Stay Alive (2006)★★★☆☆

While this movie is reasonably entertaining, its premise is a bit ridiculous and doesn’t really lend itself to being taken seriously. I’m just not sure Elizabeth Bathory was the right historical creeper to use for this one.

And what was with the character names? Loomis, Hutch, October, Swink, Phin…and Abigail? I can only assume Samaire Armstrong (Abigail) was let off the hook for already living with the name Samaire. Don’t get me wrong, I think Samaire is a pretty name – I just can’t come up with any other reason Abigail was the only familiar sounding name of the bunch.

The acting was okay for the most part. I like Sophia Bush, though I’ll admit this wasn’t her best work, and I liked seeing both Adam Goldberg and Milo Ventimiglia, short as their turns may have been. I also mostly liked seeing Frankie Muniz here, though his character was a bit of a caricature…and I have to admit I don’t think I’ll ever see him as anyone but Malcolm.

There weren’t a lot of real scares in this one, but there were some tense moments and the climactic scenes toward the end played out really well. I could have done with a little less of the background music, but it could have been worse. Overall this is kind of a fun movie that isn’t too graphic or gory. It’s paced well and isn’t too long (if you don’t go for the director’s cut)…but I’d probably only recommend it if you’re a fan of less-than-super-stellar slasher films.