81: Stay Alive (2006)

0:00Come to me, Clouds. Just kidding. I won't do that to everybody just yet. Wait, I have to give you props. Give credit where credits do. Great leading. Thank you. Thank you. Hello, spooky friends, and thank you for tuning into another episode of Spooky Chicks and Horrflix. We are your horror besties here to dissect our favorite and not-so-favorite horror movies, breaking down the screams, the scares, and everything sinister seen by scene. I'm Emma and joining me, as always, is the hauntingly beautiful, Alison Bathrey. I was going to say, I'm right next to my countess, Emma Elizabeth Erich. Oh my god. I'm sorry, Elizabeth. Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit is right. Well, you guys, oh shit is right.

1:01There's so many reasons. I think you and I are a little jazzed up today, and I think that's maybe because we're finally in the Burm once. Oh my god. We have been waiting. We have been waiting. It has been fucking sweaty balls. So welcome, Fall. I'm so happy to be here. What have you been up to? Well, you know what, everybody? I just watched Alien Twice, basically, in 24 hours. So my brain is pretty fresh on Ripley. What's her last name? Do we know? I should. Believe it or not, that's what's up. Literally all I can see is Ripley and her little underwear set right now. So I'm pretty distracted. What have you been up to? She's so hot. She's so hot. What have you been up to? You know, just tick-tackin off our horror movie list for 2026 films. I saw Buddy recently. I've actually, I've got some thoughts. So if you and I want to do like a terror talk, happy to dive into that. Yes. We also saw the new Insidious, which, okay, guys, my letterbox review after we saw it, was Insidious, Colin, get out of my mouth.

2:04And I hope anyone who has seen it already gets that. But I thought it was pretty fucking funny. I got to get on that, or box. Like on a personal level. You need to. You need to. It's so fun. It's so fun. I hope some of our favorite things today. We are talking about one of our favorite movies. Now, some of y'all might shit on this movie. And to you, I say, sit down. Because today, Emma and I get to dance. Today, we get to cover our precious 2006. Stay alive. Oh, you guys. Oh, yeah. You guys have no idea how long we have been waiting to do this film. We have put so many other films before this, but I'm sorry, you guys. This one today is for us. This is for us, fuckers. God, I fucking want this one. Do you remember the first time you ever, I'm so vivid in my memory. What's yours? Same. I just remember seeing it when it came out that year.

3:05And I was very, very excited because I love Sophia Bush. So I was like, oh, what is this about? Frankie Munez also was very hot in this time frame. I was like, okay, what's happening here? Love all of this. I also vaguely looked like the girl that plays Abigail, like in the way she looks in this film. I had this like indie photographer thing going on my early high school years. And it was just like, I felt very seen. I feel like, okay, we'll get into it. But I think that it can just exactly what you just said. I feel like that transcends all high school girls around the same age. Yes. I'm like, Abigail, I like you. October, I like you. There's a girl for me in this movie. I could be one of these women. And it's right around the time where like, grand theft auto's happening. Oh, yeah. And it just, I remember seeing this at my local AMC, AMC, Powai, baby. Fuck yeah. I'm with, I think I'm with my high school boyfriend at the time. Period. Period. I wish we knew each other at that point because you know I would be there.

4:05Hell yeah. Oh, God, it's so good. This movie definitely lives in our hearts and our brains and our minds and our vaginas. If it doesn't live in all those places for you and you don't want it to be spoiled, go watch it and then come back to us and listen. But if you don't give a fuck and you're ready to come on this multiplayer ride with this, we'll vibrate for you. We will vibrate for you. We will vibrate for you. We will vibrate for you. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Honestly. It's one of the best parts of the film. Cheers, bitch. Cheers. This film follows a group of friends who decide to play a killer video game based on the legend of the Countess of Blood Elizabeth Bathory. Also, can I just say one thing too? When I was growing up and when this came out, my little neighborhood friend group, we were very, very convinced that we were our complex, our little gated community was living right next door to Bloody Mary. So we kind of associated Bloody Mary a little bit with Elizabeth Bathory if that makes like any sense. So I think this also was like that much more scary because we had like an old woman that

5:09lived next to us that we were convinced was Bloody Mary. So for I know that sounds insane. No, no, no, especially I don't know why that tracks for where you lived in the county. Yeah, no, no shade. I lived in an equally strange part. But to me, I would come home and play, I don't know, five hours of Grand Theft Auto. So I was in video game culture. I had my blow up chair. I was sitting down. I was listening to fucking Sean Paul and Kevin Little on the radio and this movie was playing while I'm playing Grand Theft Auto. It's all right there. I just told the producer that I want to go to like GameStop or something and get some like horror video games because this has just like reinvigorated something in me. So what I have to say is I also, I don't talk about it a lot because I didn't play it as much but I loved Left For Dead too. Oh, yeah. What's this movie? Okay. And I'll say this up top. This movie gets shit on a lot. A lot. I can fuck right off but what I will say and I will back up to me. I was impressed by like this felt like a video game.

6:11The graphics felt like it felt more impressive about the video game aspects than the movie aspect for its time. Just so good. And okay. So stay alive was released on March 24th 2006 and it grows to total of over $27 million worldwide on a budget of 20 million. Not a ton but at least they did earn their money back and the film received fairly negative reviews with a lot of critics were just bored with the plot and criticizing the constant change of the film's own rules which like okay. Despite its initial negative reception though, it has been regarded in years since as a cult classic. That's what I'm saying because I have to say this movie was ahead of its time. It really was. Holy agree. Unfortunately now with AI, it could never. You just even sang like Grand Theft Auto and some of video games back then. I think during that time we were also really really getting into where a lot of video games had so many customizations where you could like literally create yourself in the video game. And we see that in this film and it becomes so much more you were just so invested in

7:15like the character both in the video game and just in the film. I think even down to the wardrobe like Frankie Munez that had and what I'm saying is I think that it had the market. It had the people it had the gamers. It had the what a mountain do code read. It had all the people. This is this was that right time and it didn't capture that audience. I know which is crazy. And now look at five nights at Freddy's resident evil like this could have been that dude. Okay, last thing I want to say on ratings real quick. Let's just get fucking through these. IMDB 5.1 out of 10. Fuck off. Okay, that's not that bad. What do you got for? This was bad. Okay, tomatoes. Rod and tomato says 12% and have some respect. Some respect. Sucker dick suck my dick suck all the dicks have some respect. Okay. Wow. That was the tomato meter. The audience meter 56. Okay. The people better people know what's up and you know what I got to give some accolades for is letter box. I feel like 2.4 is good. It's not terrible. And I think that's perfectly reasonable. And this is where I'm starting for my campaign and I will start my own personal.

8:19I know we have a spooky chicks account. I'll start my own letter box two day. My new campaign is hashtag I stand with letter box and then hashtag stay alive for letter box. Stay alive for letter box 2026. Perfect. Okay. Okay, I can't wait to campaign me too. The November is coming up great. Okay, amazing. Okay, guys, we have obviously talked a lot and we are just going a mile a minute because we love this film so much. So let's fucking get right into it. I'm ready to play. You ready to play? I'm ready to play. Are you vibrating? I'm vibrating. Cheers. Okay, cheers again. This film opens inside of a video game right out of the fucking gate. We are immediately blurring the line between gameplay and reality. I have to say this opening shot is I know we already talked about the graphics but the opening shot is super impressive. You're floating down. Come to me clouds above these clouds. It almost looks like a real video game. I'm like in. I'm sold. Totally. I mean, the film is set in New Orleans.

9:19So this is kind of old cemetery. Southern. Southern rotation. Thank you. That's the fucking word I'm looking for. Southern. You're welcome. Thanks. Southern vibe and it's haunted and we're just flying right into this video game. Again, I give way more credit to this movie. It's so creative. It's so creative. It's so creative. It's so creative. It's goddamn time. Yes, we're flying into this video game. I love it. And we immediately follow a male character who is exploring this abandoned mansion while he's kind of being stalked by a mysterious woman in a red dress who we come to find out is Elizabeth Bathory. Also I know you mentioned, but I fucking love these Southern haunted mansion vibes. This plantation building literally reminds me of the haunted mansion. I was actually just in New Orleans about a month and a half ago and my entire energy, my I was channeling Elizabeth Bathory and I got you. Yeah, I think it came through. I think it pulled through and it was great. I kind of look like a right now. Oh my God, thank you.

10:20I have a little bit of rouge on my lips, a little blood essence. Hey, I'm a little tan though. You are. You are. Two tan, two tan. That's where I come in. Oh, very pale. Yes, very pale. You got that box check for us. Speaking of Elizabeth Bathory though, Elizabeth Bathory in this film is based on a real countess who was a Hungarian noblewoman and an alleged serial killer from a very powerful house of Bathory who owned land in a kingdom of Hungary and Bathory and four of her servants were accused of torturing and killing hundreds of girls and women from 1590 to 1610. This is like a real fact. That's like OG serial killer. Yes. Yes. Literally, this is actual history and that's a serial killer. And if I could guess going back that far too, there's got to be some spiritual elements here. And there's a lot of realistic reasons. I don't know all about this. I do kind of want to go down a rabbit hole specifically on Elizabeth Bathory after this

11:22film, like just more in depth than we know. But you know, just for the time, I'm like, there had to have been some like, you know, we're going to find out how she is in the game, but I'm very curious to see if it aligns with who she really was. Totally. And so it's a little bit on that. Something funny about William Brent Bell, the director writer of this film, they were doing research on actual countess Bathory for another film. And then they were like, you know what is still sick countess Bathory, but we also want to make a video game film. So let's just kind of marry those two. So they kind of abandoned the truth about Hungarian Bathory and just took to New Orleans. Which I'm just her now. I'm here for it. Yeah. I love it. Yeah. Back in the game, we are now eventually in a large room with a chandelier with this character. And he's wearing this like blue robe. And it seems to emulate the person that we are actually seeing who's playing this character. So in my notes, I had to differentiate, because I kept confusing myself when I was rereading him. I was like, what is this character's name, even?

12:23His character's name is Luma. And he's played by Milo and then Tamilia. Yes. So Luma's who we're with right now is playing a character, but Luma's is also a character. Yes. Luma's is playing Luma's in a video game. And that's what we're observing. So in my notes, I'm like, Luma's is Luma's. Luma's is Luma's also I love another movie with the name choice, Luma's. And I believe there are some sprinkled throughout this film. We'll probably think of them. But when you see those intentional, we'll call them nods, but it's kind of stealing from one of those being around this time was when the ring was super big and kind of randomly you'll see a lot of ring references pop up in here. We'll see him throughout. It's really interesting how when you see horror movies that have come out within the same like maybe four or five years, sometimes you do find those influences, especially if they were really big in that moment and very popular. What I will say right now, I think we talked about, I talked about it when I was shooting on a particular movie that involves an instrument where you whizzle with something.

13:24I was like, what is this bullshit? And then I was like, but look at obsession. It's all about like little trinkets. It's right now we're obsessed with games and trinkets and shit like that. Little physicalities. Physicalities. Going back to this room that Luma's character now is in in the game with the chandelier. Immediately, the rumbling slash vibrating that we are going to hear many times throughout this film to me is one of these scariest parts. Whenever that rumbling happens, you know some shit is going to go down and when you're watching this in 2006 and your parents basement with the like surround sound, that rumbling is so fucking effective. When you're used to that sound as a gamer, I was not a gamer. Let me be clear. But you stop feeling. Yeah. You're feeling in the sound when even today it triggers me. Same. I was watching it by myself. Oh, you guys. You guys movie? Take whatever scare level you will. But in my bones is planted how scared I was in 2006 and I still get that level of scared watching this.

14:25Same girl. It still scares me. We transport back. Wait, happy 20th anniversary of this. Oh my. It is the 20th year. God damn. Okay. So disgusting. My body transports 20 years back to that feeling. Yeah. And I'm sitting there and I hear that vibrating controller and I get I'm shitting my brains. I agree with you. I feel like anytime I feel that or hear that in any film or in any piece of media, I am immediately just transported back to this film. Because Lumis's character is now in this room after the rumbling has started this woman and red Elizabeth Bathory, she just fucking attacks him and pushes him off this like little banister area hangs him from the chandelier killing him. Boom game over. And you know what's kind of funny about that shot is his reaction. He sees himself dying the game and then you see his reaction. He's kind of like, whoa. And it kind of be like that you you die in a game and then you're like, well, shit, I

15:26guess I'm going to go make some bagel bites now. Yeah. Like, you know, most of us just move on. Yeah. You're not just like, oh, I just got hanged in the game. Yeah. Right when he finishes, he gets a call from his friend Hutch and Hutch is played by John Foster. And as he's like talking with Hutch on the phone, he explains to him about the game that he just played and how creepy it is. And he's kind of like, dude, I don't know. This gave me like a weird vibe. You got to play this game. And Hutch is like, yeah, absolutely. I'll come up and visit you this weekend and we'll play. Luma's then goes about his night, but there's definitely like an eerie feeling. The game for sure freaked him out and a couple of moments too that he has, he's getting like small flashbacks from the game as he's just like going about the rest of his night. You know what's funny is if you play video games, you get those little bursts of imagery, you know, especially if it's like really something profound happened in the game. And especially if it's nighttime. Yeah. If you're walking around your house and let's say I just watched the stay alive, I'm absolutely get to see flashes of Mount Countess Bathory in my house, which I did terrifying.

16:32Anyway, so Luma is then like, okay, I'm going to go about my night, right? And then he wanders into his roommates room. This is complete. I think an ode to the shining. Totally. Then he walks into his roommates room. They're just fucking two, just two people fucking. Luma's got a mask on and he's like, hey, you just get a stand here and watch. But Luma's goes on to explain, oh, I was just playing the game. I thought you guys were still playing because I started characters and the guy fucking his girlfriend is like, no, we stopped playing hours ago. Meanwhile, yes, they're having sex, but we get the exposition of like, oh, but I just saw you in the game. So we know something a little fishy is going on besides him fucking his girlfriend with a pig mask or whatever. It's also just a small detail that we know that they were playing the game with him. Yes. Very shortly here. We then hear the rumbling again, but nothing happens in the immediate moment. But then later, he wakes up after falling asleep and he discovers that his roommate and his roommate's girlfriend have been brutally murdered.

17:34Like, we just get that right out of the gate. So the intent behind this movie was to be much more graphic initially. I could see that. Yes, this was actually. It changed hands so many times, but it ended up being a Disney property and Disney has like, okay, there's also arguably more Disney horror films. Hello, don't look under the bed. So true. Sorry. That's kind of a spell. Of all time. So it's what you'll notice is, yes, we are kind of imagining a lot of graphic things or being shown what potentially happened, but we're not seeing. We're hearing in the crunches. We're hearing the splatter. We're not seeing all of that graphic imagery. Correct. After he has seen his like roommate and roommate's girlfriend be murdered, I mean, he's clearly freaking the fuck out. And he starts to get stalked similar to how everything happened in the game right before he died. He unfortunately then is attacked by Elizabeth Bathory from the game.

18:34She's now in the real world. And he is hung from the chandelier in the exact same way that his character died in the game. Tell me why this scene still fucks me up. Just the immediate chandelier kill right after we just saw that happen in the game. I think it hooks you immediately because you're going to find out in a little bit, but you're starting to question, whoa, was that just a coincidence or is that a rule potentially of playing this game? What an underrated intro to it. You're hooked. You just said you're hooked. Not only that, but think about this. This came out in 2006. We just talked about Milo Ventomig. I can't pronounce this. We just talked about Milo, right? And he was the biggest, he was, this was heroes. He was the biggest star at the time. What they do? Gilmore girls. Oh man, I'm not a Gilmore guy. I'm not a Gilmore guy. I should be. I'm not. It speaks fall. Yeah. What did they do? Kill him. They killed him. They drew Barry Mordheim.

19:34He was the most famous person in this movie at the time besides Sofia Bush. They're like, we can only hire him for a four to five minutes. But think about that. When you go to see this movie, you're like, I'm watching heroes. I'm going to go see this movie. No, you're not going to see Milo for 100 minutes. You're going to see Frankie Munez and Jimmy Simpson and Ben Foster's brother. Yeah. Hey, that's the truth. Hey, that's the truth. Then the next day, Hutch, so we're back with John Foster, he learns that Lumis has died while he is at his place of work. And we find out through just some kind of random conversations that his boss is actually also a big gamer. It gives you, they set you up with a bit of anxiety. His colleagues like, oh, Hutch, boss wants to see you. And then you go and you meet his boss, Adam Goldberg. Hello, Jason confused my favorite. What a goober, you know? Yeah. And he plays Miller in this film. And this is the kind of, what happened to these kinds of bosses? They only want cocaine and video games.

20:35Yeah. Or Frances? Expertise? He's like, Hutch. I got to this part of the game. How do I get to Blah, blah, blah? Like, do you, basically do you have any tips and tricks? And so it's just so funny. He's not like wears my bring. He's like, how do you get to level 17 here? Yeah. Then our setting changes a little bit, and we see Hutch as he is now attending Lumis's funeral. Let's keep in mind, Hutch quote unquote. That is his name. Yeah, what a crazy name. I don't know why I keep going quote unquote. but he has just been told his best friend is dead, allegedly best friend, but his reactions throughout his entire film are so he's such a 2006 leading man. Just kind of like a any man. A little aloof. A loof. A loof is I think a good way. Generic, aloof. We don't really feel a tie to him, even though he's gonna be our main character in just a second. We're still just like, oh my God, loomists. And that's totally fine because, and I never personally get attached to Hutch, but that's okay because we have so many other characters that we get attached to. 100%.

21:36It's an unknow if it's the performance, no shade. But this character is just like, wow, my best friend just died. I guess I go to a funeral now. And you know what? People grieve differently. And maybe he just is like, I gotta go through the motions. Absolutely. We're gonna find out later that he had a very traumatic childhood. What do you do in that case? You just have life unfortunately moves on. I'm so sorry. I take back everything. Everybody's experience is different. You're right. You're right. As he's at this funeral, he meets a girl named Abigail, played by Samarro Armstrong. And she's also hot right now too, because this is right around OC time. Yes. And you're right about her little messenger bag and her camera and her pixie cut with her satin top. She was hot. I need to show you a picture of me in 2006 because I swear to God, I looked very, very similar to this. I'm feeling like that's the style energy I channel now. I was wearing Forever 21 Q blouses with skinny jeans, with ballet flats. And I would do my hair with a very massive comb over, not the presidential comb over, but a really nice sideband comb over.

22:38And I was just giving girl that wants to use her camera. I was in photography class and just very artsy, artsy, indie. You know what I'm saying? She likes the Smith. Yeah, she likes the Smith. So Abigail, she is kind of, you know. She wants, okay, so a hutch is at this funeral, right? And Abigail, we don't know who she is yet. She wanders up to hutch, takes a picture, and she's like, wow, all these people with a funeral, but you, you're not crying, but you're the saddest. What? Bitch, where'd you come from? Yeah, it's like, you catch a vibe right now from her. So she just, she just goes up to him and doesn't, isn't it funny what you can get away with when you're hot? No, it's crazy. It's crazy. And she tells him she's like, oh, I was like, kind of a friend of Lumis's. I think she says that she was more a friend of the, of Sarah, the roommate's girlfriend that also died. Because they fucking died too. Let us not forget. A joint funeral? Potentially, yeah. No. No, I think it is just Lumis's. But, you know, she has to, she has to establish like a connection here.

23:39Joint funeral, kind of lit. Kind of lit. If we go at the same time, I would love to have a funeral. What do you? We should write some documentation down saying that. Well, wait, we're getting business done today. Right. So Lumis's little sister then comes up to hutch. And this is a very interesting scene. Because she comes up to him with this like suitcase. And it's filled with some Lumis's stuff slash some video games. She kind of tells him like, oh, you know, this is just stuff that my parents didn't want. And they thought like you might be interested in it. Because we do find out a little bit later that hutch actually lived with Lumis and his family when his parents unfortunately passed. We'll get into that a little bit later too. But, you know, he was almost like another son to them. So him getting the suitcase of Lumis's belongings isn't really like strange. No, I just think the little sister's delivery of like, here's this bag of videos that my dead brother wanted to have. Go ahead and play. Yeah, don't you want to play the games that he was playing when he died? Jesus Christ.

24:39Anyways, I was really mad because this girl looked about the age that we were. And I felt like that could have been our role. Totally. So I'm a little bit mad. Why did Holly would not come calling? Right. Her and Korra in Titanic. Oh. And then, you know, I'm like, you're still my best girl, Korra. If you know what I'm talking about, same vibe. You're throbbing right now. You're rumbling. You're rumbling. Okay, guys. So hutch later goes to this quote unquote internet cafe. Right. And we find out that it's owned by or operated by his girlfriend, October played by Sophia Bush and her twin brother, Phineas, who's played by Jimmy Simpson. Okay. You just said girlfriend, why? I don't know. But everything I read online. Why? Says that they're boyfriend and girlfriend. Before we record, I usually listen to other source material to be like, what did they think? So I listened to the few podcasts that also covered stay alive props to you guys who have.

25:40And they all said girlfriend too. And I'm like, bitches, that's not his girlfriend. I fucking agree with you. I even wrote here in my notes. You can probably see it in our doc. I said apparently October and Hutch are dating, but like not 100% clear in the film. Okay. In my heart, I know that they're not dating and what my explanation to the world, and I know you know what I'm fucking talking about. They're not dating. October is a pick me girl, but not a not a 2026 pick me girl. She just actually cares about him and she just calls him baby. That's just how she is. They're not dating you guys. So in this movie, there's not like a, she's, Hutch is not cheating on October, okay? No, correct. I fully agree with you. Thank you. I know parts where it just seems like she might probably have a dynamic of like growing up together where they maybe had some crushes or maybe there were some flirty moments, but he's never actually like opened up to her. It seems. He seems very closed off, you know what I mean? And like a relationship type of way. I think both you and I have people like this

26:40in our orbits, which we don't necessarily call them. Baby, you're anything, but we have these people that I'm not dating them, but it's like, you might be kind of in love with me. Well, that's also true, perhaps. And they definitely are. I'm sorry, I'm getting married, you guys. So she's taken. Sorry. Oh my God. While going through Lumis's bag as they're at this internet cafe, Phineas, he discovers a lighter and he's... You just brush past Phineas too. You guys, this is kind of a stacked cast. October's brother is Phineas, who's played by Jimmy Simpson. Who you're like, who's Jimmy Simpson? He was in, it's always sunny in Philadelphia. And to me, he's in Rose Red. And he's so good at playing this particular character. He's in Dark Matter as well, which is newer in his filmography. And then he also just did an interview with David Desmolchen with his, you know, when he sits in the coffin. They crave the... Dreeve conversations. Back to this like situation that we're having, where we're going through Lumis's bag, Phineas discovers a lighter.

27:42He flicks it on and huts, has this almost visceral reaction to the flame lighting? We can tell right away, okay, maybe not so chill with fire, which that's okay. I thought it was really funny that Phineas is like, oh, sorry Hutch. And it's like, wouldn't you, if you knew your best friend... Yeah, like why are we... But then again, I said this to myself out loud, and I said, but then again, my best friend's scared of Danny DeVito as Oswald Cobblepot, and I absolutely would shove that in her face. So maybe... And I do. So maybe Phineas is just fucking with Hutch, which I support. What do they also find though in Lumis's bag is the mystery game stay alive. And Phineas immediately wants to play it. He is down to clown. Hutch is for sure hesitant, because Lumis hello just died. Playing that game? Playing the game. I feel like there's a little bit of a, oh, let's play it in his honor, or like, I don't know, it just, they tried to basically excuse themselves

28:43of wanting to play this game and make it sound like it's in honor of Lumis. And at first I had a qualm, my new favorite word qualm. Thank you, Widows Bay. Love. But I had a qualm, and then I said, you know what? Maybe that is a proper way to honor a gamer. Playing the game. It's not the worst thing in the world. Everyone then comes to Hutch's house to play. So Jumanji. Very Jumanji. We, I think the producer said that actually, when we were watching it. Yeah, Jumanji for Sickos. Jumanji is for Sickos. Yes. At Hutch's house, we had the whole crew. So we had Abigail. We have Swink, who is played by Frankie Munez. We also have Miller. Hutch's boss is playing remotely from his office. Pre-COVID. Pre-COVID. And we also have Finn, obviously, and October as well. This game immediately opens with a prayer. So it requires players to actually recite the prayer of Elizabeth before it will even begin. And when they're starting to play this game,

29:45it's not going. And Abigail is actually the one that suggests, maybe you fuckers have to read it. And they're all like, fuck you. That's technology doesn't exist. And they try and they're like, she's like, Manic Pixie Dream Girl might be right. I was just going to say, that is some really advanced shit. And I think it almost makes that entire group more excited to play the game. Because they're like, OK, this must be some sort of beta version that we're all playing. Because I think somewhere along the line, they note that Luma's tested video games. He was a beta tester. So they're excited. They're like, oh shit. So they don't even hesitate. They just start saying the fucking prayer, you guys. And this prayer essentially is a disturbing plea to keep Elizabeth Bathory young through the blood of those who oppose her. It's fucking crazy. And it's kind of fun. What I just realized is the reading out loud is like, what is that pulling from to? Obviously, like, evil dead and shit. Gotta love it. And like, Beetlejuice. And Beetlejuice. Just saying something and like bringing it into fruition.

30:47And I know you don't like that. I know you don't like to speak it. Yeah, yeah. No. Even though I joked about it at the beginning of the episode with the Come To Me Clouds, I ain't going to say the whole thing. But the good news is we love this movie and we have an understanding. Yeah. I would like it framed and printed in our office. Yes. But does that mean I'm going to read it out loud? No. What I mean to say is we have an understanding with Elizabeth Bathory. True. True, true, true. The next part of this film, though, is what I love when we were kind of talking about it up top is everyone creates their characters and they enter the game world. And each one of them, you guys looks exactly like how they look in the real world. It is so cool. Well, all I'm going to say is I've never seen anybody create their character to look just like them. Mine's always like the op. Mine's like a giant human with like, I don't know, pink hair. And it's usually a boy. I don't know. I tried to make it different. Yeah, you're right. I guess it isn't super realistic. I still love it, though. Well, that's the best part of the game still. Even if it's not creating, emulating yourself, you're creating a character.

31:49Yeah, so fun. After the group officially enters the game, they find themselves in the very front of Garouj Plantation, a massive decaying estate. It's the same one that we saw Loomis play in the very beginning. October, in this moment, she actually remembers that she's heard of Garouj Plantation, apparently. And she, her and Phineas' grandma that used to tell them like a story about the plantation when they were young. I just love that they threw this in to like make it connect. I know. She's like, wait, I swear I just read this book. And I'm like, oh, I've heard about it. Oh, the odds. October, the odds. That's so crazy. I know. Whoa. Might be a real place around you. Wow. Who knows? And we quickly find out that this game is filled with like a lot of creep, right? There's very creepy environments. There's some undead children, ghosts, supernatural entities. It's definitely a horror game. I'm not going to lie. Again, I just will beat this into the ground. It's very good if you're like a gamer.

32:50And it's very specifically left for dead too if you're into that kind of game. Love the time. Yeah. Love the time. They find out that the players essentially have to work together to navigate through a cemetery and eventually reach a mausoleum and a tower. Mausoleum, look, door. And they found you on the bathroom floor. I miss you. I wanted them to play that song. We can play it after this. I have the record. Miller, Hutch's boss, he decides that he's going to like break away from the group for some reason and he heads into the basement. He drops a rose to keep himself safe, which we find out that roses in this film are very, very symbolic to keeping you safe. And I think October at some point says that like, a witch cannot cross a red rose or something like that. Not to mention how much we love October already, but she is witchy too. I don't know. I don't think we said that she's, you can tell she's got. She's a golf batty. She's a golf batty.

33:51She has her own spellbook. I'm sure. Do we learn that about her? No, but I bet she does. I'm sure. Yeah. And she's like, drop a rose for us. Yeah. And suddenly we have our next kind of death in the game because as Miller is in the basement, he suddenly gets attacked by Elizabeth Atheri with some very large garden sheers. And she just basically like goes to fucking town on this guy's neck. I love that they use garden sheers because dropping a rose. And we hear the shears a lot in this movie too and just like the tie-in with all this movies way more creative than I give it credit. First, then anybody gives it credit for her. And suddenly in the real world, Miller sees something out of the corner of his eye. Remember, he's in his office building. It is in the night. There's no one there. There may be a janitor or two. And that's who he assumes that he might be seeing, right? This is rife for jump scares. Oh, yeah. Like talk about jump scares, whether they worked or knew or not, this is such a 2006 jump scare movie. They used all of those elements you want to use.

34:53They used the shadows, the lighting. The storms. The storms. All of New Orleans. So it does make sense. It's pretty stormy a lot of the time. They used all of those classic elements to jump scare. And I, okay, call me old-fashioned. I love that. I love it too. I love that. And so while Miller is sitting in his office by himself after hours, the lightning's potentially causing some flicker of lights too. It's very... It's like are you actually seeing something? Or is it just like you said? Atmospheric. Yeah. But no, look, fucking little game people, our little shadow people are running around this. These cubicles. These, they're running around these little cubicles. They're working really hard. You guys, they need a break. Honestly, an empty office building is perfectly scary because that's fucking terrifying. We got a picture movie. Yeah. Cubicle. I used to work at my old office. The one that we both worked at. I used to lock up and it would be terrifying. Remember the baseme in there? Don't even want to talk about it. We'll have to talk about that another time because that was terrifying. Oh my god. Okay, we gotta move on. We gotta move on.

35:55As Miller has now been killed in the game, he tells the crew like, Hey guys, I'm gonna log off. And they all decide like, that's enough gameplay for the night. And before they all turn off the game, they all say, too loomis. Like they are cheering and they're, again, bringing it back to, oh, we're playing the game in Loomis's honor. Then Miller starts hearing really strange things in the building. This is after he's already seen some shadow figures. He's also called out to see if anybody was there and no one responded. And so he's like, okay, this is weird. And as he's walking around, he starts to hear the rumbling of his controller. He also hides fuck. Yeah, I forgot about that. Yeah, I forgot about that. Then moments later, the woman in red, Miss Elizabeth Bathrey herself appears in the real world, in Miller's office building and kills him in the exact same manner as his character died in the game using the conjoined scissors or like garden chairs

36:55that are massive and very scary. I think something that they don't really explore as much as they could overshadow in this film is knowing how you might die. Yeah, yeah. Because obviously Miller doesn't know this is how his character died in the game and how he's gonna die, but like, there's an angle there. I have a question for you. And I've been waiting to ask this. Oh, God. I think this is a good point to ask it. Do you feel like the game is predicting death or is it recreating death? Wow. Or is it choosing? Is it just happenstance that the way that you die in the game is just, okay, that's the rule. Now Elizabeth Bathrey is gonna kill you the same way in the real world. Or is it like just a prediction of some sort? Like a final destination. Yeah. Like where it's just like, oh, this isn't necessarily gonna happen to you, but it might kind of thing. I don't know if that is what I'm explaining it properly. But for instance, for instance, for specifically for Miller, because with Miller and I don't wanna jump ahead, but I have some for instance, later, okay,

37:56he gets stabbed with shears, right? Let's say Miller's destiny was he was careless because he's on Coke and he's, he was gonna OD. Or he was gonna, he was on Coke, so he was gonna accidentally fall and slice his neck or something and that's, and no, but no Elizabeth Bathrey was like, no, you were gonna slice your neck anyways. I'm just gonna do it for you. Ooh, that's like a deeper level that I didn't even think about. Maybe perhaps that this is how you were gonna die, but this is how it is when Elizabeth is in control. It's reminding me a little bit of the frighteners, like when you can see him squeeze the heart and it's like you're seeing him die, but is that how it actually, the frightener got on, but it looks like a heart attack. Yeah, I think it's so crazy too, because we're gonna get into it a little bit later, but I think this film really, it sways back and forth with the rules, because we think we know one thing, and then later in the film, specifically with Frankie Munez when he's playing, we're gonna get something completely different. All we can say here is the game is in control, at all times. Yeah.

38:57If it wants you to die, it's probably gonna figure out a way for you to die, and it's probably gonna be reflected in the real world. And that's on AI. That's what fucking AI. The next day, Hutch comes to work and he sees that basically his whole building is just like this massive crime scene, and he freaks out. He's like, what the fuck is going on? And he kinda just, I think he just sort of like bolts in and just goes past people and detective, Tibado and King. They both question Hutch because he knew both Loomis and Miller, and they find out that he was also just talking to Miller just a few hours before. I love that both of these cops, one of them in particular, either Tibado or King is like a New York street cop, just placed in New Orleans, and he's so harsh for some reason. He's like, hey, you're at the scene of the crime. Oh, King. King, okay. Detective King. Yes, and he's just like the entire time he's on Hutch's case. And I'm like, yeah, he's bad cop.

39:57You know, good cop, bad cop. Yeah. And they're super suspicious of Hutch because they also find out how he was playing a game with Miller just the night before and how close in proximity he lives to the office. So we leave it kind of at that for now, but these detectives are for sure. Like, they're thinking about Hutch. They're like stick around. Don't leave town. Don't leave town. Yeah. Then back with the crew, the gamer crew, Finn finds Miller's dead body in the game. And he's kind of a dick about like the entire situation to be completely honest. And he's just like sort of making light of another person that has passed in Loomis's life in just literally less than a week. Yeah, again, Finn, the character, and Jimmy Simpson just plays that douche really well. So well. He's our pivotal douche. Yes, yeah. We always need them. We always need one. We always need one. Then October questions Abigail about where she came from. She wants to get a little bit more information from her. And Abigail is a little hesitant.

40:57And then all of a sudden she just comes up with like, I'm from Georgia. My dad was an architect. My mom's a kindergarten teacher. And I'm going to Princeton in the fall. And I think October makes like some kind of joke about like, well, aren't you just like the perfect little like peach? Something like, yeah, Georgia peach pump. She says like prom queen or something. Like, basically insinuating like, oh, aren't you perfect? But I will say that obviously whatever Abigail's spat out, sounds rehearsed. For sure. And she's been asked this before. And she did just approach hutch with the camera at a funeral. Like, we don't know shit about this girl. Yeah. I do love that no matter what, Finn is always like, hey, little mama. Yeah. Like, Finn's that gross nerdy friend that's not going to pull, but thinks that everybody wants to fuck him. Yes, yes. He's like, this is an issue because Abigail's going to want to fuck me. Yeah. He's got the confidence. He's a confident king. And he's where he's got the outfit with like the stubble and the one long shirt with the shorter shirt on top. Oh, look.

41:58What a look. A look, if you will. I will. I will. And he did. One little small detail too to add in here is that in this moment, October also tries to light a cigarette and she freaks hutch out again with. So he's getting freaked out again with like the flame of a lighter. So just another like call back to that from earlier in the film. I got to say the whole fire thing's pretty half baked throughout the entire film. Totally. Then hutch in the crew minus Finn. They're just talking outside about everything that's just gone on in the last few days between Luma's death, now Millers, how they were both playing the game. They're not fully connecting the dots yet, but they're kind of starting to, I think, you can see like the gear is sort of turning. And meanwhile, Finn is inside and he is playing the game alone. And he runs into a part of the game where he picks up like a mirror from off the ground and it breaks. And then all of a sudden there's a horse drawn carriage that comes running towards him before he pauses everything.

43:01That makes your questions so much more interesting. We see the horses. Would you then be alerted by horses? I started the, I saw yesterday, I saw like three separately, but within an hour, separate occasions within one hour, three different cop cars go by and I was like, okay, I gotta be careful. So like if you're Finn and you keep seeing horses or something, wouldn't you be like, I gotta be careful? Very final destination, I guess. But it goes back to that question you just asked. Is it the chicken or the egg? Like is it a prediction or was it happenstance led by a battery? Yeah. It seems that the crew is kind of starting to realize though that the game might be causing some of these deaths or it's just causing some weird shit to happen. Because as they kind of go about some of their normal like daily activities, they start to see and hear things almost pertaining to the game. Like there's one part where October is cleaning the espresso machine and she sees Elizabeth's reflection in like a mirror right next to the machine and it's just like for a split second. So she's kind of just writing it off as like,

44:04oh, that was weird, but these things are gonna become you know, more and more as they get deeper into playing this game. It's kind of a cool montage seen with gaming music in the back. Very 2006 game. You guys, I fucking love this movie. And it's a cool like you're saying. We see October do that and then we see Finn and Hutch in their own similar situations with this montage of like what might they encounter? Yeah. The next day Hutch starts researching Lumis and Miller's deaths to see if they could actually be connected to the game. Now remember, if this was real, like they're like, dude, there's no fucking way this is connected to the game. But like these are weird coincidences, right? So this is really all they have to play off of. So it's like it does, it does garner maybe just looking a little deeper into it. Hear me out. If this were real and this shit was happening, how could you not connect to their odds? Totally. How could you so far fetched? You know what I mean? Is it? I mean, there's only so many shares that you happen to fall on. True.

45:04Hutch then brings all of his evidence to the crew at the internet cafe coffee shop and he starts talking out his theory. So Finn is not quite there yet, but Hutch is starting to explain some of the connections. He's like, OK, Lumis played stay alive shortly before his death. Miller played stay alive shortly before his death. Both men died exactly the same way that their characters died in the game. October has also done a little bit of research herself and she has discovered that the red dress woman in the game is based on the real historical figure of Elizabeth Bathory and how Bathory was infamous for torturing and murdering young women and then bathing in their blood. And according to the film's mythology, Bathory believed that blood could preserve her youth. And so she wanted to just stay youthful and she was doing it all this torturing and killing of these young women as sort of a way to stay young. And the last thing that she was like ever recorded saying was that she would be back. But I want to say that this is not the only instance

46:05of a tale like this, right? A woman. Totally. Am I making this focus? OK. Yes, literally right in front of my face. But am I, is it everywhere to a woman bathing in whatever virgin blood to stay young? I mean, we can even look at weapons, right? Totally. Like, we just did that. Yes. And that was very much like a, I need this energy and stuff to stay alive. Even a Hansel and Gradle. Maybe it's not. The brother's grim. Yeah, like maybe it's not a complete tie to like youth necessarily, but that's how she was getting her sustenant. Absolutely. And remember that film with Heath Ledger? And I think maybe about Damon or something? Oh, shame. Yeah. And don't they go to a tower? Jesus Christ. And it's this crazy bitch trying to get the blood. Always, always a crazy bitch trying to get the blood. Rapunzel. Oh, well, damn. Suddenly we are now with Finn. And he's, okay, I'm obsessed with the scene. Same. He's driving down the road. And he's driving alone. And he's in this. It's actually a beautiful road with these like, what are those like, willows or oak trees? Oak trees that are kind of making a tunnel on this road.

47:09It's an oak alley. Oak alley. And he is singing Aario Speedwagon's. Close your eyes. I want to ride the skies in my sweet dreams. I should have sang that at the beginning of the episode. No, I like your prayer. It's so fucking good. And then suddenly there's like cloud cover and he's kind of like looking up. Come to me, cloud. Oh, work on scary. And he almost hits a gal in the middle of the road who looks creepy as fuck. And so he swerves out of the way and pulls over to get out to investigate. But there's totally nothing. And back with the crew, October calls him and he tells her, okay, I'm stranded. Like, I need some help. And Abigail is like, I will come and pick you up. And actually, I think this is the part when he goes, was that Abigail? And October's like, yeah, and he's a mom. So mama. He like, he like changes his posture. He like straight and stuff. He's like, something so good. They assume that since he didn't die in the game, like he should be fine. And he's like, that's right. I did not die in the game.

48:10And he's shouting that in the middle of the street kind of taunting. Yeah. Kind of taunting whatever. Yeah, exactly. He's, he's thinking he's one-uping the game essentially. He's like, I paused. Yeah, I did not die in the game. I'm good. So while Finn is waiting on the road for the crew, all of a sudden he hears a horse-drawn carriage. And he hears it in the distance at first. He's like, okay, what the fuck? This is like very, very creepy. He also utters like to himself. He's like, wait a minute. In the game, she only comes at night. And then out of nowhere, the same horse-drawn carriage from the game appears in the real world. Poor guy gets ran over and it fucks him up. I think the one of the things that's pretty jarring about this film is the quickness from noise to impact. So we hear the noise, the rumbling or a carriage, right? And then the person's killed. It's like such a quick turnaround that it's super like, what the fuck? As if you were like, oh, I need a break. I need a break. I feel like this is also the first time in the film where you realize that just because you have paused in the game

49:15or what have you does not mean that you are safe, it almost is like, if we go all the way back to the beginning, once you say that prayer out loud, you're likely fucked. And you're locked in and tell it's over. Exactly. And when is it over? Game over. Yeah. We're actually still pretty early in the film. And I was very bummed to realize that Finn is actually not in more of the film because I always feel like he's in the entire thing. But he is the first of the friend crew after Loomis to go and it makes me very sad. Oh my god, I guess you're right. Loomis Miller, Finn. But keep in mind this is a 90 minute, excuse me, 100 minute film. It's short in general. Yes. After Finn's death, the crew, they do show up finally, but they are a little too late and they find Finn's body. And they see that he died essentially the same way that he likely died in the game. It's just so horrible. October comes over to him. She's devastated. I mean, it's a very, it's a very sad scene.

50:15Yeah. And so like... And as a twin, that's what? Yeah. Oh, it's that hurts. Hutch then tells the detectives once like the detectives police ambulance show up. He is like, okay, you guys got to know about this game and how I think it contributed to all of these random deaths. And Detective Tibido is sus of Hutch and his connections to all of the deaths. However, Detective King, he's like an unexpected gamer and he like doesn't take the warning very seriously, but he's more just like intrigued about actually playing the game. And he starts playing it literally in like the back of the ambulance, I believe. And his character encounters battery basically right away. And Hutch is like, bro, you need to not play that. Like this is for your own good, but he's not fucking paying attention. He's like, it's a video game. What are you talking about? Yeah. Both Hutch and the rest of the crew are like freaking out because everyone who plays the game are just dropping like flies.

51:15October, she also has a moment where she like blames Hutch for bringing the game into their lives and for her losing fin. Understandable. She's very angry. She's very sad. She's very hurt. And this was something that was avoidable. The group then decides that they have to do something so that no one else gets hurt. And October tells Hutch that he needs to find out everything that they possibly can about the game. So she tells Abigail, hey, you stay with Hutch, make sure nothing happens to him. And like basically me and Swink are gonna like do some other. I think they're gonna more look into like Elizabeth Bathory and just like what can they find out ritualistically about like her history. I think it's kind of funny. They how they decide to problem solve. I think it's their decision making to problem solve is pretty funny to me. Also, what the fuck would you do? Why haven't we tried to burn the game? Great question. Because it's 2006. It's still physical media. They are not doing this digital bullshit that they're trying to do now. There's a lot of things that they they could do here. I think burning the game is one turn a computer off.

52:17Checos. Checos. Yeah. Then back with King. So Detective King. He now goes to a local video game store and he takes the game with him and he's asking the guy that works there. I love the guy that works there too, by the way. I feel like they go to this video game store throughout the film and it's always the same guy that's always working. He's just like a man. And King asks the guy who's working up front about stay alive. He shows him the game and the workers like I don't really recognize this. It might be something underground. Then as King gets back into his car and is about to leave the game store, he is killed in the exact same way that his character died in the game. Dun, dun, dun. Again, so jarring how it goes from it's just so fast. And his death is fucking brutal because he just explodes in a car basically. It's so fucking crazy. It's like whoa. His head just literally explodes in the car. Yeah, I just, oh man. It's such a simple thing that people just keep not following. Like it's like why play the game when I'm literally telling you I get it.

53:20They don't believe Hutch, but it's like, why did you even dabble with this to begin with? No, you got yourself fucking killed. You know what's so crazy is I'm psycho enough to believe like if somebody were like, no, don't play that video game. It might kill you. No, I won't. I won't. If someone said that to me, I am super sick. I'm stupid to think. You're stupid to think. I'm just a little stitious. Yeah, it's stupid. I'm a little stitious enough. Yeah, yeah. That I don't think I could do it or if I did do it, I'd still be fucking thinking the entire time as something's going to go wrong. I'm like, well, I fucked myself over. Yeah, I have to look out for a Tweety Bird for the rest of my life because I saw three in this game. Tea, there you go. Yeah, science. What a way to live. They're everywhere. They're everywhere. What is my second best science? You know what I just did? Love and voluntarily. Oh my god. Love and honorary. Such my dick. No, Abigail... Abigail and Hutch, visit L�m Allowatives House to try to get some answers about where this game came from. I'm actually very surprised they could get in so easily. I know Hutch used to live with his family.

54:20So he was like, how do get in and out of the house. But I just think it's crazy that it's not more like on lockdown but Hutch tells Abigail that he used to live with Lois recommended who was sick with her family for a while when he was young he searched to explain a little bit more about his childhood. He says that he has a very deep fear of fire because when he was a child, his jealous father intentionally set their house on fire. And Hunch, in the moment, he was just frozen as a kid and unable to move and had to literally watch his mother burn alive, terrifying. And he says he has a lot of regrets about not stopping his father and his father is now in prison until he's 76. So there's probably an impending doom, almost of like, I know he's gonna get out someday, even when he's like an old man. It's still probably very daunting and it's like, you know, you can't ever forget what happened. That's so funny. I totally forgot about that. Yeah, information in the film. And that explains his whole fear of fire and everything, right? Yeah, again, I still think it's like so half-baked. I don't like a plot point that's just there because

55:23to give him more depth, and I'm like, I don't really need depth from him. Yeah, we didn't need it. No. You could just say he's scared of fire. Yeah, or not. Or not at all. You're right. Yeah. Doesn't really, doesn't add too much. Yeah. Abigail and Hutch then get into the house and they eventually find Lumis's cell phone. Oh, this was a part I was like, how do the cops not have his fucking cell phone? Like how was it just there? 2006. Anyways, it's just a movie. The phone contains the name Belman Games in some of Lumis' contacts. And apparently this is connected to the creation of Stay Live. And we find out that Lumis tested games for them. So this is connecting the dots a little bit of where Stay Live came from. Hutch then calls Swank and helps them find the corresponding address to where Belman Games is supposed to be held. A couple of things here. I think it's pretty funny that they're just like, yeah, let's go to the developer. Let's go straight to the source. And yeah, of course the developer just lives on a plantation down the street. Yeah. Like what? October also while on the phone tells Hutch

56:25that she's been researching the book, the Malius Demonium or the Witch's Hammer. And it says that if they find Elizabeth Bathory that they need to put three nails through her neck, her heart, and her forehead, and then they need to burn her blood to stop what's going on. And she says that a very strong spirit can come back through the proper text, which is why at the beginning of the game, when you read the say-ons, that is what is bringing her back and causing her to essentially curse whoever the person is that's playing. So metal. So fucking metal. So fucking. Yeah. So kind of interesting there is the three nail thing that's actually tied to vampire lore. Oh, yeah. So obviously blood nails. She's a vampire. Oh, the things. She's a vampire witch. She's a vampy girl. Then while at Hutch's house, October and Swink see on the news that Detective King was killed, and all of a sudden at the same time, they hear sirens outside of the house,

57:27and they get ready to fucking bail. They're like, we gotta go. While Hutch and Abigail are on their way to the game manufacturers address, they discuss the diary in the game, and if that is what has been causing all of this, so they're starting to put these goddamn pieces together. I think it's so great. I feel like there's a line in the sand in the movie of the it caught up to everything, and the writers and everybody were like, oh, that's right, we have to add just like a bunch, add more lore in there. Yeah. Press it really, but like add more. You know? Yeah. And once back with the crew, Swink says that it's highly unlikely that there was a voice activated sands that's making this all happen, but like bro, come on. There is. How are we not believing already? Truly. Literally. How is this not taught? Do I need it tattooed on my vulva? You do. Shit. You ask me to see that. It needs to say Elizabeth. Oh, cute. I know. I like my middle name. Oh, that's weird now. October and Swink, they managed to make their way to Luma says and they don't go inside,

58:27but they're just like in his general neighborhood and they're in like a cold assack, I would say, of some houses that are still in development. Yeah, it's like a, you know what's kind of crazy? You guys actually, this was an actual development in New Orleans in 2006, and it was completely destroyed by Hurricane Katrina like a month after this. Oh, shit. Like a month after this. Oh my god, that's horrible. Like a real ass development. Yeah, dude. At that same year, this month. October goes outside alone to have a smoke and she notices it looks like Elizabeth Bathory is entering a nearby house, like one of the houses that are under construction and just goes inside. Meanwhile, the rest of the crew is panicking, trying to find October because they realize that, at this point, the game is not playing by any rules and it's just, it's gonna do its own thing and it's gonna make each character play by itself no matter what they do. So October, she's in this development. She realizes that Bathory really is inside.

59:30At first, she grabs like a hammer with some nails, just like a standard hammer and nails, and then she finds a nail gun and comes face to face with Elizabeth and shoots her several times with the nail gun without making any impact. Stinky. And October at this point is pissed. She's now like, she's mad her brother's dead and this bitch has got to go no matter what. Yeah. And as she tries to escape, a chain suddenly wraps around her ankle and pulls her upside down. And Hutch and the others, they arrive at this house where October just like went into and they're trying to save her, but they're a little bit too late because Elizabeth Bathory then slashes October's throat. And Hutch, poor Hutch is just like devastated because that's another one of his very close friends is now gone. I thought you were just saying another one of his slam pieces, but that's okay. That's one of his slam pieces gone. Or not because we agree that's not his girlfriend. Yeah, we don't know. We don't know for sure. The group also realizes that nobody was playing the game when October died, which is also sketched.

1:00:30And this just further proves that the game just isn't simply killing people that are actively playing. It's doing what it wants to do. If you're counting, the group is now Hutch, Swink and Abigail. Yeah, that's not great. I feel like this is also a point in the film where things take a turn. And this is another part where I was like, damn, I remember October being in this film more than I actually remember, but I think to your point, it's a short movie. So it just all feels like maybe they're in it longer than I think. We're in the third act. Yeah, it's very true. Also, how horrifying though is the realization that you don't even have to be playing the game anymore? Well, that's the thing that's really upsetting at that point. I think internally it's a hard decision to keep moving forward and not just yeah, it's like, well, are we just going to die anyway? At that point, it's just like, hey, let's take this into my own hands. There's a buy you right over there. Let me just go in peace. Let me buy you a drink. Whoa, whoa, I'm going to take a home with me

1:01:32to the Gover's plantation. Oh, I just thought that was a stretch, but anyways. I'll take it. The remaining survivors, like you just noted, we've got Swink, Abigail, and Hutch, damn. They all decide that they are going to go now to that manufacturer address where the game was apparently made. And Abigail, she decides that this is a good time to admit that everything that she's told Hutch was a lie and that her van is her home. And that she just hates telling people the truth because she's kind of scared that they're going to judge her. She literally lives in her van down by the bio. I love that for her. She's a little ahead of her time because van lifers have not become like a huge thing just yet, but she's really starting a trend. She, and that's all we find out. She doesn't really tell us anything else. But why didn't she just lead with that? Why'd she say my dad and my mom are normal? Because she's embarrassed of how she lives. So she didn't want to tell her real story. She's in a van down by the river.

1:02:33Hutch then says, we got to find Elizabeth Bathory. We need to find her tower, and we need to find her real body so that we can end things just like October was saying in the, which is hammer book, you know, you got to do the whole nails thing and then burn the blood of the real Elizabeth Bathory. Swing then volunteers to stay in the van. And he's like, you know what I'm going to do? Is I'm going to keep playing the game so that someone at least is active in this. And I can try to see if I can help basically keep anyone else from getting hurt because clearly they know now if they all stop playing like anyone is doomed basically at any moment. So then Hutch and Abigail, they are the ones that are tasked with exploring the mansion and trying to find Elizabeth's body. They do quickly find out, however, once they arrive that this is not just where the game was made, it is the actual location that the game is based on, which I'm not going to lie, so fucking sick. So sick. Like I'm like, I want to go there. So they actually, in the original scripture idea

1:03:36for whatever they had this built out more, the storyline with the developer in Mad Elizabeth Bathory and how it all married together. And then they just either didn't do it or cut it for time. There is deleted more deleted footage, but I think this was more thought out, a more thought out plot point and then they just didn't or cut it. And I'm like, it's so weird because I can't remember, like I've seen some movies so many times throughout the years in all different states and awakeness levels and I'm like, what is part of the actual movie? What is part of the director's cut and what did I make up? Yeah. And I'm like, in the normal movie, isn't Angelina Jolie's brother in the normal movie too? That's Angelina Jolie's brother. Where? The gamer, the game developer. What? And the director's, I don't know which version this is, but Angelina Jolie's brother is the game to the tall skinny man, the creepy vampire looking man that looks like Elizabeth Bathory. That's Angelina Jolie's brother. You know who I'm talking about, right? No, I don't think I've seen the director's cut. I think it's in the normal version too.

1:04:37Well, in whatever version you're... He wasn't in the version I saw. You guys, I am not even fucking kidding you. No, I believe you. Yeah. But I'm like, damn. If you haven't watched it, go watch the director's cut. I kind of want to now. Yeah. Also, this sucks, but like, stay alive is not available fucking anywhere. Anywhere. Like, the director's cut is available on Amazon, but it's $60 fucking dollars. Also, you guys, I have the DVD if we want to have a watch party. I do. Please. Great. Once inside the house, it's decided that swing since he's playing the game and now they know that they're in like the real house that the game is based on, like, a lot of things should match up in terms of just like things that are in the house. So, swing is going to help Hutch navigate to help him find where Elizabeth's body is. And I hate this because him and Abigail split up. So fucking dumb. Why are we splitting up at this point? And Swink begins guiding Hutch through the game's cemetery while Abigail searches the real house. It's frustrating to just piggybacking off of how

1:05:37this is being done to with Swink guiding them. Swink is playing video games with them. They are his avatars. He's like, go left, go right, drop a rose. He's directing them as he would a video game character. Yeah. I also found this part frustrating because as they go in the cemetery and you know, they're trying to find Elizabeth Bathory, like, we're going to find that her tower is just so clearly fucking there that it's like, you guys need to tell me you couldn't fucking see her tower from like, when you all were driving up to the property. So remember how Elizabeth Bathory is supposed to be Hungarian Princess Demonwitch? Yeah. What's she doing in Orleans? No, no, no. They put her Hungarian tower in New Orleans. Yeah, I'm sorry. That would be really obvious. It's like a campaniel. It looks like it's straight out of Eastern Europe and we just missed that somehow from the side of the road. I'm dead. I do love this one line that Swink says though because once they're in like the backyard slash cemetery, he's like, we're in the bitch's backyard. Like, fuck yeah, we are. Yeah, you are. Hey, you're on her turf. Yeah. Back with Abigail, she kind of becomes drawn

1:06:37towards the same closet and like secret passage that she had discovered previously in the game. So she goes and enters it. And inside she discovers this super creepy room filled with lots of Elizabeth Bathory research, photos, dolls, et cetera. It seems like this is for sure where like a lot of the heavy research was going on for this game slash just who Elizabeth is in general. It also has the blades that Bathory used to torture her victims next to a very large painting of her. Then Abigail finds her real diary and it has a ledger of all of the girls that she killed. Way to keep a paper trail. Her little black book. I mean, burn that shit. Yeah, her little blood red book. Yeah, fuck. And suddenly lights dim and we get our rumbling. That's clear sign that some shit's about to go down. Hutch hears Abigail scream from wherever he is now at in the property. And he tries to go back into the house after her using Swing's direction, but he cannot get in.

1:07:40And Swing discovers another very important ability of the game, which you kind of mentioned a little earlier owls, but items from the game can also appear in the real world. So this does give them a potential advantage. And this is also where at the point in the film, when the producer and I were watching, he kind of said, this is a creepy, more dramatic version of Jumanji. It really is. Yeah. So Swing, he's able to give Hutch a crowbar to help him get into the house. And Swing tries to lead him to Abigail. Meanwhile, Abigail is seeing Elizabeth and she's also getting closer and closer to her possible demise. Right before Elizabeth is able to murder Abigail, Swing throws some flowers, some roses at Abigail in the game. And it causes Elizabeth to stop in the real world. So like she's about to get fucking murked and then all of a sudden it's just poof done, you know? It really poofed. Yeah, flower roses boom done. He cheat coded her in real life. And then suddenly Hutch appears, they embrace and they kiff.

1:08:44They kiff. Go on now, kiff. Hello, your old potential girlfriend's body is still warm. I don't think they give a fuck about people dying now. They're just like whatever. No, we're just going to chaos. Definitely not. How do you feel about the roses being used as almost like a weapon in this film? Because I personally love them. I feel like that's low key real. Yeah. I feel like that's part of some lore somewhere. So I'm like, fuck yeah. I agree. And I also really like it. I'm like, oh, fuck yeah, roses. Because I think there's a part too. We might get actually we're going to get into it in just a second. But like roses really help these guys out in like more than one way. So I do think that from the films like writing standpoint, this was a good thing to put in there to help the crew. Again, I don't mind all of the like, we'll take some of this lore and leave some of that. Yeah. Like I don't mind it. Let's puzzle piece it together. Back with Swink. He is relieved to hear that Abigail is OK and that Hutch found her. But he reminds them of what needs to happen. We got to get the nails, the burning of the blood, the roses, all of the things. When all of a sudden Swink, he hears some rumbling

1:09:45and he gets locked out of the van where he was just playing the game. Luckily, he's able to reach his controller through a little window and he keeps himself from dying in the game. But Bathory, she appears in the real world next to him anyway and Swink runs through the woods nearby to try to get away. And I love this part. He's like, baby, that's cheating. I'm not dead yet. I think this is probably Frankie Munin. It is best performance. I agree. Although Malcolm in the middle is still slaps. Yeah. It's a great rewatch. How is amazing. We are all howl. Yes, we are. 2026 is we should all just be howl. The year of howl. Yeah. Bathory's carriage then follows Swink. And he eventually falls into a patch of wild roses. And Bathory even steps out of the carriage and we see this kind of cool shot of like her feet walking towards him. And we see her blades also. She's ready to go. But that little rose bush is kind of saving Swink for the moment. Meanwhile, Hutch and Abigail, they return to the van

1:10:45and they see that Swink's screen says game over and that he's nowhere to be found. They definitely assume that he's probably gone and they just sort of need to keep moving and need to keep going with their plan. They got to get as many nails and roses as they possibly can. Yo, they should make this a haunt. Oh my god, this would be such a fun haunt. Hutch and Abigail then enter the cemetery and Elizabeth's carriage begins pursuing them. So she's like chasing them basically throughout everything. And Hutch is like, dude, Abigail, I got to lock you in this call, CM to keep you safe as he uses a rose to ward off the carriage and it does work. That's like when Kevin just locks me in a room, he's like, I'm just going to put you in here so you don't be safe. You'll be safe. As they go deeper into the call, CM, they have to repeatedly drop roses in order to prevent Elizabeth battery slash any spirits just in general from reaching them. And they eventually reach a passage that leads towards battery's tower and some undead children. I think I mentioned them a little earlier. I didn't, I triggered a memory for me, Silent Hillie.

1:11:48Yes, oh my god. Yeah. And they come in and they're like, hey, we're going to try to fuck some shit up. So Hutch and Abigail have to fight their way to a room that leads towards the tower where Elizabeth did all of her torture. And then suddenly a heavy door just suddenly slammed shut and it cuts itself basically between Hutch and Abigail and Abigail's trapped on the other side. She tells Hutch, hey, you ought to just continue. You need to just do this. And I will try my best to stay alive. It's this dramatic scene between door. It's so it's romantic in a weird way. It's definitely, it's definitely sensual. And then she's like, and her like squeaky, and her very squeaky wood, she's not doing that yet. She's like, you gotta go. You gotta go finish it. And she stays behind with her last remaining rose that Hutch gives to her. And Hutch, he reluctantly just continues climbing. Bathories phantom then attacks Abigail. And this is happening as Hutch is reaching

1:12:49like the top of the tower. Inside he finds Elizabeth Bathory's real preserved corpse. And this body, she'd be looking good. All I'm gonna say, that's so fun using that. It's kept intact. What she's, I wanna know the Milky Toner she's using. I wanna know. True, really. Like what are you using? You look glassy. The blood of young gals. That's fine. Where can I find it? Where can I actually get that? Is it the black marker? Is it the black marker? Yeah. It's easy. There's the four olds that you tell me. I think this scene too, like also feels like we're in like the final level of the game. You know what I mean? Like we're about to hit the final boss and let's fucking go. Almost similar to how the final level goes. I feel like it's a quick final level. It is, it is. As Hutch finds her body, he does begin the ritual. And meanwhile Abigail, she's so cute. She actually really liked this part because she's just got one rose. So she's picking off a pedal at a time and she's reciting. He loves me. He loves me not. And as it's happening,

1:13:49the light is getting kind of scary. It feels like these spirits or Elizabeth are coming on her tail, basically. I don't know what the light situate. You mentioned the light. She's either by candlelight or by door. Her light is dimming. Yeah. And it's either poofs out and she's like, ah! Her little visceral scream. Yeah. Oh, it's my very scary. Hutch then takes three nails. He drives one at a time until Elizabeth Bathory's preserved body. And game Elizabeth chains Abigail upside down. Now we've got two different Elizabeths that are doing some shit. After the third nail is driven into the real body of Elizabeth, her attack on Abigail suddenly stops, but Abigail is still chained and hung upside down. And for a moment, Hutch thinks that they might have won. But as Hutch kind of turns his back for a second, Bathory's corpse suddenly reanimates and the nails just start coming out of her body one by one. Doesn't she do a classic sit-up situation? She does. She's probably a really strong court. Dude, she doesn't use your arms at all.

1:14:50No, literally. Kind of reminds me of when vampires sit up or when Frankenstein's monster sits up. Yeah. Hutch then remembers that Elizabeth has a hate of mirrors. So he has his laptop and this is very smart. He's got this silver casing on his laptop and he turns around, puts it in front of her and it causes her to fucking freak the fuck out. But she can't break it because it's not a real mirror. So she's having a very intense reaction. To seeing herself. To seeing herself. That's so rude. I know, girl, you're beautiful. Yeah, but don't hold a mirror up to a girl who's going through something. No, that's true. Don't do that. I love this part, though, because she gets so fucked up by it that her jaw unhinges and kind of gets like very long. And I like, I think it's a really beautiful piece of effect. Hutch then uses this opportunity to light some oil from the floor on fire to burn her. And he immediately gets these really sad flashbacks from his mom's death and how he sort of just froze.

1:15:52The tower then begins burning and Hutch is trapped inside kind of that final room with battery. And just as things look really hopeless and it seems like Hutch is frozen again and just not able to get out, swing then suddenly appears and he saves Hutch with a bunch of fucking wild roses. Fuck, yeah, Frankie is all I have to say. Again, we're bending the rules, which we don't really know what they mean, but he's alive. He's alive. He stayed alive. Whoa. Bathory's body then burns inside the tower and the three survivors walk away from the plantation, from gurus plantation. So as these survivors leave the plantation, they're thinking things are all over, things are gonna go back to normal and then the movie just cuts. And we're back at the video game store from earlier with our friend. With our friend, I'm gonna call him like the shop manager. I don't know if he's a manager, but Gerald, he gives like confident manager energy. Gerald. So the manager gets a box full of games

1:16:56and as he's opening it, we see that he has a full box of stay alive and he puts it out in the shop for people to start trying and buying. The shelves are suddenly stalked and copies of the newly released stay alive are just everywhere. The game starts on one of the TVs that's like in the shop and we hear voices start reciting the prayer of Elizabeth and then the camera cuts back to gurus plantation within the game, kind of that first come to me clouds scene where we started the film with Lumis. We just fucking come back and we see a ghostly figure of Elizabeth Bathory standing in the tower window. The implication here is clear, the game survived and the curse is ready to begin again. What did you think about this ending? Did you feel like now it's just a normal game or do you think this is now going to kill hundreds of thousands of people? So I love this ending because it's just my type of ending that I, it's ambiguous. It's left up to the interpretation. It's very much so like cabin fever.

1:17:56How at the end we're left, it's dismal but we're left with that shot of we're with the townspeople and they're all going to be drinking the water. And now all these people can play this game. Oh, that's such a good comparison. When I first saw this and every single time when I watched the ending, I think, oh my God, everyone is fucked. I'm immediately like this is going to spread like a virus. And it's going to take over and Elizabeth Bathory is not only going to be a Hungarian princess Countess but she's going to be the world's Countess. And the world's most beautiful, very beautiful. I just think it leaves it to where it's like, wow, look, this is the beginning of everyone getting fucked. And I love it. I love how it ends in the video game store. I love this movie. I think it's not given enough credit for, look at we, we just took a movie from 2006, 100 minutes that people gave 12% on Rotten Tomatoes and we just gave it some more life. God damn it. I love this movie. It's a foundational film for us and it's really good.

1:18:57It's just, it's a good movie to me. I fully agree. You don't need to get too fucking deep into it. It doesn't have all these crazy, crazy fucking deep ass themes or like things that you need to look very much into. You don't need to be a movie critic to enjoy it. It just is what it is and I kind of love it for that. And it's got great characters that just like so stupid but so perfect at the very same time. The game itself is so cool. I love the concept of it being this like you say a say-ons. It's voice activated and then now you're in the game and it's cursed. Like everything about this is just like so brilliant. I loved this film and I always will. Yeah, and I would you say it's ahead of its time? Yes, absolutely. And it's still ahead of its time even today. Like I just feel the people that love it, love it and they get it. But I do challenge you if you don't like this film. I challenge you to look at it without a harsh lens and just look at it for what it is and see if you maybe

1:19:59can find an area to enjoy. I challenge you to just rewatch it. Yeah, in general. I almost guarantee it. I almost guarantee if you are listening to Stay in Live, you either chose this because you love that movie or like fuck yeah or you like us. So what are you never seen it? And you're just like, oh, what is this new movie that you're reviewing? So one of those two is great. But either way, go rewatch it. I also want to point out that it is few and far between where you and I have a film that we both not just like, but that we both love and it is not because we have watched it together or have a memory together. This is completely separate and this is our through line. I love, like you said, I love that we independently grew up loving those things at different parts of the county of San Diego. And we happened to wander together years later and we're both like, hey, you like that movie? This film, I mean, even to me, is it's a comfort film to me. You know, just like I explained when we did Texas Dance on Masker 2003,

1:21:00I love that version. It's also a comfort movie for me. This is also a comfort movie for me. These are some of the films that I go back to. And I do recognize that there's a trend there, right? Like I tend to go back and watch the Hills Have Eyes. I tend to go back and watch 2003 Texas Chainsaw. This film, House of Lacks. So like there's definitely a trend. I think those are probably some of my favorite horror films are from that era. That's funny that you just named so many bangers and the one that didn't stick in the banger levels this one. Was daylight. But that's because this, you also talked about titles that are tied to IP. This is completely independent. Independent and very rammed. You take a lot of different things from a lot of different stories and put it into one. That's what this is. It's a cornucopia, if you will. Hey, that's a fall term. Good for you. A fall cornucopia. Okay, anything else, any other final thoughts

1:22:00you have on this film? I just, for your daughter listening one day, Emma, October, hello. Oh my God, I love the name. Oh my God. Emma ever has a daughter. It's obviously going to be called October because of this movie and October. Even if that's not her actual name, I'm just going to call her October. And to you, sweet October, hello. Oh my God. Oh my God. From the future. From the past. So yeah, what are your final thoughts? Okay, to me, if I could wrap this up in like one sentence, I think Stay Alive is so much fun. And I'm so happy that I have that vibe about this film that is based on a game because inherently games are supposed to be fun. You know what I mean? And you know, it's kind of unique is, we're not gamer girls, but we still love this movie. It's just, it's just random, a random good time. It's a random good time. I love that there's some like random lore that's kind of based on a real person. So again, you'll catch me on TikTok later tonight going down rabbit holes about like the real Elizabeth battery, but God, I just, I love it for what it is.

1:23:01This movie, it just rules because it's exactly what it promises to be and that is not anything too fucking deep. It just is what it is. I love it for that. God, it's so good. God, love it. God, love it. Well, everyone, that is stay alive from 2006. You can find us on TikTok, Instagram and letterbox at spooky chicks and horror flicks. If you want some bonus content, come join our spooky chicks social club over on Patreon. We would love to have you. Please subscribe and read us five stars wherever it is that you listen. It really, really helps get the word out about our podcast. But as you all know, the best way to support the show is just by sharing our podcast with another friend who loves horror and maybe another person who loves stay alive. And with that, Alison, would you like to close this out? Absolutely. Vibrate, don't rumble. Just rewatch this, okay? And stay spooky fuckers.