The defence The Arthouse Gremlin
“Its refusal to behave is the point.”
The strange choices create the kind of friction that follows you out of the theatre and into the argument.
Back to trending 
Stay Alive
Horror · 2006
After the brutal death of a friend, a group of friends find themselves in possession of a video-game called "Stay Alive," a blood-curdling true story of a 17th century noblewoman known as the Blood Countess. After playing the game when they know they shouldn't, however, the friends realize that once they die in the game — they die for real!
Movie details
Stay Alive
“Play It To Death.”
2006 Horror 1h 40m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
5.8 / 10
Community rating
After the brutal death of a friend, a group of friends find themselves in possession of a video-game called "Stay Alive," a blood-curdling true story of a 17th century noblewoman known as the Blood Countess. After playing the game when they know they shouldn't, however, the friends realize that once they die in the game — they die for real!
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over Stay Alive?
For the defence
The Arthouse Gremlin
“The stranger, the better.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Prestige Tourist
“You like your greatness pre-approved.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
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The Dreadful
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In medieval England, Anne and her domineering mother-in-law Morwen struggle to survive on the outskirts of society. But when a man from Anne's past returns from war, a curse begins to take shape through a mysterious knight and threatens to destroy them all.
Play Dead
Horror · 2025
A woman wakes up injured in a basement surrounded by corpses. To survive, she pretends to be dead while a grotesque ritual unfolds in the house above.
Brainscan
Horror · 1994
A lonely teenage horror fan and video gamer plays a new immersive and hypnotic computer game where he becomes a psychopathic killer, but when he emerges, he finds that the murder has actually happened.
Until Dawn
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One year after her sister Melanie mysteriously disappeared, Clover and her friends head into the remote valley where she vanished in search of answers. Exploring an abandoned visitor center, they find themselves stalked by a masked killer and horrifically murdered one by one...only to wake up and find themselves back at the beginning of the same evening.
Saw 3D
Horror · 2010
As a deadly battle rages over Jigsaw's brutal legacy, a group of Jigsaw survivors gathers to seek the support of self-help guru and fellow survivor Bobby Dagen, a man whose own dark secrets unleash a new wave of terror.
Night of the Living Dead
Horror · 1990
A ragtag group barricade themselves in an old Pennsylvania farmhouse to remain safe from a horde of flesh-eating ghouls ravaging the Northeast.
Would You Rather
Thriller · 2013
Desperate to help her ailing brother, a young woman agrees to compete in a deadly game of "Would You Rather" hosted by a sadistic aristocrat.
Dangerous Game: The Legacy Murders
Thriller · 2022
A family reunion at a remote mansion takes a lethal turn when they are trapped inside and forced to play a deadly survival game where only one will make it out alive.
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
William Brent Bell
Written by
Matthew Peterman · William Brent Bell
Jon Foster
Hutch
Samaire Armstrong
Abigail
Frankie Muniz
Swink
Sophia Bush
October
Jimmi Simpson
Phineus
Adam Goldberg
Miller Banks
Wendell Pierce
Detective Thibodeaux
Court is in session
Put Stay Alive on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Prestige Tourist
“Oddness is not depth.”
A film can break every rule and still leave nothing behind but the memory of how hard it tried to be singular.