Stay alive

Year of release : 2006

Run time : 1h41m

Genre : Horror

Cast : Frankie Muniz, Jon Foster, Samaire Armstrong, Sophia Bush, Jimmi Simpson, Adam Goldberg, Milo Ventimiglia

Gamer Loomis (what a name!Come to think of it,they all had weird names I've never heard before!) is found dead after he played a video game which scared him. His friend,who was taken in by Loomis' family,when his died in a fire,decides to play the video game (that Loomis' sister gave him,as her parents refused to let her play it) with his friends.

The video game is based on Elizabeth Bathory's life (the video game starts with a cool poem,which must be read out loud, for the game to start),in this movie they put her in the USA,on the Gerouge Plantation. She hates mirrors,so they break, and has an army of dead girls trying to k!ll the players. Most of the time,she's coming out of nowhere and ends a player.

Right after he's k!lled in the game, Hutch's boss and friend, starts seeing things,and is ki!led by a woman dressed like in the XVIth century or something.

 

Hutch starts suspecting the game is k!lling his friends,especially since he starts seeing things.

Another one of his friends dies,the same way he died in the game,and he warns the police,who ,at first don't believe him,then come for him,after the detective who played the game and died,dies just like in the game.

Hutch and his friends who are still alive,decide to find the developer of the video game and potentially the plantation with the tower,so they could stop this evil. But do they have what it takes to do it,and do they have enough time,as the game plays itself,k!lling them when they don't play.

This used to be one of my favorite movies,and I remember liking the villain( I used to find the actress Maria Kalinina,the winner of the 1st Soviet Beauty Pageant, so beautiful,even in the dead makeup !! I still think she's a beautiful woman). Not anymore!

 

Also,this was a version I never watched before,that has more characters,like the developer of the video game,played by Angelina Jolie's brother,who looks like her male version,and a woman who tells them about the Romanian countess!

One thing that bothers me is when the writers don't bother researching what they want to write about,and just come up with their own story about a known character. Like for example Elizabeth Bathory ,a well known Hungarian countess,which in this movie is Romanian,because why not?Am I right? Bathory is not even a Romanian name,it's Hungarian! Not to mention, they moved her from Europe to the USA!

Another thing that bothers me is,Abigail lives in a van,but she always has perfect hair and makeup. She's also obsessed with always taking pictures,even of people who don't want to be in her pictures.

I think the movie was inspired by The Ring,as it reminded me of it.I remember that at the time,most of the horror movies were inspired by The Ring (The Grudge,One Missed Call (although these two movies along with The Ring ,are remakes of Japanese horror successes), FearDotCom ),as I guess,the makers wanted the same kind of success that movie got.

I still liked the soundtrack.

 

The visual effects are so and so,sometimes good,sometimes it looks airbrushed,like when it gets darker,before the countess appears. Also, online I've seen pictures of Maria Kalinina in the ghostly makeup,so she was on set,playing in those murd3r scenes,but her character looks computer-made,I don't understand why they somehow,altered the way she looked though CGI,because they made it look like it was not real,as in,it was all CGI.

Viewer discretion is advised,as the movie contains nudity and vulgar vernacular.

The movie is for rent / sale on Amazon, AppleTv, Fandango at Home, Google Play, YouTube.

Rating : Could have been a contender !