365 Days- Day 50

movie: Stay Alive
starring: Jon Foster, Jimmi Simpson
genre: Horror
year: 2006
format: DVD

plot: A video gamer tester and his roommates die in the same way that their characters did in the game, and the game ends up being passed on to one of his buddies, Hutch.  One of Hutch's friends decides to have a group game night in honor of their dead buddy.  It's a game based on the legend of Countess Bathory, a woman accused of draining young girls of their blood.  Soon, members of the group end up dead, in the same way their characters in the game die. Hutch and the others need to find a way to stop the vampire's killing before it's too late.

What I love about this film, is that it mixes elements of real folklore, from use of roses and coffin nails as weapons, (the kids have to nail the ghost to the vampire's body) to the actual history of Bathory.  I also love that the game is a metaphor itself for vampirism.
The idea that they unwittingly hold a seance when they start the game, allowing the vampire to awake and send it's astral self through the game is genius. The mood of this movie is dark, and plays well with the shadows always having something just out of the corner of your eye.

My version is the director's cut, which has about 12 minutes of extra footage and an added character than the theatrical version.

what do I think I learned from this film? This deals with the idea of  perceptive reality. What you know to be solid and real is only one version of the truth, and you can control the outcome if you are willing to believe in something else.