When I moved back to the states from Germany in 2005, I often found myself alone. Since I love horror movies, every Friday a new horror movie released, I would go to a matinee by myself. I grew to love that alone time at the theatre watching all manner of horror movies.
Horror has an unusually high proportion of crappy entries, but I always enjoy watching them (well, I suppose not always, but the vast majority of the time). Since I went solo to the theatre, I never had to worry if anyone else wasn’t enjoying the film at hand.
It was great.
One of those Fridays, I saw Stay Alive; a horror movie about a video game where if you die in the game, you die in reality.
Let’s be real here: the movie isn’t great. It’s not even a great representation of gamers or gamer culture. It did get a faux Game Informer cover, though, and that’s pretty neat:
As a huge admirer of Game Informer, I find this crossover to be delightful. I also enjoy the faux game case:
I’m going to admit something right now: I put this movie on in the background often. More often than one might think. I don’t believe it’s an exaggeration to say I put it on once every few weeks.
That’s a lot of celluloid cheese.
Maybe it’s because I love horror movies and horror games and this combines the two. Maybe it’s because I wish I had friends locally who played games together (though, with online gaming, that point is mostly moot), or who wanted to gather to watch one of the others play. Maybe it’s because the game Stay Alive looks neat and I definitely would have played it were it an actual release.
Maybe it’s because of my favorite line in the movie:
Do I look like an assh*ole? Yes, I have the hyper blaster.
Whatever it is, I love it. It’s not even a guilty pleasure, as I’d have to feel shame or guilt for watching it so many times.
I do not experience those things about Stay Alive.
I think it comes back to the camaraderie of the characters (and Phineas in particular, who I find amusing), and wishing I had that in reality. I know it seems odd that I’d think such a thing about a horror movie, and a not terribly good one at that, yet I do.
I love the social aspect of gaming. I love looking online and seeing what everyone is, and has been, playing. I love Game Informer’s Weekend Warrior feature where people talk about what their video game plans are for the weekend. It’s why I often ask you wonderful people who come here and read my words what you will be playing that week or weekend.
I love games, I love people, and I love when people enjoy games. The whole process delights me.
Also, I have Stay Alive on in the background as I write this. It only seemed fitting.
I will never make apologies for how much I love this endearingly ridiculous movie.
With that I ask: what will you be playing this weekend? Do tell!
I will be diving back in to the DLC for Dark Souls 3 (I think), playing through more of Ghost Recon: Wildlands, and I’m hoping to play Hellblade. If Hellblade doesn’t happen, I’d like to make a solid push on Wolfenstein: The New Order. So many games, so little weekend.
I’d also like to say thank you to each of you who comes here and supports my writing by reading it. It means the world to me. Thank you, truly.
Cheers, friends! May all your gaming be glorious!
Categories: games
Rebekah Lang 
Hi! The faux GI cover is from 2006 like the movie? They had Mortal Kombat X before even 9 and the whole reboot? Cool!
I never heard of this movie, but sounds like a fun time.
This week I beat Resident Evil 5 and Stacking. Funny story with RE5, as a I got to the last boss eight years ago with a friend but we never beat it…not I set the record straight and finally beat it. Fun game that I know a lot more than I thought. It’s not even hard, IDK why I never finished. Also, my old PS3 copy of RE5 is not even mine…A dude in HS borrowed Uncharted from me and he loaned me Resident Evil 5, then I forgot to bring the game in the last semester day, he left school and we kept each others games. I really felt bad! He didn’t even like Uncharted!
This weekend I’m playing Bully again! I saw it for sale on Xbox and I felt it was time to revisit! I played through it not too long ago on PC but I think I rushed a bit and it’s easier for me to play direct on Xbox 1, so I will try to really enjoy it this time until Agents of Mayhem drops next week…then new Uncharted and Yakuza back to back! Great month!
Have a nice weekend!
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Oh man, Sergio, you should check it out if you can. It’s so great! And yes, GI made the cover specifically for them to use in the movie. It’s featured prominently in the last moments of the movie. :)
YAY! You are making me want to play Resident Evil 5. And that’s kind of funny about you and your friend trading games. Perhaps somewhere he eventually wound up liking Uncharted?
Bully is pretty darn funny. I hope you enjoy it! And yes, this month has a surprising number of good games on offer. It’s getting harder and harder to keep up!
Thank you! And to you as well!
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I haven’t seen Stay Alive, but I do enjoy a few bad video game movies. I have the same feelings towards Super Mario Bros and Mortal Kombat: Annihilation: they’re cheesy movies that I can’t in good conscience say are good, but I can’t help but find them charming in some ways and enjoy them just to see how goofy they are.
For games this weekend, I’m rotating between Cosmic Star Heroine, Yakuza 0 and Hollow Knight. I’m loving what I’ve played of Cosmic Star Heroine and Yakuza 0. I’m really trying hard to enjoy Hollow Knight but some of the design choices are really annoying and frustrating. Have a great weekend!
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I think you nailed it in that some of those movies aren’t “good” per se, but they are definitely charming. Stay Alive is right in line with that. I hope you get a chance to watch it!
Oh man, every time I hear you talk about Yakuza 0 it makes me want to play it even more! And I’m sorry to hear about Hollow Knight. Sometimes those frustrations can mar an otherwise good game.
I hope you have a great weekend, too!
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I haven’t seen Stay Alive,I need to change that fact though. I know I will play Overwatch and maybe some other games don’t know which though.
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Oh man, I’d love to hear what you think of it. I think you can rent it digitally on Amazon for cheap. It’s super worth a view. :)
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I haven’t had much chance to play yet this weekend except a few Overwatch matches (I want that Soldier skin) and I booted up Slime Rancher (new release that’s free on Xbox) for a few minutes to relax. I did get to go to a local con to met Eugene and Abraham from The Walking Dead, it was a fun day with a bunch of Overwatch cosplay along with a ton of Negan and Harley Quinn. I’ll have to check out that movie, it sounds like a ton of fun! The movie I’ve played most on repeat for no real reason is probably Blow (Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruz). Perhaps I’ll have time to sink into Mass Effect Andromeda or maybe even Fallout 4 which I’m feeling compelled to play.
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That Soldier skin is pretty hilarious! I heard his tumbleweed is a beach ball!
How was Slime Rancher? It looked pretty cute.
How fun! I’ve never been to a con, but I’d love to go one day. Which characters from Overwatch did you see?
Oh my gosh, if you get a chance, please do. The movie isn’t great, but it’s GREAT. :) Definitely worth the $6.00 price tag on Amazon.
I’d also be curious to know what it is about Blow that keeps you coming back to watch it.
It’s funny you mentioned Fallout 4; I recently tweeted that the news was compelling me to finally play it. I haven’t started yet, but with everything going on, it is on my mind for sure.
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