X
- 2022
- TV-MA
- Netflix
- 1 h 24 m
- 2022
- TV-MA
- Netflix
- 1 h 24 m
Summary After firing up a lost '80s survival horror game, a young coder unleashes a hidden curse that tears reality apart, forcing her to make terrifying decisions and face deadly consequences.
Directed By: Toby Meakins
Written By: Simon Allen, Matthew James Wilkinson, Toby Meakins
- 2022
- TV-MA
- Netflix
- 1 h 24 m
- 2022
- TV-MA
- Netflix
- 1 h 24 m
Choose or Die
43
3.5
Where to Watch
Summary After firing up a lost '80s survival horror game, a young coder unleashes a hidden curse that tears reality apart, forcing her to make terrifying decisions and face deadly consequences.
Directed By: Toby Meakins
Written By: Simon Allen, Matthew James Wilkinson, Toby Meakins
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 13 Critic Reviews
43
23% Positive
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
54% Mixed
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
23% Negative
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 13 Critic Reviews
43
23% Positive
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
54% Mixed
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
23% Negative
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
Choose or Die is a perfect entry point into genre for younger viewers, one that will also satisfy old school diehards even as it takes some pointed (perhaps deserved?) jabs at them.
Choose or Die has some important things to say about the decisions we make.
User Score
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 31 User Ratings
3.5
10% Positive
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
39% Mixed
12 Ratings
12 Ratings
52% Negative
16 Ratings
16 Ratings
User Score
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 31 User Ratings
3.5
10% Positive
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
39% Mixed
12 Ratings
12 Ratings
52% Negative
16 Ratings
16 Ratings
Streamers, you know I'm a **** for a horror movie. Of course, right on cue Netflix comes out with an Easter horror flick for me, Choose or Die. It has a retro movie like a "Strangers Things"-vibe meets Saw. Doesn't that description sound cool? Either way, Choose or Die follows Kayla after she finds and begins to play a lost 80s survival horror game. Kayla tries to bring this old-school game into the 21st century with her coding skills, but she unleashes a bit more than she bargained for into her life. Kayla's forced to make some terrifying choices - keep playing or die. I know you're intrigued.
The concept is pretty cool, but the execution is beyond me. There are a few other movies that have the main character choosing between the lesser of two evils. Truth or Dare is one that comes to mind. Here, just like other movies I just kept thinking, "Why and how does this thing control people?" I've watched and I still don't understand. It doesn't make sense to me why and how it controls people and things around them. I'm really confused about the ending as well. Why would this make any sense? It makes for a unique situation so I'm all for it; but, just can we make movies make sense sometimes. Sure, some may be saying that it's clearly a fictional horror movie and it doesn't need to make sense; but, I beg the differ. Add a nice 10 minutes of context into it and help this viewer out. I'm not asking for much just a bit of continuity to give the movie some believability. This movie could easily go from horror movie to I'm-not-touching-a-Resident-Evil-videogame-ever-again with a little bit of care.
Let's talk about the limited cast. The two stars do a pretty good job for what the movie is. I feel their fear and pain. What I'm really trying to figure out is how one goes from an Academy Award movie like Hugo and Ender's Game to this in the matter of 9 years. I know child actors tend to fall off but half-way through those 11 years he was in a couple other big name movies. Anyway, that has nothing to do with this particular movie. Asa Butterfield was alright for this in the fawning boy role, I guess. Iola Evans, on the other hand, while not groundbreaking, did a very good job of conveying the panic, pain, fear, etc. Needed for this role. Let's see if she gets more "scream queen" roles in the future.
With that said, for a streaming movie in April, Choose or Die gives horror fans a little bit of a fix. It's not groundbreaking, not that scary, but it definitely gets the "I'm looking over my shoulder" bug for gamers going. The movie is strangely imaginative and unimaginative at the same time. Either way, grab a bowl of popcorn for this streaming flick. Parents go home and break all of your kid's games just in case, you've been warned.
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Two coders (Iola Evans & Asa Butterfield) discover an 80s computer game that causes all manner of vicious outcomes…not to the player, but to their unsuspecting victim. There have been numerous movies about deadly online forces, as well as shows that put people in potentially painful dilemmas, esp. the Saw series and most recently, Squid Game. Both of these genres are exploited here, but not with much new. One of the primary reasons to watch a thriller is for the thrills and there's no tension here. The sometimes horrifying ways that people are killed gets gruesome, which may appease those looking for sadistic violence. The story's logic veers in weird ways, which gives the filmmakers plenty of room to create whatever challenges they want. Plus, the open ending leaves it ready to exploit sequels. Even so, this premise feels more like another Netflix algorithm without much daring or original to make it memorable. BTW, Robert Englund, best known as Freddie Krueger, lends his voice to the game.
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Though the movie lacks a strong central story, screenwriter Simon Allen and director Toby Meakins have come up with a genuinely clever concept that could be repeatable in multiple sequels — provided that the first wave of Netflix viewers aren’t too put off by the film’s many gross-out moments.
Although I can’t go all-in on Choose or Die, I will say that there’s a lot to be said for a horror movie with clever twists, a top flight cast and a witty consistency to its conceit.
[Toby Meakins] doesn’t quite take enough advantage of his reality-shifting game sequences (the Englund voice cameo serves to remind us just how wild Wes Craven made those nightmares way back when) but it’s a cut above the average Netflix genre guff.
At least until its bonkers final act, Choose or Die consistently fails to fulfill on the truly hallucinatory promise of its premise. Without that, it’s a choice that’s ultimately forgettable.
While there have been worse-crafted, even more routinely formulaic Netflix horror efforts, this one takes the cake for sheer whateverness of barely-there plot, concept, character detailing and so on.
This movie isn’t bad and for the generation of gamers who grew up with stuff from the 80’s, this movie might be a good watch but for the rest of us, it felt like a industry standard horror that wasn’t anything particularly special.
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A mediocre horror movie made in 2022.
If you like to watch short horror movies, the event at the beginning of the movie was broadcast as a short movie. The beginning is impressive, as the short films hit and run in a matter of minutes. But as the movie progresses, it gets ridiculous and boring. To put it briefly, there is an old 8-bit game. This game offers two options to the person. The choices are either hurting himself or someone he knows. What happened at that time is really happening. An attempt was made to try a different subject, but it did not work.
The film is signed by netflix, which is the address of disappointments. No sex or nudity.
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Pretty lackluster thriller, the climax and payoff are very mild and seemingly unconnected to the rest of the movie. Also feels like a classic scenario where the studio changed the name of the movie.
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Pretty bad. Decent idea but it kinda has already been done before and much better. Netflix swung and miss big time on this one.
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