Play or Die (2019) Movie Review
Written By: FR
Edited By: Grave Reviews Staff
Film Information
Director: Jacques Kluger
Writers: Amiel Bartana, Jacques Kluger
Producers: Sebastien Auscher, Serge de Poucques, David Elfersi, Sylvain Goldberg
Date Released: May 10, 2019
Cast:
Charley Palmer Rothwell as Lucas
Koah Edwards as Child Lucas
Igor van Dessel as Teenager Lucas
Roxane Mesquida as Chloé
Marie Zabukovec as Naomi
Thomas Mustin as Jablowski
Daphné Huynh as Maxine
Hippolyte de Poucques as Ray
Rating = 2/5 Graves
***May contain some spoilers***
Synopsis
Play or Die (2019) follows Lucas (Charley Palmer Rothwell) and Chloe (Roxane Mesquida) who – after some serious persuasion by Chloe – decide to participate in Paranoia, a secretive live-action game of thrills that involves puzzle-solving. As the couple falls immediately back into their old patterns, they follow a series of clues to a rave. After solving the first riddle, they make it to the location of the finale in an abandoned mental hospital in the middle of a secluded forest. In here the ultimate mindbender is to decode the mystery, be the last one standing, and you will win one-million euros. The rules of this gigantic escape game are simple: solve a puzzle inside each room to unlock the door and earn a puzzle piece, then move onto the next room. At the end, these collected pieces will reveal the combination that is necessary to exit the hospital to freedom and the grand prize. It might sound simple, but as the game begins Lucas quickly realizes that there’s something seriously wrong with this place, and they will be lucky to get out of the hospital alive!
Gore Factor
The film set-up as an escape game is expected to have body counts. The bodies were partially mutilated but some deaths are not shown how they got inflicted. The initial tension came from the hanging stakes that kept lowering on one of the characters while they try to solve the clues that will stop the drop. From here on the rest of the escape rooms require the same clues. However, Play or Die (2019) definitely does not go overboard with gore. Sure, there’s some blood, several really good jump-scares, and this film instead opts for intensity and mood.
The Grave Review
Based on the best-selling novel “Puzzle” by Franck Thilliez, the film is based on hellish settings, characters manipulated like puppets, while the pieces of the puzzle fit perfectly. The premise here is pretty simple: a live-action escape game turns deadly. There’s nothing unique in this aspect, however, there is an ultimate plot twist that makes Play or Die (2019) stand apart from its contemporaries. Whether you love the flick or just consider it mediocre is ultimately up to how you digest this twist and if you feel it properly explains the chaotic environment.
The film thankfully never reveling in the torture of the players to the extremes of Saw but instead cutting away at the last moment, leaving the true horror to the imagination of the audience. That’s not to say the film is tame, in fact there’s a number of gory scenes strewn throughout the film, including a prolonged sequence that will make anyone afraid of the dentist think twice about ever going again!
As for the acting, certainly it is Rothwell’s Lucas and Mesquida’s Chloe who receive the bulk of the screen-time and provide the most impressive performances. Their characters were properly developed and have crafted its realistic dimensions which draw the viewer into the story,
Visually Play or Die follows very grey, very bleak looking visuals. The film generates different moods within the films mental hospital setting. Yes it also gives the film something of a 80s aesthetic. Besides the escape rooms traps, a black-gloved killer roaming the hospital halls attacking the games players too.
Overall the film is well-shot, the gore looks painful and it can be enjoyable even if it is predictable.
For the foregoing reasons, Grave Reviews gives Play or Die (2019) two graves out of five graves.
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