ThisisoneofthoseamazinglyterriblemoviesthatisjustSOfuntolaughat.Myfriendsandourdates, alongtheentireaudience,keptonlaughingathowstupidandterribleitwas.Notasinglepersonoutofabout25 tookitseriously.ButJesus..thismoviewasjustbad. Terribleplot(duh)andgodawfulactingfromevery singleperson.TheOneTreeHillchickwasaboutthebestofthewholelot,butthenyoucouldtellshewastryingtoo hardtocomeacrossasagoodactress,whichjustmadeherperformanceevenworse.

Ihavenoideawhattogradethismovie.It'stheworstmadefilmI'veseeninquiteawhile.Asahorrorfilm itfailsonallcounts.Notasinglescarysecondintheentire90minutes.Butasacomedy..hahaha,I<3edit. Allthetalkofvideogamesandallthatwasjustsoembarrasinglysilly.

C-


I have had a fun talk over MSN with bABA last night about Stay Alive. The more I thought about the film and certain scenes, the more ridiculous it seemed. Fun aside, however, it makes me sad that this film will end up with more money than films like Slither.

There are several scenes in Sayt Alive that made me think whether the director has ever seen a single movie in his life before. Because if he did, I gotta wonder why he didn't avoid the worst of clichés I have seen on-screen in years!

I am going to describe one scene to you, to give you an example:

A guy's girlfriend has just been killed by the demonic video game ghost of some witch. Her throat was slit. That is a day after two of his best friends have been killed as well. Ab hour later another chick that he has learned a day ago is in danger of being impaled by the very same ghost. He rushes to her rescue and comes just in time (even though it is Framkie Muniz' great computer skillz that save her). And then....they start kissing right away. About an hour after his girlfriend was killed and 10 seconds after this other girl escaped her impaling.

Get what I mean? No? Here's another one for you:

At the end of the film, this girl and the lead guy are separated and he has to go on without her to defeat that ghost thingie, so he gives her a rose because for some reason roses are the only things that can protect you from all the demonic breed. He runs away. She is surrounded by menace of all kind and what does she do? She starts plucking the petals of her rose and saying "He loves me, he loves me not"....

I kid you not. I was in stitches and so were many people in the audiences. And these are just two examples of this movie's unintentional hilarity. And now imagine, THIS is what I got to see instead of a planned Silent Hill screening (because the studio pulled back Silent Hill due to more needed post production work). When the film was over, I sighed loudly "Wow, that was shit". I think this got more reaction from the audience than the entire film, hehe.

There are also of course many many gaping plot holes, apparently dead characters reappearing for no reason and at no point is the explanation provided for how this killing game ever become to exist and who made it... Add to that the acting that ranges from okay to bad.

Bad thing is, that somewhewre underneath all these covers is a nice idea for a good R-rated flick. The visuals in the film are very interesting, but because of PG-13 almost all kills happen off-screen. You just have the feeling that the movie is much more brutal than what you get to see. It is pretty sad that their best violence and action sequences are the video game scenes, hehe. The imagery overall is really rather haunting and creepy, but the movie never makes really use of it.

Overall, however, I must say, I was entertained, even though mostly unintentionally.

C-

It's stupid, predictable, and unscary. Although somewhat entertaining, the plot holes in this film are just hard to overcome. And, the fact that the one character I wanted to see die wasn't killed kinda bugged me. He was portrayed as a "hero."

It wasn't that bad. It was a fun cheesy time.

6/10 (C+)

B-

A movie that is the definition of popcorn horror. Dreadful screenplay, mostly bad acting, but it is above all entertaining, and for that reason there are far worse films you could spend your money on. Also, the cinematography is actually really good, not just "could be worse," but GOOD. Things like the hallway longshots, the shadows of Elizabeth, the outside shots of the fog... Somewhere along the way the director decided that this wouldn't be a terribly made film, and he succeded. There was also an element of taking itself seriously that the film had that I kind of liked, there was no glossing over or winking at the camera, and the deaths weren't overly played out.

And oh, Bush was the standout of the cast, though I do agree with Korrgan that they pushed her a bit hard for emotional scenes, and it didn't work too well. She's a good actress who always brings energy to her roles, but it will be a couple years before she can become depthy at will. It was worthwhile to see a more serious side of her though, distancing herself from the normal diva comedic.

Anyways, the movie is good fun, better than it could've been by far. Really the biggest problem in the film is the screenplay itself, which admittingly is awful, but other than that it does pretty well for itself. I'd easily advise it over Silent Hill, Hostel, or The Grudge, to be honest. Worthwhile for time killing, the cinematography, and an early Bush role that will probably be looked at laughingly later in her career.