Netflix’s Choose or Die somehow finds the dreary downside to a murderous video game

Netflix’s Choose or Die somehow finds the dreary downside to a murderous video game

At the start of the new horror film proudly derived from Netflix choose or die, a kitchen knife-wielding mother bickers with her teenage son over his father’s obsession with the 1980s. retro games. He sees his vintage computer flashing green until it displays a question: “His tongue or his ears?” Choose or die. What initially appears to be a morbid role-play turns into a terrifying reality: the option he takes will materialize into a real punishment meted out to his wife or son.
The fetishization of the 1980s – its trends and pop culture, especially movies and music – is recalibrated to chilling ends in Toby Meakins’ choose or die. Unlike, say, Loan player one, Simon Allen’s lighthearted script doesn’t entirely adore the altar of the decade. Of course, overt references to freddie, Gary Newman and industrial music artist Fad Gadget proliferate throughout the film. Liam Howlett of The Prodigy even provides the synth score for the film. But Meakins and Allen want to interrogate the innate horrors of living exclusively in the past. It’s a clever lesson obscured by a kitschy script that makes Allen feel like he’s taking too much pleasure in his perceived importance.
In its basic characteristics, the premise is an even more nightmarish version Jumanji. Three months after the film’s opening events, Kayla (Iola Evans) quits her job as a janitor to clean up an empty office building aptly named “Kismet.” She’s a recent college dropout, motherboard and coding pro who seeks a job in programming while caring for her sick mother, who is addicted to unspecified illegal drugs. The couple have not been the same since Kayla’s younger brother drowned in the local swimming pool. When Kayla isn’t home, she hangs out with fellow programmer and game designer, the shy and lovey-dovey Isaac (Asa Butterfield).

Photo: Cursor Films
Sifting through Isaac’s recent acquisitions, Kayla discovers an old game called “Curs>R.” He promises a grand prize of $125,000 to the winner. When she calls the hotline, she is greeted by the voice of Nightmare on Elm Street star Robert Englund, playing himself in a cameo. Believing the missing game may still have money potential, Kayla fixes it and plays it, resulting in a confluence of terrible events that puts her and everyone around her in danger.
At 84 minutes, choose or die is a kickstarter film that relies on a fast and solid storytelling. Evans, a surprising newcomer, imbues Kayla with a rich inner life. She’s a bundle of stress and exhaustion, all fleshed out on her hardened face. Her performance begs that other components around her also feel elevated, a request the film cannot fulfill due to its frustrating simplicity. In that respect, one of the film’s biggest offenders is vapid character Lance (Ryan Gage), who might work in construction, might have sex with Kayla’s mom, and is certainly her dealer, but languishes like a cartoon. garbage predator who barely feigns credibility.
Given the film’s small set and scale — there are only a few sets, which likely made it easier to film a pandemic — Kayla and Isaac’s relationship has to carry the story. But their weak interpersonal dynamic lacks credibility. In a restaurant, for example, Kayla draws on the Curs>R Game. While playing, she notices how it can distort reality through her game choices, causing a waitress to down a drink. (The ASMR sound design in this scene is stunning.)
The incident leaves her shaken and desperate for answers about the game’s origins. When a confused Isaac promises to find answers, she sneers, “Yeah, you’re gonna do that.” You are so clever. You never know why she is so belligerent. She is so cruel to Isaac that it begs the question of how the two met or how they are still friends. This shortcoming leaves the plausibility of any romance between them as a puzzle development.
choose or die is best when Allen and Meakins happily craft scares based on Kayla’s grief over her brother’s death. A setting, decorated by blinding fog and green lightning, takes place in an abandoned swimming pool. It features the film’s best scares, as the sound takes over for the audience’s obscured vision. In this scare, which feeds on Kayla’s trauma and sets up an impossible decision around her brother’s ghost, it’s clear that Meakins wants to explain the pitfalls that arise from living in the past and how the unresolved torments can eat people. If the film remained in this register, it would suffice as a moving allegory. But Meakins and Allen can’t start well enough on their own.

Photo: Cursor Films
The last act of choose or die Madly derailed because the filmmakers try to make sense of their absurd concept. It’s a strange move, considering Jumanji, for example, thrives on the unexplained mystery of the board game’s origin. Instead, the filmmakers attach an eerie backstory to the game that only blurs the mood and tone. They further reach depth through Kayla’s confrontation with the proverbial final boss, a totemic version of a fragile white man alarmed by society’s growing hunger for cultural diversity, and the idea that people like him are more obstacles for people of color than white knights, riding to save the day. “Are guys like me not allowed to be heroes anymore? ” he groans. That line lands with a thud in a finale that takes itself far, far too seriously for a film that provided very little setup for such a big representative statement.
Meakins’ choose or die could easily be the next eerily fun horror franchise, picking up where the sprawling Saw franchise or the Escape Room movies left off. But the creators’ quest for deeper meaning feels tense and over the top, and it overwhelms the adventurous spirit of the film’s first half. If anything, it’s at least a great starting point for Evans, who never hesitates, even when everything around her does.
choose or die is streaming on Netflix now.

Register to receive the newsletter
Patch NotesA weekly roundup of Polygon’s best stuff

One more thing!
Please check your email to find a confirmation email and follow the steps to confirm your humanity.

E-mail (mandatory)

By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Notice and European Users agree to the Data Transfer Policy.
Subscribe

#Netflixs #Choose #Die #finds #dreary #downside #murderous #video #game

Netflix’s Choose or Die somehow finds the dreary downside to a murderous video game

At the start of the new horror film proudly derived from Netflix choose or die, a kitchen knife-wielding mother bickers with her teenage son over his father’s obsession with the 1980s. retro games. He sees his vintage computer flashing green until it displays a question: “His tongue or his ears?” Choose or die. What initially appears to be a morbid role-play turns into a terrifying reality: the option he takes will materialize into a real punishment meted out to his wife or son.
The fetishization of the 1980s – its trends and pop culture, especially movies and music – is recalibrated to chilling ends in Toby Meakins’ choose or die. Unlike, say, Loan player one, Simon Allen’s lighthearted script doesn’t entirely adore the altar of the decade. Of course, overt references to freddie, Gary Newman and industrial music artist Fad Gadget proliferate throughout the film. Liam Howlett of The Prodigy even provides the synth score for the film. But Meakins and Allen want to interrogate the innate horrors of living exclusively in the past. It’s a clever lesson obscured by a kitschy script that makes Allen feel like he’s taking too much pleasure in his perceived importance.
In its basic characteristics, the premise is an even more nightmarish version Jumanji. Three months after the film’s opening events, Kayla (Iola Evans) quits her job as a janitor to clean up an empty office building aptly named “Kismet.” She’s a recent college dropout, motherboard and coding pro who seeks a job in programming while caring for her sick mother, who is addicted to unspecified illegal drugs. The couple have not been the same since Kayla’s younger brother drowned in the local swimming pool. When Kayla isn’t home, she hangs out with fellow programmer and game designer, the shy and lovey-dovey Isaac (Asa Butterfield).

Photo: Cursor Films
Sifting through Isaac’s recent acquisitions, Kayla discovers an old game called “Curs>R.” He promises a grand prize of $125,000 to the winner. When she calls the hotline, she is greeted by the voice of Nightmare on Elm Street star Robert Englund, playing himself in a cameo. Believing the missing game may still have money potential, Kayla fixes it and plays it, resulting in a confluence of terrible events that puts her and everyone around her in danger.
At 84 minutes, choose or die is a kickstarter film that relies on a fast and solid storytelling. Evans, a surprising newcomer, imbues Kayla with a rich inner life. She’s a bundle of stress and exhaustion, all fleshed out on her hardened face. Her performance begs that other components around her also feel elevated, a request the film cannot fulfill due to its frustrating simplicity. In that respect, one of the film’s biggest offenders is vapid character Lance (Ryan Gage), who might work in construction, might have sex with Kayla’s mom, and is certainly her dealer, but languishes like a cartoon. garbage predator who barely feigns credibility.
Given the film’s small set and scale — there are only a few sets, which likely made it easier to film a pandemic — Kayla and Isaac’s relationship has to carry the story. But their weak interpersonal dynamic lacks credibility. In a restaurant, for example, Kayla draws on the Curs>R Game. While playing, she notices how it can distort reality through her game choices, causing a waitress to down a drink. (The ASMR sound design in this scene is stunning.)
The incident leaves her shaken and desperate for answers about the game’s origins. When a confused Isaac promises to find answers, she sneers, “Yeah, you’re gonna do that.” You are so clever. You never know why she is so belligerent. She is so cruel to Isaac that it begs the question of how the two met or how they are still friends. This shortcoming leaves the plausibility of any romance between them as a puzzle development.
choose or die is best when Allen and Meakins happily craft scares based on Kayla’s grief over her brother’s death. A setting, decorated by blinding fog and green lightning, takes place in an abandoned swimming pool. It features the film’s best scares, as the sound takes over for the audience’s obscured vision. In this scare, which feeds on Kayla’s trauma and sets up an impossible decision around her brother’s ghost, it’s clear that Meakins wants to explain the pitfalls that arise from living in the past and how the unresolved torments can eat people. If the film remained in this register, it would suffice as a moving allegory. But Meakins and Allen can’t start well enough on their own.

Photo: Cursor Films
The last act of choose or die Madly derailed because the filmmakers try to make sense of their absurd concept. It’s a strange move, considering Jumanji, for example, thrives on the unexplained mystery of the board game’s origin. Instead, the filmmakers attach an eerie backstory to the game that only blurs the mood and tone. They further reach depth through Kayla’s confrontation with the proverbial final boss, a totemic version of a fragile white man alarmed by society’s growing hunger for cultural diversity, and the idea that people like him are more obstacles for people of color than white knights, riding to save the day. “Are guys like me not allowed to be heroes anymore? ” he groans. That line lands with a thud in a finale that takes itself far, far too seriously for a film that provided very little setup for such a big representative statement.
Meakins’ choose or die could easily be the next eerily fun horror franchise, picking up where the sprawling Saw franchise or the Escape Room movies left off. But the creators’ quest for deeper meaning feels tense and over the top, and it overwhelms the adventurous spirit of the film’s first half. If anything, it’s at least a great starting point for Evans, who never hesitates, even when everything around her does.
choose or die is streaming on Netflix now.

Register to receive the newsletter
Patch NotesA weekly roundup of Polygon’s best stuff

One more thing!
Please check your email to find a confirmation email and follow the steps to confirm your humanity.

E-mail (mandatory)

By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Notice and European Users agree to the Data Transfer Policy.
Subscribe

#Netflixs #Choose #Die #finds #dreary #downside #murderous #video #game