By
Tony Farinella
September 16, 2006 - 17:57
Review: The dead teenager genre is quite popular. People can always find new and creative ways for teenagers to die. The trick is getting them to stay alive. Speaking of staying alive, and no, I don't mean John Travolta. It would be interesting to see him in a horror film though. The next film I am reviewing is 'Stay Alive', which follows a group of teenagers who at the start are alive, but near the end, not so much.
The story opens with a hardcore gamer in the middle of testing out a new game entitled 'Stay Alive.' He is fairly into the game while his other friends are busy having sex and other lewd acts. Pretty soon the game starts to turn real as he and his friends all end up dead at the hands of this video game. Hutch (Jon Foster) is very upset by the death of his close friends and attends the funeral to mourn his passing.
While there he is given his recently deceased friends bag of video games. Him and his friends decide to honor their video game pal by playing a round of video games in his honor. The actors include Samaire Armstrong, Sophia Bush, Frankie Munz, and Jimmi Simpson. Lots of good looking people who love to play video games. You almost wish there was a parent around to tell them to get a job, a new hobby, or get out of the house.
Pretty soon another pal ends up killed off via the video game. They are starting to notice a pattern. A pattern of if you get killed in the video game, you also get killed in real life. So they must race against the clock to prevent their deaths, avoid hackers who break in and get them killed, and find out the background on this unreleased and very dangerous video game.
'Stay Alive' is your by the book horror film. Teenagers start off alive, end up dead, and a few survive. It's an assembly line horror film. The teenagers are fairly dumb, as to be expected, but they do have an emotional side. The film lingers on the aftermath of the death of their friends. They don't just chalk it up and move on. They are affected by the deaths and it haunts them. This was a nice change of pace to the teen horror genre.
I can't quite recommend 'Stay Alive' for anyone over the age of 17, as it will be all too familiar. Anyone under the age of 16 will find it much enjoyable. I would recommend they pick up the regular edition. The unrated is not for kids. It is good to see Disney trying their hand in the horror genre. It was not quite successful, but it was an interesting attempt.
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Image & Sound: The DVD transfer is extremely good as it shows of all the great gore in picture perfect color for your gore hounds. You won't be disappointed.
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Special Features: The new edition has a new character, subplot, and more gore. So if that is your thing, you'll want to pick up this edition. You can also build a character of your own with the menu where you can see where it goes and how far you can take it. I ended up dead promptly. There is a filmmaker commentary, which is decent, but I would have liked a cast commentary. Rounding it out is a visual affects reel of artists drawings to final scenes, set to rock music. Is a fun feature to watch.
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Final Words: 'Stay Alive' will please teenage horror audiences, but I would recommend they check out the regular edition. The unrated has a lot of cuss words and a little more brutal on the death scenes. Everyone else will have seen it before and not be that impressed as the film adds nothing new to the dead teenager genre.
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