A good horror movie needs suspense, frights and gore -- with a bit of humor on the side to prevent viewers from taking it too seriously. Stay Alive fails to deliver these important elements, unless chuckles at the film’s ridiculous videogame plot count in the humor department. Although starting with an interesting concept -- players die in real life the same way they die in the game -- things go completely haywire when all the rules fly out the window.

Jon Foster, so impressive in The Door in the Floor, tries his best to lend some semblance of quality to Stay Alive. He plays Hutch McNeil, a young man who watched his mother die in a fire when he was a child. Now he’s faced with the death of his friends as the result of playing a game that’s not even on the market yet.

This “Stay Alive” game focuses on the Blood Countess, an evil woman who murdered a slew of girls and used their blood in order to remain young looking. For some reason or other, her spirit is able to escape from the game and destroy players after they enter the game by reciting a mysterious chant that casts a spell on them. In order to defeat the Blood Countess, red roses must be thrown at her -- in the game and in real life.

Roses, a countess and chants, o my! Are you frightened yet?

I didn’t think so. And, apparently, neither are the gamers. They play on, no matter who bites the dust. But, hey, why stop playing when the game starts playing itself? (Oops! There go those rules.)

It’s all quite predictable, so where’s the suspense? As for frights, I experienced more of them in Chicken Little. And gore? Some bloody head and neck wounds, but nothing to cause nightmares -- even for the most squeamish viewer. I found the most frightening thing about Stay Alive to be its loud and annoying sound effects.      

With the exception of Foster, performances in Stay Alive left me cold. Frankie Muniz (Big Fat Liar), who portrays a nerdy gamer, is usually very entertaining to watch, but not here. How his character ends up the way he does is still a mystery to me. Scipt rules -- like game rules -- do not seem important to the film's creators.  

Compared to Stay Alive, The Ring and Ring Two, which also deal with evil spirits coming out of screens, are horror masterpieces.                

(Released by Buena Vista Pictures and rated “PG-13” for horror violence, disturbing images, language, brief sexual and drug content.)