The latest Netflix Original horror film, "Choose or Die," has a wonderfully quirky premise that recounts the genre pictures of the '80s and '90s through and through. As someone who grew up in that era, and loved filmmakers who looked at the growing technology and asked what nightmares they could pull from it, I was pumped. That feeling didn't last.
Of course, the key template here is Wes Craven's excellent "A Nightmare on Elm Street," and not just because there's a poster of it on the wall in the opening scene and Robert Englund, Freddie himself providing his voice talent. But it also recalls the era of "terrible tech" horror movies like "Ghost in the Machine," "Shocker," "BrainScan," or "Dreamscape." The problem is, real horror scenes like this require a lot of personality, and director Toby Meakins doesn't bring it to the table here. "Choose or Die" needed a Craven or Cronenberg, visual masters who could run creatively with a concept that's ridiculous in a way that makes their philosophy feel almost primal. At least until its bonkers final act, "Choose or Die" consistently fails to deliver on the truly deceptive promise of its premise. Without it, it's a choice that is ultimately forgettable.
Iola Evans plays Kayla, a college student struggling with debt and a troubled mother on the edge of poverty. Her best friend is a programmer named Isaac (Asa Butterfield), who isn't exactly the romantic lead but clearly likes Kayla enough to design a character after her in her new game. There's no time for relationships, though Kayla stumbles upon an old '80s game called "Curse > R", which was once the film's even better title. "Curse > R" is an older, Infocom-style text game, one of the earliest PC games in which players input text to advance the story. "Pick up the cup? Yes or no?" This type of thing.
Kayla learns that the game has a cash prize that was never claimed, tying "Choose or Die" to a fun subculture of people searching for lost video games. However, this one is a little different. It adjusts itself based on what's going on in the room with Kayla, and each level is usually bloodthirsty and one screen reads "CHOOSE OR DIE" over and over again. Let's say Kayla plays the first level at a diner and it ends with a poor waitress eating a broken glass. It's not "Tetris" at all.
Like Freddy Krueger in the "Nightmare" movies, "Curse>r" shatters reality, often taking Kayla to other places or endangering those around her. However, there is no real structure of terrorism here. Freddy was awesome because he could have entered your dreams. He is related. We all have nightmares. "Choose or die" also often feels like it's building itself up as it progresses. That's the difference between having nightmares yourself and hearing about someone else. For a movie like "Choose or Die" to captivate you either need to be completely derailed in its confusing visuals or establish some rules for the audience and protagonist to follow. Meakins and writer Simon Allen can't decide, leading to a film that lacks confidence and flair.
Part of the problem could have been the budget. A lot of darkness and dry snow hides a lot of the action and a lot of the violence takes place off-camera—though, again, a strong visual eye would have hidden the money crunch more than anything else. It's a strangely dull film, at least until the very last act, which gets really weird in a captivating way at the end (MVP Eddie Marsan, of course). At least the film has a scintillating score by Prodigy's Liam Howlett that also places it in the tech-heavy horror era of the '80s. Still, you'd be wise to choose to just rewatch "Videodrome" instead.