Twitter
Facebook
Reddit
Digg
Tell us what you think!Send a letter to the editor about this or any other article in The Maine Campus.
Have you ever been at a friend’s house, and for lack of something to do, you just sit around watching the screen while your friend plays video games? Have you ever wished that awesome experience could play out for you on the silver screen? Neither have I. But somebody did, because “Stay Alive” has all that and less.
All of the characters in “Stay Alive” are caught in a ridiculous situation, which they figure out a bit too fast. “Yes, two of our gaming friends have been murdered – clearly, this game has been designed and coded for the PS2 format by a 16th century Hungarian witch who intends to resurrect herself through the players’ blood!” Of course!
The film is fraught with all the inexplicable actions you’ve come to hate about bad horror movie characters. While on a smoke break from your day of being preyed upon by bloodthirsty cyber demons, why not take a minute to go alone into that spooky, abandoned construction site? When you think you’ve seen a demonic figure in the rural country road, why not pull over to investigate, and then call your friends to come pick you up? Makes perfect sense!
Most of the fun to be found in this movie will come when it’s released on DVD, at which point throngs of gamers can mock the film in groups. Game geeks will recognize just how amazing it is that the sound the demons make is the sound of the Nintendo Rumblepack Controller. Or they’ll wonder out loud about how a game with only three levels can take these “hardcore gamers” three nights to complete.
You don’t have to be a gamer to appreciate the atrocious dialogue or script that places plot progression ahead of believability on its list of priorities. But you know the movie isn’t even trying when a character comes back from the dead with no explanation whatsoever.
So, it’s a less-than-one-star film, but let’s not forget that doesn’t exactly mean it’s unwatchable. It’s such the perfect opposite of a good film that it still comes out as sort of fun. You could watch it again and again trying to find all the layers of meaning that are missing. Or you could do something with your time that is more entertaining and rewarding. Like watch your friend play PS2 for an hour-and-a-half.
