreamed or wondered about what would happen if video games would somehow blend with real life. Much like a gamerâs version of A Nightmare on Elm Street crossed with The Ring and as the tagline suggests âif you die in the game, you die for realâ. A gang of hardcore gamers mourn the loss of one of their friends. He was playing a computer game before he died and the gang get their hands on it and decide they play it together to remember their friend, only they find out that the game isnât the kind of games they play. Stay Alive is quite bad; it has bad acting, a terrible script, quite a lazy name, a story with unused potential and one of the worst excuses for special effectsâŠand yet I liked it. Thereâs some kind of charm to Stay Alive that makes you like it, especially if you are a gamer. Itâs one of those movies that you have to like it for what it is and not hate it because of what itâs not. Sure itâs another low-budget horror movie that doesnât really make the cut of being a memorable horror movie but the idea behind it is something simple yet brilliant. Unfortunately, the idea wasnât executed very well and it failed to be at least good. Donât get this review wrong, it was an enjoyable movie but it wasnât good. One of the main things about the movie that I could not forgive was the very stereotypical characters. We had characters from goth gamers to sarcastic characters who never takes anything seriously to characters who looks like he fell head first into his own wardrobe (yes, Iâm talking about Frankie Muniz). Along with those stereotypical characters must come the stereotypical dialogue as each person says something that can either make you groan or sigh and shake your head a little.
Stay Alive has quite a bit of bad acting from most of the characters but a couple of actors from the cast had given out average performances. It was nice to see Frankie Muniz of Malcolm in the Middle fame play the geekiest gamer of the gang and he does so quite well but, just like Michael Cera, he more or less plays himself. The script and writing is terrible but the idea of the story is good, itâs just a shame that it was executed poorly and quite sloppily as this had the potential to be something decent. Another thing that Stay Alive had a problem with was itâs pacing, some scenes were too fast and were over with a blink of an eye and some scenes were too slow, leaving you hoping that something good would happen fast. The CGI and special effects were also quite terrible and something that actually didnât help the movie in any way. Overall, Stay Alive isnât a good movie but that doesnât mean to say itâs stupidly fun and quite funny for all the wrong reasons. This is definitely a guilty pleasure for gamers.
The title itself is something you couldnât take very seriously so you know what youâre in for when you watch a movie like Stay Alive. Even though thereâs stereotypical gamer characters and the script and story is quite tedious and boring sometimes, Stay Alive is a fun and quite enjoyable watch thatâs not to be taken seriously at all. Sure it could have been miles better and if the movieâs idea was placed into the right hands with a good solid cast, this could have been more than decent. Itâs not overly fantastic but Stay Alive does have one thing for gamers and thatâs likeability since the idea may be quite appealing to them. I would recommend this to gamers but be warned, donât expect the movie to be like a horror version of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World otherwise you will be very disappointed.
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