A group of geeky kids, surprisingly not all living in their parents' basements, stumble across an underground game - "Stay Alive". But they're in for a treat: when you die in this game, you're going to die in real life, too! This is an amateur effort from both the writer and the director, whose names I don't recall. In all fairness, for a first time effort, this film was watchable and in some ways quite entertaining. It wasn't wonderful, or scary or much of anything else... but good enough that it seems to help people pass the time. Which, in the end, maybe is all we can hope for from movies.
I liked the video game theme. Unlike the Internet theme of "Fear Dot Com", this was more realistic and the game featured in the movie was the sort of game I could actually see people playing. It reminded me of "House of the Dead", which is too bad now that Uwe Boll ruined that arcade classic. The video game references to Fatal Frame ,the Konami code, and the word "w00t!" were nice touches, and I got the sense that the writer actually knew something about video games. Which is a huge plus. The Mario Brothers "1up" sweatshirt was also a nice touch.
Now, the film has a vampire element because the villain is Elizabeth Bathory, who has somehow been risen from the dead and haunts a video game. Bathory makes a great monster, though maybe not in this movie. A lot of questions remain unanswered about this... because, seriously, if I'm a vampiress from the Middle Ages, I'm not coming back in a video game.
The cast was strong as far as the teen slasher genre goes. Jon Foster played Hutch O'Neill, the fire-fearing leader of this Scooby gang. My only complaint is that he looked like a dead ringer for Jamie Kennedy, which will ultimately boost or kill his career, I think.
Samaire Armstrong was the bleach-haired Abigail, who has a very strong role and exudes some kind of sensuality I can't explain. In one scene she's almost nude, but either her, the writer or the director ruined this... and made it really cheesy. How many girls who unexpectedly get hung upside down have their shirt tucked into their bra?
Frankie Muniz is in this movie, and not nearly as annoying as you probably think. For a 50-year old man trapped in a kid's body (like Haley Joel Osment and Gary Coleman), he's decent.
Sophia Bush was October Bantum, the rebel goth girl... as far as rebel goth girls go, she's alright. You'll find yourself (if you're a young man) getting torn between her and Abigail as your favorite female lead.
Last, I want to point out the great character name of "Loomis Crowley", which I can only assume is an homage to both Aleister Crowley and Dr. Loomis from "Halloween". If not, well, you still get the point for it.
Some of the game elements are a bit cheesy (especially when the game is outside the computer) and the overall story makes little sense and is very teen-oriented. (In other words, it has no depth whatsoever.) But it wasn't bad. You might want to save this for a night when you're drunk and just want something to be amused by without actually wanting to appreciate the film itself.
