Choose or Die Review: Movie That Attempts To Make Horror Scenes Look Quirky Cult

Starring: Iola Evans, Asa Butterfield, Eddie Marsan

Director: Toby Meakins

Streaming Platform: Netflix (click to watch)

Filmyhype.com Ratings: 3/5 (three star) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

In Choose or Die the new Netflix horror film directed by Toby Meakins on his directorial debut, the potential space of video games is designed to sow daily terror through the different levels loaded into memory, one after the other, of an electronic game. which heavily affects reality. CURS> R is the name of the game through which you risk losing your life, or that of close people , not the life of your virtual alter ego, and where the reward for having always overcome new nightmare and terrifying scenarios does not consist in statuettes or ceremonies, but in the possibility of becoming the hero, the “worthy” player, of a mysterious path of horror and being able to save himself using the symbols of CURS> R making someone else suffer (to benefit), because in Choose or Die , available on Netflix from April 15, 2022, one life is sacrificed to save another.

Choose or Die Review: The Story

You press start and start the console already in the first sequence of Choose or Die, when the first player, the nostalgic collector Hal (Eddie Marsan), a father not attentive to the needs of his family who spends all his time playing videogames, after the yet another discussion with his wife and son, he does not light a cigarette, but decides to free himself from stress by starting and waking up CURS> R: the curious video game found on the shelf of a thrift store. A few seconds and Hal realizes that CURS> R is a cursed game, which seems to have been programmed to hurt; who not only follows the instructions given through the keyboard, but is also able to take the thoughts and flesh of real players. But how does he kill someone? How does a game take control, break into reality?

That’s what Kayla (Iola Evans) tries to find out: A young woman who has just received an eviction notice and also has a traumatic past, after the death of her little brother she had to drop out of school and start working at night. One day, when Kayla discovers the existence of the old video game CURS> R at the home of her friend Isaac (Asa Butterfield), together with his contemporary videogame programmer, and eighties culture enthusiast, begins to investigate its true nature (in fact it is a survival game that seems to give access to an unclaimed prize of $ 125,000). It is none other than the recorded voice of Robert Englund – the actor known for the role of the monstrous serial killer Freddy Krueger, protagonist of the horror saga Nightmare – to clarify to the couple of future CURS> R players that ” it is still possible to grab the prize”. 

Choose or Die Review and Analysis

Being a low-budget film, it relies on Asa Butterfield to sell the starring roles, but he’s actually only a part in a supporting role in the movie. which may make the audience disappointed enough because the story really the focus is on the heroine Kayla. who started this game in order to need money to help her sick mother who is poor at home There was also a horny man who had hoped to claim her there. Esa was a friend who liked her. and become an indie game creator himself. which the story has laid a little bit of this content and then enter the main content, play the game in no time The movie is only 1 hour 18 minutes long (not including credits), which is very short, so the story progresses fairly quickly with the use of game-level horror scenes.

which these scenes are not very scary Focusing on a little bit of horror, that’s all, and then went on to cult film with purely video game scenes. instead of the real horror scene that happened at that time or strange horror scenes Let the characters be like digital video games. Which understands that they want to save more budget to reduce costs, so choose to create a scene out of this style, which does not work much if people intend to watch horror movies may be confused instead of how terrifying these scenes are but if you look at it as a low-budget cult film, it also offers some weird and quirky horror scenes ideas as well.

Interest in the 1980s is associated with particularly disturbing atmospheres in Choose or Die, which is not the first film where technology is used for nefarious purposes. From Cam directed by Daniel Goldhaberl to The Ring with teenagers who die in mysterious circumstances, terrifying images contained in videotapes and brave characters trying to discover the truth. Choose or Die seems to be inspired by the concept of the body (mutilated patient transformed) of one of the pioneers of body horror: David Cronenberg. The new horror Netflix explores how dangerous it can be to live in the past and, as mentioned, it could be included in the subgenre of body horror where the feelings of horror and disturbance are created through the representation of physical deformities of the body; recurring themes include the introduction of foreign bodies into the digestive tract and mutilations.

The real subject of the film is this bloodthirsty video game: the protege who ended up in the clutches of the Prince of Horror. The first tranche is valid and convincing, thanks to some scenes that, more than frightening, are gruesome and macabre, in particular the one in which Kayla passes the first level of CURS> R and which takes place in the tavern and the “final battle with the boss”- the fifth and last level of the videogame – which takes place in a house with characters with a clownish and disfigured appearance. It is a pity, then, that the second part, when the work would have required a narration capable of catching the viewer’s attention, instead makes one feel its failure: it tries to explain the nature of the “curse” (curse in English) and fails he loses points for the acting of the actors and is no longer able either to involve or to upset.

Choose or Die Review: The Last Words

A low-budget horror movie starring Asa Butterfield to sell like a protagonist but not the protagonist, it’s just a supporting role. Horror scenes in strange cult films more than a direct horror scene If anyone had hoped for these scenes, they would definitely be disappointed. But if you look at the movie that focuses on selling ideas, it’s understandable. The film is very short, only a few hours. considered so-so and then ended like leaving the shift to make a clear sequel.