Stay Alive
Buena Vista Pictures | Release Date: March 24, 2006 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
24
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 17 Critic Reviews
Positive:
0
Mixed:
6
Negative:
11
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
50
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Horror buffs looking for a novel twist on genre formulas should look elsewhere, but this body-count potboiler about a sinister video game and the poor dopes who make the mistake of playing it is the movie equivalent of junk food: It's not good, but it's predictable and even satisfying, in a low-expectations way. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
A passable horror-thriller for the young crowd, assuming a movie can lure them away from PlayStations. Read full review
50
VarietyJohn Anderson
Despite some hackneyed qualities, helmer William Brent Bell's good-looking if undistinguished cast and the seemingly fresh twist on an old tale should lure the usual fans of mayhem, murder and the medieval. Read full review
40
The New York TimesNeil Genzlinger
The star of Stay Alive is a cutting-edge video game, but the film still has hackneyed horror at its heart. And worse, it's not even the stylishly, wittily executed hackneyed horror of the "Scream" movies. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesJohn Anderson
Stay Alive spends a lot of time inside the video game system, and what will terrify the audience very early on is the realization that there's better acting in the video game than on the big screen. Read full review
40
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
There's a gothic backstory to all this, which makes no sense but looks pretty cool. Read full review
38
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
There's a fascinating and terrifying story to be told about Elizabeth Bathory, the dramatically depraved 17th century sadist known as the Blood Countess.....This ain't it. Read full review
38
Boston GlobeJames Parker
Always the way in horror flicks: These first scenes, when the characters are being tenderly established and the concept is still young, are the best. Read full review
38
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Jason Anderson
Here's a movie that tries to be a video game but is less entertaining than a vending machine. Read full review
30
L.A. WeeklyBen Kenigsberg
Stay Alive is death porn without the porn: Director William Brent Bell's pre-gore cutaways should enrage even those horror buffs for whom suspense is irrelevant, to say nothing of the fact that the movie's only real scare tactic is playing what sounds like a reverbed electric razor on the soundtrack. Read full review
30
Film ThreatFelix Vasques Jr.
I never really expected something so utterly lame-brained. Though, the film is not as awful as I've heard, it's quite possibly the laziest script I've ever seen. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleNeva Chonin
Works better as unintentional comedy than horror. Read full review
20
EmpireJames Dyer
A cool idea rapidly falls apart. A completely missed opportunity. Read full review
16
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
A laughable would-be fright-fest that's as strikingly inept as a Boll movie, but nowhere near as much guilty fun. Read full review
16
Entertainment WeeklyGregory Kirschling
Videogames are no longer brainless, so why are videogame movies so slow to evolve? Read full review
12
New York PostKyle Smith
Stay Alive is D.O.A, a notion of an outline of a rough draft of a killer video-game flick. Read full review
0
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
Stay Alive has none of the vicarious thrills of, say, "Konami: Silent Hill 2." It's barely even Pong unplugged. Read full review
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