Review: "Choose Or Die"
It's been a while, so why not bring back a video game horror movie review? Did I choose wisely, or do I wish I would just die?
A man, Hal, is looking to recapture his youth and sits alone in his "man-cave" surrounded by retro technology. The room is dark and full of all things that he hopes will help him relive his childhood. He sits in front of an old monitor while his wife and son have a huge argument. He is in the process of booting up an old tape-drive game called "CURS>R." In the displayed text on screen, the game somehow knows exactly what Hal is doing. It first knows where he is. Then asks if he wants another beer before one appears on his table. Next, he is asked, "Her Ears, or His Tongue?" Confused, and not willing to commit, he steps away from his desk as the screen flares to life with the phrase "Choose Or Die." Hal, still not willing to make a choice, hesitates again, and his head is filled with a high-pitched squeal. "CHOOSE OR DIE!"
Three months later, the audience is introduced to Kayla. She is a college(?) dropout working incredibly terrible jobs to make money to support herself and her mother. Kayla's mom is in a deep depression brought on by the drowning death of Kayla's brother Ricky, and only worsened by drug use supplied by a neighbor, Lance. Kayla goes over to see her long-time friend Isaac after work. She likes to do simple repair and programming jobs for him to further his own programming career, and he pays her for it. As she is talking to him, she notices a box in his pile of things for an old game called "CURS>R" that offers a $250K reward for the first person to finish it.
Later that evening, or early morning on the next day, Kayla is at a coffee shop with her laptop and the game. She was expecting to meet Isaac to hang out, but he is too busy with his own game. Kayla boots up CURS>R and, much like with Hal, the game seems to know things that it shouldn't. After it asks her if she wants coffee or cake, the waitress is already pouring the coffee almost before she finishes her answer. Kayla, rightly shocked by the game's awareness, slams her laptop closed and is immediately confronted by the spectre of her dead brother telling her, "Choose or Die."
It has been a while since I have done a video game Horror film. Unless you count Nekrotronic, the last one I did was back in 2023 for a movie called "Sequence Break." I kinda missed reviewing them. While they are usually boring and a bit dumb, Choose or Die is actually decent. Sure, it's basically a video game version of "Would You Rather" mixed with a dash of "Tales From The Crypt." Sure, the idea of a video game that can not only kill you but form/warp reality around the player is insane, but in that world it's kinda neat. It works because the movie never lets any stupid tongue-in-cheek jokes or asides ruin its seriousness.
Choose or Die doesn't really have any "star power" other than the voice of Robert Englund randomly showing up on an answering machine. All the characters are believable enough, and the writing never veers too far into "it's vidyagames, bro" territory. It also seemed to have a decent budget. No cheap green-screening or terrible practical effects. My only "gripe" was that at the very end of the film, I literally had to rewind about 30mins to figure out who the "revealed" character was at the end.
Choose or Die is weird, and probably a bit more niche than most horror fans want to go into. However, in the somewhat longer line of video game horror films, this one is nowhere NEAR the worst one. I would probably watch it again if it came on (it won't; it's a Netflix exclusive) or if they make a sequel. It's fun, and fans of the genre will find something to like about it.
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