Posted: 03/26/2006

Stay Alive

(2006)

by Doc Pedrolie

Stay Alive’s poster features the tag line “You Die In The Game. You Die For Real.” Now for years, many film fanatics complained about trailers that are the movies they represent. Basically, you see the trailer and you’ve seen the movie. This is the first instance I can honestly recall where if you’ve heard the tag line, you’ve seen the movie.

Stay Alive is written and directed by first time filmmakers, William Brent Bell and Matthew Peterman. It features a host of upcoming actors, Jon Foster (The Door In The Floor), Frankie Muniz (Malcolm In The Middle, Agent Cody Banks), Samaire Armstrong (The O.C. and Entourage), Sophie Bush (One Tree Hill and Jimmi Simpson (Herbie; Fully Loaded). The picture’s produced by McG, the man behind the Charlie’s Angel’s movies and the T.V. series Fastlane, and a host of former studio executives.

The story basically follows a group of hardcore gamers (dedicated members of the video game playing underground) who come across a beta (or test version) of an unreleased game Stay Alive. It’s a horror survival game - a popular gaming genre (think Resident Evil). The gamers play in a group online and can’t resist the opportunity a beta version represents – uncharted territory. They dive in and play. Things get ugly when gamers turn up dead exactly like their characters in the game.

It’s a good idea for a movie. You can see how an idea like this would excite movie executives. Gaming culture is definitely on the rise in terms of public consciousness and I think we’re going to see a lot more films and T.V. shows that mine this booming sub-culture for material. Unfortunately, the good idea behind Stay Alive is only that – a good idea, not a good movie.

At one point in Stay Alive, the main character Josh (Jon Foster) yells in frustration “I don’t know what the rules are. There are no rules.” It’s in response to the unexpected death of fellow gamer October, the requisite goth chick in the group. It’s a telling statement. The death completely breaks the pattern set up in the movie so far, and basically happens because its been about ten minutes or so and its time for another friend to bite the dust. It’s a total lapse in storytelling acumen and completely undermines the premise of the film built up to that point.

Believability isn’t the only thing awry with Stay Alive, though. First of all, most of the actors seem lost in the movies. Especially Frankie Muniz, who’s cast as a gaming geek, but can’t quite shed the specter of Malcolm in his work. Then there are The Ring movies. Unfortunately, filmmakers Bell and Peterman draw from the horror well of the Ring series without masking their theft too well. Their aren’t many truly scary moments in Stay Alive, but the one’s that come closest seem completely lifted from The Ring. Add in incredibly loud sound effects to underscore (in this case greatly overscore) the fright moments and the usual, tight camera frames to induce paranoia; and you’ve got the same old horror movie, with lifeless acting, featuring monsters you’ve seen before.

There is one cool element to the story, though. The basis for the videogame in Stay Alive is an Eastern European legend “The Blood Countess.” It’s transplanted to New Orleans, but the filmmakers do stay true to some of the key elements of the initial source material. It provides noticeable depth to the gaming element of the film. That sense of infused reality is what’s missing in the rest of the film. Though the legend’s not delved into too greatly in the film (it is, after all, only a story device) it’s about the only standout piece in the picture.

Doc Pedrolie is a film critic and filmmaker in Chicago.

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