Sometimes staying alive is harder than you think

I hate when I sit down to a movie and think it will be pretty good and it ends up being a real stinker. This is exactly the case with Stay Alive. This movie is most disappointing because it had such great potential to be a truly scary movie.

The basic idea is that a group of people start playing a video game that has never been heard of before, a game based on the life of Countess Elizabeth Bathory. And yes, I have come to find out that this is indeed a real person that did horrible things to young women. As the characters in the movie play this game they find they can not win and as they die they are picked off in real life the same way they died in the game. Now this plot could be really interesting, however, it is never explained why the Countess decided on the time or the medium that she returned in. Also, if you read up on history you will find that the Countess never lived on the plantation that is featured in this movie, she was alive way before the US was even discovered. Also the plantation in real life does not match the one in the game at all on the inside, this would not be so noticeable except it is put right in front of you in a couple of scenes. Plus, there are so many plot strings in this movie that are never followed through and I found it to be very confusing at moments because of critical information that should have been included in the story was left out.

Now, don't get me wrong, all movies even bad movies have at least some good. I really liked the idea that the characters in the movie are killed in real life the way they are killed in the video game. There are some really nice jump scares, shadows that appear in the corner of the shot, flashes of figures while a character is being stalked and so on. There is one scene where a character is run over by a horse and carriage, this in my opinion was the best scene of the movie. The visual effects in this scene and the subtle use of suspense made it most satisfying. The plantation that was used for the real life place featured on the game was so ubber creepy. The house was fabulous with all of its overgrown greenery on the outside and long dark hallways and secret rooms on the inside. Once in the back of the house there is a amazing scene of a graveyard and a tower sitting ominously behind it.

This movie had an interesting plot outline, and it could have been an unforgettable movie. Unfortunately to many inconsistencies and weak story lines could not help it Stay Alive in the end.