Choose or Die (2022) User Reviews

I had high hopes, it wasn't great.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 5/10 · 16 April 2022]

Quirky, yes, Original, it had some moments, good..... I'm not too sure on that one, it had some elements that were good, but far too many eye rolling moments, too many things that just didn't hang together.

The acting was alright, Eddie Marsan was good as always, but efforts to make us think the characters were American, and in The US, just fell flat. Had they spoken naturally, and just set it in The UK, it may have worked better.

The behaviour of the characters was just somehow really odd, hard to imagine anyone having such bizarre experiences, and carrying on normally.

Favourite scenes, the cafe scene was bonkers, but worked well, the part with the rat in the house also good.

Odd, not terrible, but should have been so much better.

5/10.

Meh, it's OK for one viewing.

[MikeHunt1075 · 5/10 · 16 April 2022]

Choose or Die is about an unemployed programmer struggling to get by while looking after her sick mother when her and her 1980s obsessed friend discover an unheard of 80s video game that is much more than it seems. One of those old green and black choose your adventure games becomes very real as its not just a game, the decisions made affect the real world, she must make a choice, or die. The girl has to keep playing while she also tries to discover the origins of the game and how to stop it.

Robert England only provides his voice to an answering machine and parts of the game, so don't expect to see him on screen.

Overall, compared to some reviews here, it's not a bad movie, but it's not one I'll ever check out again. It's not so much a nostalgic thing, melleniul or boring as some other reviews stated. It just is what it is. It's not really horror unless you have a fear of video games coming to life, it's more of a bit of a thriller and investigation with a few deaths along the way. It is what it is.

Like I said, it's pretty much just a one off viewing kinda thing, but certainly not a must see. You choose if you wanna see it? Either way, you won't die lol.

So-so British techno-horror inexplicably set in the US

[Tweekums · 6/10 · 17 April 2022]

This horror film opens with Hal, a middle aged man, finding a cassette that contains a 1980s computer game called 'CURS>R'. He has an old computer so decides to play. It is a text based adventure game. As soon as it starts something odd happens; his choices in the game play out in real life. He can only stop playing if he makes copies of the game; he does so. Three months later protagonist Kayla finds the game along with a note stating that the first person to beat it will win $125,000 and a phone number, which gives a recorded message suggesting it might be unclaimed. Her friend, computer programmer Isaac, helps her start to play. Again her in game choices have real world consequences; attempts to stop playing or destroy the tape don't work; if she tries to avoid making a choice it tells her to 'Choose or Die'! Things will get increasingly unpleasant as Kayla learns more about the game and its origins before inevitably facing 'The Boss' level.

This film opened well; anybody who played a computer game will enjoy hearing the sound of a game loading off a cassette nostalgia inducing. The way the game affected real life might not have been entirely original it was enjoyable. Some of these were pretty disturbing but at other times we just see old style game animation while hearing what is meant to be happening which was less scary... although I guess it saved on the effects budget. The story progresses well enough with Kayla taking on the various levels of the game at the same time each day and worrying about what to do in between. The cast is solid. Talking of the cast; given that they are mostly British and it was filmed in London there is no logical explanation of their characters being American and setting it in the US. It was fun having Robert Englund, of 'Nightmare on Elm Street' fame provide the voice of the game's 'Director Terror'. Overall I thought this was okay; hardly a must watch but it passed the time well enough.

Not great...not terrible

[degrees-33365 · 5/10 · 16 April 2022]

It's one of those movies that falls into the mediocracy area pretty quickly. The acting is ok (Eddie Marsan is the stand-out as always) but the plot is just tired, old and predictable.

It's not a movie I'd explicitly pay to watch but if it appears on your favorite streaming service(s) give it a watch while you do something else.

A short film idea stretched into 85min movie

[jasha89 · 4/10 · 15 April 2022]

I believe it would have been an interesting short film about retro game that takes over control and forces you to make awful choices.

However, the movie falls short with a regular length runtime and proves to be a drag devoid of any real excitement. As many before mentioned, it's just plain boring.

Leading duo does a decent job but underdeveloped script gives them little to work with.

Almost impossible to get through in one sitting.

Would have rather avoided it.

4 out of 10 from me.

Wait! Really???

[noelbrooksbank · 2/10 · 16 April 2022]

Is it really what I think it is? Filmed in the U. K with U. K. actors Playing Americans in America in the U. K.!

Why could they not be British characters?

Good idea, entertaining to me.

[deloudelouvain · 7/10 · 28 April 2022]

Once again I'm amazed by the extremely negative reviewers on here. It's like people like to complain about everything nowadays. Choose or Die might not be the greatest movie ever, we can all agree on that, but to me it was certainly good enough to entertain me the whole time. Nice refreshing story, with good ideas, and a decent production. I thought Lola Evans and Asa Butterfield, playing the two main characters, did a pretty good convincing job. As a fan of retrogaming it was even nicer to watch, reminded me of my youth sometimes. So in conclusion, if you want something else in the mild horror genre Choose or Die is a nice option.

Time to cancel Netflix

[Frostbite22 · 1/10 · 5 May 2022]

Just one more reason to cancel Netflix....trailer made it look promising but movie was trash, ongoing theme for this joke of a streaming service..............................

7 for originality

[indiana1981 · 7/10 · 17 April 2022]

I read a lot of negative reviews for this movie, but it's deserves some credit for originality of the storyline.

It's a very low budget movie, there are virtually zero special effects. And maybe this is why some people are disappointed I don't know.

But for this reason, I think the movie deserves some kudos. The storyline is original and for a 90 minute movie, it's does keep you engaged until the end. There are a couple of gruesome moments, but it is not a heavy horror or gory film. I'd say it's really more borderline sci-fi thriller. Again, maybe people were expecting more here.

I'd really give this movie a 6/10, but I think for a low budget movie I think it's entertaining.

Basically, I'd expect to see this movie, at a low-budget, 2-day horror film festival.

For a Netflix movie, I'd expect bigger/budget production. Overall, it is different and watchable.

Big disapointment

[xaja-63872 · 1/10 · 21 April 2022]

I signed up at imdb just to write this review. I had good hopes, but it is probably the worst movie i have seen in years. Acting and storyline is really bad. You don't get to know the characters at all. Their background is one big blur.

The first 5 minutes where okay and after that it just sucks. Totally not scary and a waiste of your time. Don't watch it. You'll regret it.

Unexpected fun

[ashleaglanville · 8/10 · 18 April 2022]

I had no idea what to expect and was pleasantly surprised. Some of the acting was lacking but I thought it was interesting and did put me on edge a little which is nice.

Short Review: Not bad, not the best.

[dcnolan85 · 6/10 · 18 April 2022]

It's a decent story... entertaining. No deep character development or psychological breakthroughs but a mediocre work of entertainment. You'll find it more enjoyable if you have an interest in this genre.

Decent Enough Horror Watch

[icocleric · 5/10 · 15 April 2022]

It's not really scary, but it's entertaining with its really good moments.

It has the right balance of the older nostalgic effects as well. The ending is a bit weak, especially compared to how strong the start is. Worth a watch, but not with high hopes since it does have themes seen in other horror films. So it's not the most original, but it's fun to watch if you are a horror fan.

The overall plot isn't the most in depth, but it works. The acting is decent enough too. I've seen much worse.

I Chose Poorly

[thesar-2 · 4/10 · 7 May 2022]

Okay, not entirely, but you could do better.

In the tradition of 13 Sins, Truth or Dare, Saw and many more comes the Oregon Trail/Dallas Quest version. An old 80s computer game haunts innocent victims when it's played for scarily easy choices and it's up to Not-Elijah-Wood and his not-so-secret crush to beat the CURS>R.

It's alright, but sadly for every enormously effective scare/gore scene, there's a twice-as-bad, unintentionally hilarious FX or completely off-acting. And the bad scenes usually happen right after or during the effective scenes. Not that this seemingly 2005 release could've been saved.

But, if you have Netflix and liked Saw, 13 Sins, Truth or Dare... you could Choose a lot worse.

***

Final Thoughts: I used to LOOOVE Dallas Quest. I never got a chance to play Oregon Trail, but I heard/saw it was similar.

Watch or don't.

[BA_Harrison · 1/10 · 17 April 2022]

When computer programmer Kayla (Iola Evans) copies an old computer adventure game to her laptop, stuff happens.

My favourite part of Choose or Die was when the soon-to-be-dead friend turns into a glitchy video image and starts to spew up videotape. My second favourite part was the giant rat attack, told entirely via monochromatic computer sprites. I didn't understand why either scene was happening, but they made me laugh (especially when the videotape was rewound and played forwards again).

To be honest, I didn't have a clue what was going on for the majority of this lamentable retro, hipster mix of The Ring and Brainscan. I didn't understand the origin of the game or the rules behind its curse. Stuff just happens, and, for the most part, it's not very interesting stuff. People die, but they do so in the most unimaginative and gore-free fashion (whatever way is the cheapest to film). I wasn't invested in any of the characters, so I didn't really care what happened to them.

The final scene makes it clear that a sequel could happen. I think I'll choose not to watch it.

I'd rather watch The Ring backwards

[crystalwrites · 1/10 · 21 April 2022]

Another teeny bopper scare flick. It's stupid. Really stupid. And the audio for this movie was annoying as hell. Also how do people just have a loved one die such a horrible death and just go on about their lives so casually. Your friend just had VHS tape shoot out of his mouth for a whole five minutes and you just casually hop in your car and drive away? Who's gonna find his body? How's that murder investigation gonna go? This movie was weird. Weird and bad. Don't watch it.

Ignore the bad reviews!

[AutumnAlice · 7/10 · 16 April 2022]

I am shocked this is getting such poor ratings!

It was a bit like a long Black Mirror episode and it did require a bit of suspension of disbelief, but isn't that sometimes what sci-fi entertainment is all about? I grew up loving Eerie Indiana and Goosebumps etc so anything that falls into that sort of category is always a win for me; this was pretty much a grown up R L Stein story.

Main point: Angela Griffin was amazing - absolutely her best performance, shame she didn't have a bit more screen time. It took me ages to realise it was her.

Please give it a watch and just enjoy a silly, gory story with some great performances.

A colossal mess

[burgerman93 · 4/10 · 20 April 2022]

I had high expectations for this, figured an 85 minute movie about an interactive video game would be engaging enough. Honestly could have been a 20 minute short story. While the acting was good and there were a few jump scares, the explanation of the game's cryptic symbols and how the cursed players are selected was lacking in my view. This was a downer overall.

The first half of this movie was incredible right up to the 43 minute mark!

[duckboy-94171 · 7/10 · 16 April 2022]

The first 43 minutes of this originally done Horror flick was easily 10/10 & then it started to go down hill so I'm conflicted with the score to rate this movie 🎬 because the first half was so good I'll give it 7/10 It's definitely worth the watch because the start of this movie was insanely cool!

Cringeworthy...

[paul_haakonsen · 3/10 · 4 May 2022]

Yeah, wow. Just wow. Talk about a swing and a miss of a movie.

Now, as I sat down in 2022 to watch the Netflix movie "Choose or Die" from writers Simon Allen, Toby Meakins and Matthew James Wilkinson, then I wasn't sure what I was in for here, aside from it being a horror movie. And being a life-long and avid horror fan, then seeing Robert Englunds name on the cast ensemble, definitely amped up my expectations to director Toby Meakins' movie.

However I have to say that I just never could get into the storyline here, because it was just utter rubbish. The storyline felt like it was written as a submission for a middle school writing contest. The storyline was just downright stupid and laughable.

The acting performances in "Choose or Die" were fair enough. It was nothing impressive and not something to write home about. But then again, it was just difficult to sit through as the storyline was just nonsense.

For a horror movie then "Choose or Die" was a swing and a miss for me. The writers failed miserably to entertain me with the storyline that they conjured up here. And I am actually a bit impressed that three writers could collectively manage to come up with something this pointless and laughable.

As a horror aficionado, then I have to say that you might as well just skip on "Choose or Die", as it simply isn't worth the time or effort.

My rating of "Choose or Die" lands on a very generous three out of ten stars.

Why the bad reviews??

[tooranim · 9/10 · 17 April 2022]

Watch the movie and ignore the bad reviews.. It's nicely told story with edge of seat suspense.. Wes cravenisc vibes.. Like old fashioned horror with twists you won't be disappointed..

Honesty

[cappindogs · 7/10 · 16 April 2022]

The low reviews are very picky and wannabe-professionals. A short and honest review on this film is; not the best thriller, but good enough to still put on when you have almost nothing to watch. The story is alright and the camera work is off in some parts. Plus, the writer made this as his first movie. Don't expect to be scared, it's an interesting thriller not a jump-scare supernatural eyes-closing horror film.

Very Black Mirror

[johnnyhbtvs27 · 5/10 · 15 April 2022]

An inventive but ultimately disappointing horror movie. Choose Or Die has some nice moments and the final third is better than what has come before but it is choppy in places and never really gels. A smart little voice cameo from Robert Englund and Iola Evans & Asa Butterfield are likeable enough leads but the movie just feels rushed. Could have been so much better.

Location issues

[gazwalmsley · 1/10 · 17 April 2022]

Why are they trying to make the UK look like The US?! It simply doesn't work. Just have it set in the UK.

I cringe at bad American accents from British actors too. Baffling.

A genericly premised horror film turns into unintentional hilarity

[IonicBreezeMachine · 4/10 · 16 April 2022]

Kayla Edwards (Iola Evans) is a college programming student living paycheck to paycheck as a window cleaner and caring for her drug addicted mother, Thea (Angela Griffin). On the side, Kayla restores old technology for her friend, Isaac (Asa Butterfield), who specializes in coding and old computer programming. When Kayla comes across a copy of old 80s computer game CURS>R in Isaac's collection, she decides to play the game for a chance at possibly winning unclaimed prize money related to the game. However when Kayla plays the game, CURS>R's choices have real world consequences and in order to survive Kayla will have to choose or die.

Choose or Die began life under the title Curser (spelled CURS>R) back in 2019. When it was first announced, the project was envisioned as a "short form" series for the ill-fated Quibi streaming service that folded less than a year after its launch with Ridley Scott serving as a producer through his Scott Free label. When Quibi folded so too did this incarnation of the project, but while Ridley Scott dropped out as a producer, UK company Anton relaunched the project as a traditional feature film with director Toby Meakins and writer Simon Allen still involved. The film marks Meakins' first feature debut, as well as the first feature writing credit of Allen who's better known for his TV work such as BBC's The Watch or The Musketeers. Choose or Die has an interesting premise on the surface, but underneath its initial hook this is a bare basics rehash of those post 2002 The Ring "cursed object" movies you've seen only with unintentional hilarity.

When I'd heard about the premise for this film revolving around a cursed 80s text based adventure game, I was reasonably optimistic about the premise as I'd seen the concept done before in the episodic horror game Untold Stories where a play plays a text based adventure game that suddenly turns into a dark reflection of a past wrong they committed. Unfortunately that's where the comparisons end because the movie doesn't have characters who are all that interesting and are given the bare minimum as place holders to go through most of the same beats you've seen in movies like Polaroid, Countdown, Friend Request, and every other horror movie of the past 5 years you probably forgot existed. But Choose or Die stands out a little from those movies as it goes beyond being generic and into unintentional comedy.

The first "choose or die" set piece where Kayla inadvertently causes an unsuspecting waitress to commit suicide by eating glass is somewhat unnerving, but every subsequent set piece beyond the first one amps up the ridiculousness beginning with a sequence where the game creates a giant rat that terrorizes Kayla's mother Thea in their apartment, but we don't actually see this rat as instead the sequence is shown to us with pixelated black and green graphics complete with MIDI music that makes a scene that should be horrifying gut bustlingly funny. And it only gets worse from there as poor Asa Butterfield reaches a low point in his career where he acts out a scene regurgitating unspooled Betamax tape in fast forward. But the absolute cherry on top comes from the very end of the movie where you'll be fully aware this was once intended to be a Quibi series because it sets up continuation in a way that positions it for a genre switch from horror to superhero.... I'm not joking.

Choose or Die on the surface seems like yet another rehash of the cursed object formula, but it goes beyond simply being generic and can't be taken even the slightest bit seriously thanks to ill judged scenes that make something that should be horrifying instead humorous. The bland cast are feebly trying to bring some credibility to this material, but it's a fools errand as the premise gets more and more deranged culminating in an ending that feels like a remnant from when this was envisioned as a Quibi series.