STAY
ALIVE
With
Jon
Foster,
Samaire
Armstrong,
Frankie
Muniz,
Jimmi
Simpson,
Milo
Ventimiglia
Directed
by
William
Brent
Bell
Teen
horror
flicks
are
indeed
a
dime
a
dozen,
and
far
too
often
cannibalize
over-used
narratives
of
torture.
The
latter
theme
does
play
a
role
here,
but
in
a
bit
of
a
different
capacity
than
expected.
Here
we
get
the
fusion
of
an
age
old
legend
/
myth
/
historic
figure,
and
modern
technology.
A
kid
and
his
friends
die
in
exactly
the
same
way
as
they
do
in
the
pre-released
survival
horror
video
game
they
got
their
hands
on.
The
game’s
lead
villain
is
that
of
countess
Bathory,
the
woman
who
killed
dozens
of
girls
to
bathe
in
their
blood
for
eternal
youth
(a
theme
which
also
got
a
vivid
scene
in
Eli
Roth’s
Hostel
II).
One
of
the
dead
kid’s
best
pals
attends
his
fallen
gamer
buddy’s
funeral
and
the
guy’s
sister
gives
him
his
games,
with
it
Stay
Alive,
the
Bathory
game.
With
a
huddle
of
avid
gaming
friends,
they
hook
up
a
multi-player
set-up
to
check
out
this
underground
delicacy.
When
one
of
them
ends
up
dead
and
they
realize
that’s
how
he
died
in
the
game,
they
discover
the
first
bunch
of
corpses
also
shared
their
game
fates.
They
literally
have
to
stay
alive
in
the
game
to
stay
alive
for
real,
while
trying
to
get
to
the
bottom
of
this
sick
joke
–
perhaps
they
shouldn’t
have
read
the
incantation
as
they
were
instructed
at
the
game’s
start!
With
several
inventive
deaths
and
a
good
film
saving
technique
by
using
video
graphic
screen
time,
Stay
Alive
is
a
pretty
entertaining
little
flick.
Also
features
a
good
musical
score
by
John
Frizzell
(Alien
Resurrection),
and
Malcolm
In
The
Middle
star
Frankie
Muniz.
DVD
extras:
director’s
commentary
and
visual
effects
montage.
3
/
B
-
PB
1
2
3
4
5
6
A
-
B
-
C
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