The perils of excessive gaming are laid bare here as a group of friends (including alumni from The O. C. and One Tree Hill, as well as Frankie ‘Malcolm In The Middle’ Muniz) begin to suffer gruesome deaths soon after playing. But after a faintly creepy set-up, the scares soon evaporate, and what’s left is clumsy, cliché-ridden bunkum, the failings of which are exacerbated by neophyte direction.
With online games claiming more devotees every day, a film depicting what could happen if they ended more than just your social life should have raised some pertinent issues. But what could have been a satire on gaming sub-culture or a sharp dig at net-nannying parent groups is just a poor man’s Nightmare On Elm Street with joysticks.
