Stay Alive (2006)

Stay Alive
It's the game of life and death....
Directed By	William Brent Bell
Produced By	McG Matthew Peterman Peter Schlessel James D. Stern
Written By	William Brent Bell
Starring	Jon Foster Samaire Armstrong Frankie Muniz Jimmi Simpson Milo Ventimiglia
Music By	John Frizzell
Cinematography	Alejandro Martinez
Editing By	Mark Stevens
Runtime	86 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$20,000,000

Stay Alive is a 2006 horror film directed by William Brent Bell.

Plot

The movie is based around a new survival horror game, Stay Alive based on the exploits of Elizabeth Bathory, better known as the Blood Countess. It begins with a virtual character exploring a strange mansion. Walking through the dark corridors of the house, he suddenly encounters a woman with a red dress. Before he can flee, he is pushed by her, falling over a staircase banister and is hung up in the chandelier chain.

This in-game death irritates the player, Loomis Crowley who decides he had enough gaming for the day and calls it quits. After calling his friend Hutch, unsuccesfully trying to convince him to play the game with him, he goes upstairs only to find his roommate having sex. Apparently they have tried the game as well as Loomis tells them he found their corpses in the game. The roommate laughs it away and Loomis goes to sleep. In the middle of the night, he is woken by a horrible nightmare. Now he is awake, he decides to go for a midnight snack but confronts a unknown figure. He tries to escape it by running upstairs but this time he finds his roommate to be murdered. Horrified by the scene, he stumbles back as the strange figure throws a chain around his neck before he is thrown of the banister. He dies hanging from the chandelier, just as his character in the game.

The next day at work, while talking with his boss, Miller (Adam Goldberg), Hutch (Jon Foster) learns that Loomis is dead. Heartbroken to hear the news about his friends death At the funeral, he meets a girl named Abigail (Samaire Armstrong). Afterward, Hutch goes to an internet cafe owned by his good friend, October (Sophia Bush), and her brother, Phineas (Jimmi Simpson), both avid gamers. Hutch has received a bag of Loomis' possessions, and while looking through it, Phin finds "Stay Alive". Although Hutch is reluctant, they decide to play as a group. Abigail and another friend, Swink (Frankie Muniz) join in, with Miller playing online from his office. The game is set in a derelict mansion on Garouge Plantation, but it won't start until the six players recite "The Prayer of Elizabeth." It's a creepy request for "all who resist" to perish so that their blood might keep her young. after completing the prayer the voice over in the game welcomes them telling them if they're hearing this that means they made a great mistake Of playing the game The players create their characters October ask Phineas do they remember when they was living with their grandma that if they don't come home at night that something bad will happen To them which he kind of made it a funny joke that their grandmother used to wear panties from the outside and fight through a cemetery full of evil ghosts of children, heading toward a mausoleum and tower. Miller touches a rose and the game directs him to pick it. A student of the occult, October explains that undead spirits cannot move across wild roses. Miller goes down to the basement, but the door slams shut and separates him from the other players. Upstairs, Abigail enters a secret passage in a wardrobe. In the room, she locates Elizabeth's diary with the prayer inside of it. Hutch notices that all the mirrors in the game are broken. Meanwhile, in the basement, Miller finds a torture room full of undead girls. Scared, he throws down the rose which dispels the spirits. Now out of roses, the woman in red can stab Miller's unprotected character. The words "Game Over" cross the screen Abigail ask who got him miller tells her it was the woman in red and the group decides to call it a night. Minutes later, the woman in red appears in Millers office and kills him by stabbing him in the neck with conjoined scissor blades like the ones in the game.

Two detectives, Thibodeaux and King, question Hutch who knew all the homicide victims. Hutch realizes that Loomis and Miller both played "Stay Alive" right before they died, and that they both died the same way their characters died in the game. Later, October researches Countess Elizabeth Bathory, the woman in red, a real-life murderess. as October begins to speak more about Elizabeth Bathory she tells them that Elizabeth hunting for victims in her carriage And torture young girls As Bathory would drain young women of blood, bathing in it to maintain her youth. Her weakness was the mirrors shows why She couldn't stand to look in a mirror and see herself growing old. which October told them as for punishment they lock the bitch up in her Tower alive she told everyone that one day she will be back October suggested that she came back and killing them one by one , Phineas decides to play on alone. Keeping in touch with the others by cellphone, he tells them his character has found an unbreakable silver metal mirror which repels Bathory. Escaping outside, he is chased by a black horse-drawn carriage. Before he can be run down, Phin pauses the game, so his character doesn't die. Reassured that he's safe, Phin drives to meet the others. A demonic ghost-child startles him and he drives off the road. When he gets out of the car,he begins to call everybody to tell him that he saw something however Abigail ask Phineas did he die in the game which he told her that he didn't die in the game yet however he begins to know this that he thinking that she only comes out at night However when he turn around the same horse carriage runs him over and kills him.

the four survivors begins to see Phineas car but however they arrive too late October felt devastated and heartbroken over the loss of her brother the detectives, Thibodeaux and King who was at Millers workplace begins to do more investigation the other survivors became freaked out And The survivors agree to stop playing "Stay Alive" until they can find out more about it. However, Detective King, a former gamer, ignores Swink's warning and plays until Bathory rips his character's head apart with a trap. a few moments later October ask Hutch why did He bring that game into their lives became heartbroken that her brother was the only thing that was in her life and now that he's gone Undaunted, King tries to find "Stay Alive" at a video store, but the clerk has never heard of the mysterious game however he was telling him maybe the game was underground or something. Moments after he enters his car, King is killed the same way his character did in the game.

Swink and October stay at Hutch's, while the other two search Loomis' house. Hutch tells Abigail why he hates fire; when he was a boy, his jealous father set their house on fire. Unable to move, he had to watch as his mother was burned alive. After his father went to prison, Hutch lived with Loomis' family and knows one window is always left unlocked. Inside, they locate Loomis' cellphone and find the name Jonathan Malkus (James Haven), the creator of "Stay Alive." Swink gets the corresponding address. As King's murder hits the news, the police arrive at Hutch's house. October and Swink escape and rejoin the other two at Loomis'.

October has discovered that the real Countess Bathory was locked in the tower of her estate as punishment for her gruesome acts. She lived on for years and vowed to one day return and seek revenge. A resurrected Bathory haunted the school at Garouge Plantation, killing many girls and keeping a diary. October reveals that the only way to kill the Countess is to drive three nails into her body to trap her evil soul. October then goes outside alone to smoke. She sees the countess enter a house that is still under construction and follows her. Once inside, October tries shoot the countess three times with a nail gun but this proves to be ineffective due to her being transparent. She tries to flee but a chain wraps around her ankle and she is hung upside down. Hutch and the others head over to the construction site to save her, but they arrive too late and October's throat is slashed by the countess, which leaves Hutch devastated. Since nobody was playing the game, the survivors realize that, once it has begun, the game can play by itself. The remaining three decide to search the house at Malkus' address. Swink volunteers to stay at the van and play the game on his laptop to distract Bathory, while Hutch and Abigail explore the house. They soon realize Malkus' house is actually on Garouge Plantation, Bathory's estate. Moreover, as he plays, Swink discovers he can use items in the game appear in reality.

Swink leads Hutch through the cemetery towards the tower, while Abigail is drawn to the closet and secret passage she'd found earlier in the game. In the hidden room, she finds the blades used by Bathory, who then attacks her. Hutch hears Abigail screams, and Swink guides him through the house to the closet. In the game , he throws roses at the Countess until Hutch arrives. The Countess begins to cheat and locks Swink out of the van, while her carriage rides towards his character. Swink breaks a window and moves his character just in time, but Bathory comes to kill him in real life, even though his character is still alive. became piss saying bitch that's cheating I'm not dead yet as Swink ditches the van and runs across a field, with Bathory's carriage close behind. He falls into a patch of rosebushes as the Countess exits her carriage, with her blades in hand. Hutch and Abigail return to the van to find the laptop screen marked "Game Over" and Swink's character dead (but not really dead but survive by the roses).

Grabbing the laptop, Hutch and Abigail gather some of the wild roses. They then cross the cemetery to a mausoleum-type passageway leading to the tower. As a group of undead children pursue them, they drop numerous roses and make their way into Bathory's torture chamber. When Hutch starts up the staircase, a heavy door with a barred window slams shut, separating him from Abigail. She urges him to go after Bathory's body and perform the ritual, while she stays trapped with one last rose. Hutch reluctantly leaves and Bathory's phantom attacks Abigail. Hutch climbs to the top of the tower and finds the completely preserved body of Elizabeth Bathory. While Abigail fights to live, Hutch hammers three nails one by one into the inert body. When he finishes, the evil spirit of stops attacking Abigail, and reanimates Bathory's body. Retreating, Hutch knocks over an oil lamp, spilling oil across the floor. Recalling that the Countess hates mirrors, Hutch uses his reflective silver laptop to repel her. Overcoming the fear of fire, he sets the room ablaze. Just then Swink, still alive and carrying more roses, bursts in with Abigail and rescue's him. As Countess Bathory's body burns, the three walk away from the tower Beating the game at lest and remind back with there lives.

Meanwhile, in the video store, the shelves are now full of just released "Stay Alive" games. Intrigued, the employee puts a copy in the PlayStation 2. As the video game starts, voices are heard reciting Elizabeth's prayer. The evil phantom of Countess Elizabeth Bathory is then seen gazing out her tower window.

Cast

• John Foster as Hutch MacNeil
• Samaire Armstrong as Abigail
• Sophia Bush as October Bantum
• Frankie Muntz as Swink Sylvania
• Jimmi Simpson as Phineus Bantum
• Milo Ventimiglia as Loomis Crowley
• Adam Goldberg as Miller Banks
• Maria Kalinina as Countess Elizabeth Bathory