Stay Alive
Encyclopedia
Stay Alive is a 2006
horror film
directed by William Brent Bell
, who cowrote it with Matthew Peterman
. It was produced
by McG
, co-produced by Hollywood Pictures
and released on March 24, 2006 in the US. In the U.S. the film was rated PG-13 for horror violence
, disturbing images, language
, and brief sexual and drug content
. This is the first film in five years released by Hollywood Pictures
.
chain. The player of the game, Loomis Crowley, quits playing and goes about a normal routine before bed. He is later awoken by a nightmare, and is killed in real-life by the woman in the red dress, in a manner similar to the way his game character died.
Loomis’ friend, Hutch, receives a phone call informing him that Loomis is dead. At the funeral, Loomis' sister, Emma, gives Hutch a bag containing some of Loomis' possessions, including a video game. At the funeral, a blonde girl named Abigail introduces herself as a close friend to Loomis's roommate.
After the funeral, Hutch goes to a coffee shop owned and operated by his close friend/girlfriend, October, and her brother, Phineus. Hutch hands October the bag containing Loomis' possessions, and Phineus eventually finds the video game, Stay Alive, which they decide to play as a group that night.
That night October, Phineus, his friend Swink, and Abigail arrive at Hutch's house, with Hutch’s boss, Miller, playing online from his office. To start the game, the players have to recite a passage from a book, "The Prayer of Elizabeth", during the game’s intro. After a few hours of gaming, Miller’s character is stabbed in the throat by the same red-clad woman who had killed Loomis. As he prepares to leave his office, Miller dies the same way as his character.
When Hutch returns to work, he is informed of Miller’s death and questioned by two detectives, Thibodeaux and King. While this is happening, Phineus is playing the game at the coffee shop. Just before his character is killed, he pauses the game. After doing some research, Hutch calls everyone together to reveal he knows how people are dying, when he notices Phineus' absence. They call him and learn he's on his way, but shortly after the call he is run down by a bizarre horse-drawn carriage. Thibodeaux and King arrive on the scene, and King decides to play Stay Alive. In the game, King's character’s head is ripped in half. King is then killed in the same manner.
Hutch and Abby decide to go to Loomis's house, where they find the address of Stay Alive’s developer, Jonathan Malkus. They proceed to go to his mansion, and, assuming no one is home, they go in. There, they meet Jonathan, who tells them about how he based his game off The Blood Countess, Elizabeth Bathory
.
Meanwhile, October learns that the only way to kill The Countess is by burning, after first trapping her in her body by driving three nails into her: one in her heart, one in her throat, and another in her head. Swink then announces, after seeing a newscast, that King is dead, and that the group are suspects. They all flee, meeting at Loomis’ house to formulate a plan.
October tries to confront the Countess on her own and finds out you can't kill the ghost of her. The Countess slits October's throat and she dies. Swink, Abigail and Hutch decide to investigate inside Malkus’ mansion. Swink decides to stay behind and play the game as both a distraction for The Countess, and as an aid to the others. Hutch and Abigail go inside the mansion, where they find various clues about The Countess, revealing that Malkus's house is actually the Bathory plantation. The group fights off The Countess several times, but Swink is seemingly killed by her after he is cornered and stabbed with a pair of rose cutters.
After a run-in with The Countess’ black carriage, Hutch and Abigail locate Elizabeth’s altar. Suddenly, the door slams shut leaving Abby alone. Hutch panics and tries to open the door, but she pleads with him to go ahead, as The Countess closes in on her.
When Hutch reaches the tower, he finds the Countess's body. He hammers in the nails, trapping her spirit in her body as she is about to kill Abigail. Now back in her body, the Countess attacks Hutch. He manages to set The Countess on fire, but is trapped in the room as it begins to go up in flames. Then it is revealed that Swink survived due to stumbling into a wild rose bush while being chased by the countess (it is mentioned earlier by October that "the undead are unable to cross the twig of wild rose"). He and Abigail kick the door open and rescue him as Elizabeth’s body burns.
The movie ends in a video game store, showing that Stay Alive is now being officially released across the country. The last words are the incantation that resurrects The Countess.
. The movie has grossed a total of over $27.1 million worldwide.
reported the film had an average score of 24 out of 100, based on 17 reviews. Rotten Tomatoes
holds this film with a 9% "rotten" rating.
In the Los Angeles Times
, John Anderson commented that "'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." One reviewer from The Singapore Bell stated that Stay Alive converted him "to Satanism, as only this film can show that hell truly exists." Meanwhile, Variety
concluded: "Seldom is there anything close to real passion or panic on display here from cast members."
2006 in film
- Highest-grossing films :Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top-grossing films that were first released in the United States in 2006...
horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
directed by William Brent Bell
William Brent Bell
William Brent Bell is an American screenwriter and film director.-Life and career:Bell was born in Lexington, Kentucky. In 1999, Bell wrote and directed his first feature, Sparkle and Charm...
, who cowrote it with Matthew Peterman
Matthew Peterman
Matthew Peterman is an American screenwriter and film producer. He was born in Lexington, Kentucky.In 2000, along with writing partner William Brent Bell, Peterman wrote screenplay Mercury, which was bought by Universal Studios with Gale Anne Hurd and f/x studio Digital Domain producing. Since...
. It was produced
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
by McG
McG
Joseph McGinty Nichol , better known as McG, is an American director and producer of film and television, as well as a former record producer....
, co-produced by Hollywood Pictures
Hollywood Pictures
Hollywood Pictures is one of The Walt Disney Company's several alternate movie divisions. Like Disney's Touchstone Pictures brand, it produces films for a more mature adult audience than Walt Disney Pictures.-History:...
and released on March 24, 2006 in the US. In the U.S. the film was rated PG-13 for horror violence
Violence
Violence is the use of physical force to apply a state to others contrary to their wishes. violence, while often a stand-alone issue, is often the culmination of other kinds of conflict, e.g...
, disturbing images, language
Profanity
Profanity is a show of disrespect, or a desecration or debasement of someone or something. Profanity can take the form of words, expressions, gestures, or other social behaviors that are socially constructed or interpreted as insulting, rude, vulgar, obscene, desecrating, or other forms.The...
, and brief sexual and drug content
Recreational drug use
Recreational drug use is the use of a drug, usually psychoactive, with the intention of creating or enhancing recreational experience. Such use is controversial, however, often being considered to be also drug abuse, and it is often illegal...
. This is the first film in five years released by Hollywood Pictures
Hollywood Pictures
Hollywood Pictures is one of The Walt Disney Company's several alternate movie divisions. Like Disney's Touchstone Pictures brand, it produces films for a more mature adult audience than Walt Disney Pictures.-History:...
.
Plot
The film opens with a character in a video game entering an eerie mansion. The character flees up a stairway and enters a room. Out of the darkness, a woman in a blood red dress lunges at the character. She knocks him off the staircase banister, and the character is killed when he is hung by a chandelierChandelier
A chandelier is a branched decorative ceiling-mounted light fixture with two or more arms bearing lights. Chandeliers are often ornate, containing dozens of lamps and complex arrays of glass or crystal prisms to illuminate a room with refracted light...
chain. The player of the game, Loomis Crowley, quits playing and goes about a normal routine before bed. He is later awoken by a nightmare, and is killed in real-life by the woman in the red dress, in a manner similar to the way his game character died.
Loomis’ friend, Hutch, receives a phone call informing him that Loomis is dead. At the funeral, Loomis' sister, Emma, gives Hutch a bag containing some of Loomis' possessions, including a video game. At the funeral, a blonde girl named Abigail introduces herself as a close friend to Loomis's roommate.
After the funeral, Hutch goes to a coffee shop owned and operated by his close friend/girlfriend, October, and her brother, Phineus. Hutch hands October the bag containing Loomis' possessions, and Phineus eventually finds the video game, Stay Alive, which they decide to play as a group that night.
That night October, Phineus, his friend Swink, and Abigail arrive at Hutch's house, with Hutch’s boss, Miller, playing online from his office. To start the game, the players have to recite a passage from a book, "The Prayer of Elizabeth", during the game’s intro. After a few hours of gaming, Miller’s character is stabbed in the throat by the same red-clad woman who had killed Loomis. As he prepares to leave his office, Miller dies the same way as his character.
When Hutch returns to work, he is informed of Miller’s death and questioned by two detectives, Thibodeaux and King. While this is happening, Phineus is playing the game at the coffee shop. Just before his character is killed, he pauses the game. After doing some research, Hutch calls everyone together to reveal he knows how people are dying, when he notices Phineus' absence. They call him and learn he's on his way, but shortly after the call he is run down by a bizarre horse-drawn carriage. Thibodeaux and King arrive on the scene, and King decides to play Stay Alive. In the game, King's character’s head is ripped in half. King is then killed in the same manner.
Hutch and Abby decide to go to Loomis's house, where they find the address of Stay Alive’s developer, Jonathan Malkus. They proceed to go to his mansion, and, assuming no one is home, they go in. There, they meet Jonathan, who tells them about how he based his game off The Blood Countess, Elizabeth Bathory
Elizabeth Báthory
Countess Elizabeth Báthory de Ecsed was a countess from the renowned Báthory family of Hungarian nobility. Although in modern times she has been labelled the most prolific serial killer in history, the number of murders has been debated...
.
Meanwhile, October learns that the only way to kill The Countess is by burning, after first trapping her in her body by driving three nails into her: one in her heart, one in her throat, and another in her head. Swink then announces, after seeing a newscast, that King is dead, and that the group are suspects. They all flee, meeting at Loomis’ house to formulate a plan.
October tries to confront the Countess on her own and finds out you can't kill the ghost of her. The Countess slits October's throat and she dies. Swink, Abigail and Hutch decide to investigate inside Malkus’ mansion. Swink decides to stay behind and play the game as both a distraction for The Countess, and as an aid to the others. Hutch and Abigail go inside the mansion, where they find various clues about The Countess, revealing that Malkus's house is actually the Bathory plantation. The group fights off The Countess several times, but Swink is seemingly killed by her after he is cornered and stabbed with a pair of rose cutters.
After a run-in with The Countess’ black carriage, Hutch and Abigail locate Elizabeth’s altar. Suddenly, the door slams shut leaving Abby alone. Hutch panics and tries to open the door, but she pleads with him to go ahead, as The Countess closes in on her.
When Hutch reaches the tower, he finds the Countess's body. He hammers in the nails, trapping her spirit in her body as she is about to kill Abigail. Now back in her body, the Countess attacks Hutch. He manages to set The Countess on fire, but is trapped in the room as it begins to go up in flames. Then it is revealed that Swink survived due to stumbling into a wild rose bush while being chased by the countess (it is mentioned earlier by October that "the undead are unable to cross the twig of wild rose"). He and Abigail kick the door open and rescue him as Elizabeth’s body burns.
The movie ends in a video game store, showing that Stay Alive is now being officially released across the country. The last words are the incantation that resurrects The Countess.
Cast
- Jon FosterJon FosterJon Foster is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his roles in the 2004 film The Door in the Floor, the 2006 horror movie, Stay Alive, and co-starring opposite Jenna Elfman in the CBS comedy Accidentally on Purpose.-Personal life:Foster was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of...
as Hutch MacNeil - Frankie MunizFrankie MunizFrancisco "Frankie" Muniz IV is an American actor, musician, writer, producer, and racecar driver. He is known primarily as the star of the FOX television family sitcom Malcolm in the Middle. In 2003, he was considered "one of Hollywood's most bankable teens". In 2008, he put his acting career...
as Swink Sylvania - Sophia BushSophia BushSophia Anna Bush is an American actress, director and spokesperson. She currently stars in the CW television series One Tree Hill where she portrays Brooke Davis. Bush is additionally known for her film portrayals in the 2007 remake The Hitcher, John Tucker Must Die and The Narrows.-Early...
as October Bantum - Samaire ArmstrongSamaire ArmstrongSamaire Rhys Armstrong is an American actress, fashion designer and model. She is best known for her roles in Stay Alive, The O.C. and It's a Boy Girl Thing. Her best known role to date is portraying the role of Juliet Darling in the ABC television series Dirty Sexy Money...
as Abigail - Jimmi SimpsonJimmi SimpsonJames Raymond "Jimmi" Simpson is an American actor. He has had recurring roles on the television shows 24, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Psych, My Name Is Earl, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and The Late Show with David Letterman...
as Phineus Bantum - Adam GoldbergAdam GoldbergAdam Charles Goldberg is an American actor, director, producer, and musician.-Early life:Goldberg was born in Santa Monica, California, the son of Donna and Earl Goldberg, a former lifeguard. His father is Jewish and his mother is a "lapsed" Roman Catholic of Irish, French, and German descent...
as Miller Banks - Alice KrigeAlice KrigeAlice Maud Krige is a South African actress. Her first feature film role was as the Gilbert and Sullivan singer Sybil Gordon in the 1981 Academy Award-winning film Chariots of Fire...
as the Author - Maria Kalinina as Elizabeth BathoryElizabeth BáthoryCountess Elizabeth Báthory de Ecsed was a countess from the renowned Báthory family of Hungarian nobility. Although in modern times she has been labelled the most prolific serial killer in history, the number of murders has been debated...
- Milo VentimigliaMilo VentimigliaMilo Anthony Ventimiglia is an American television actor best known for his role of Peter Petrelli on the TV series Heroes...
as Loomis Crowley
Box office
As of June 29, 2006, the film opened at #3 in the U.S. box office, eclipsing its production budget with $11.7 million that first weekend. It ultimately grossed a total of $23.08 million in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The movie has grossed a total of over $27.1 million worldwide.
Critical reaction
The theatrical version was given negative reviews by critics. MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
reported the film had an average score of 24 out of 100, based on 17 reviews. Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
holds this film with a 9% "rotten" rating.
In the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
, John Anderson commented that "'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." One reviewer from The Singapore Bell stated that Stay Alive converted him "to Satanism, as only this film can show that hell truly exists." Meanwhile, Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
concluded: "Seldom is there anything close to real passion or panic on display here from cast members."
DVD release
The DVD was released in the USA on September 19, 2006. It was made available in an unrated edition (100 minutes) and a PG-13 edition (85 minutes). The 15 minutes of new unrated footage include a new character and subplot. The unrated edition features more adult material. As of December 2011, 874,827 DVD units have been sold, bringing in $13,636,869 in revenue.See also
- Elizabeth BathoryElizabeth BáthoryCountess Elizabeth Báthory de Ecsed was a countess from the renowned Báthory family of Hungarian nobility. Although in modern times she has been labelled the most prolific serial killer in history, the number of murders has been debated...
- EternalEternal (2005 film)Eternal is a 2004 film about sixteenth-century Countess Elizabeth Bathory "repeating her crimes in modern day Montreal".-Overview:When the beautiful wife of a Montreal vice cop disappears, his investigation leads him to an alluring temptress who admits only to having steamy sex with the missing woman...
, another film inspired by the "Blood Countess" - Survival horror