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You die on screen playing the prototype video game Staying Alive, then you prepare to meet the same bloody fate in real life. This is the premise of William Brent Bell’s predictable The Ring-goes-X Box chiller, which is set against the over-familiar horror landscape of New Orleans and centres on the quest of a group of friends to find the ancient evil that has possessed their consoles. That the police ignore the group’s crazy explanation despite clear evidence; that lovers make out amid the supernatural mayhem; and that characters utter lines such as “I can’t believe this is happening!”, only adds to the lame-brained, clichéd ennui. Pre-gore cutaways (to secure a wider audience) sink any shock value, while the sound effects — reliant on joystick controls buzzing like an electric razor — are lazy. Even the game’s computer graphics refuse to summon up the requisite gothic frisson.
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