Close Menu
  • Login
  • Support Us
  • Newsletter
  • News
  • Features
  • Interviews
  • Reviews
    • Video Games
      • Previews
      • PC
      • PS5
      • Xbox Series X/S
      • Nintendo Switch
      • Xbox One
      • PS4
      • Tabletop
    • Film
    • TV
    • Anime
    • Comics
      • BOOM! Studios
      • Dark Horse Comics
      • DC Comics
      • IDW Publishing
      • Image Comics
      • Indie Comics
      • Marvel Comics
      • Oni-Lion Forge
      • Valiant Comics
      • Vault Comics
  • Podcast
  • More
    • Event Coverage
    • BWT Recommends
    • RSS Feeds
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
Support Us
But Why Tho?
RSS Facebook X (Twitter) YouTube
Trending:
  • Features
    Marvel's Spider-Man Secret Lair promotional image

    Get a Look At the Secret Lair x Marvel’s Spider-Man Superdrop

    09/08/2025
    Starseeker: Astroneer Expeditions gameplay still

    Starseeker: Astroneer Expeditions Is All About Adventure (with Friends)

    09/08/2025
    Chord in Persona 5 The Phantom X

    Now Is The Perfect Time To Jump Back In ‘Persona 5: The Phantom X’

    09/05/2025
    Cosmic Spider-Man card details

    [EXCLUSIVE PREVIEW] The Spider-Man Set Gets A 5-Color Legendary Spider

    09/02/2025
    Lee Corso from College Football GameDay in EA Sports games

    EA Sports Always Understood Lee Corso’s Legacy

    09/01/2025
  • Indie Games
  • K-Dramas
  • Netflix
  • Apple TV+
But Why Tho?
Home » Film » REVIEW: ‘Choose or Die’ Wants to Make You Squirm

REVIEW: ‘Choose or Die’ Wants to Make You Squirm

Kate SánchezBy Kate Sánchez04/15/20224 Mins ReadUpdated:12/26/2024
Choose or Die Review - But Why Tho
Share
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Reddit WhatsApp Email

I’m a sucker for horror films centering games. Make it a video game and I am so very in. I mean, I’m someone who revisits Stay Alive yearly and now, Netflix has added another video game horror to the genre with Choose or Die (2022). With gore and moments manufactured to illicit the most squirm from its audience, Choose or Die is a fright that works perfectly visually even if it stumbles when it comes to plot.

Directed by Toby Meakins, written by Simon Allen, and created by Meakins, Allen, and Matthew James Wilkinson, Choose or Die follows a young coder named Kayla (Iola Evans)  who is struggling both professionally and at home. Having suffered a family tragedy she lives in a bad part of town with her mother who self-medicates with drugs, and is beholden to a thug who keeps making advances on her. On top of that, she’s a cleaner in a giant building that doesn’t seem to serve any purpose other than just to exist.

Get BWT in your inbox!

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter and get the latest and greated in entertainment coverage.
Click Here

Get BWT in your inbox!

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter and get the latest and greated in entertainment coverage.
Click Here

When Kayla finds a thrifted 80s survival horror game in her friend Isaac’s (Asa Butterfield) place and begins to play she realizes that this turn-based text game is more than she bargained for. With each choice bearing real-world ramifications in terrifying and grizzly ways, Kayla sets out to find the source and escape the game before it’s too late.

With each level of the game initiating at the same time every night, Choose or Die is a gameplay loop that pushes intensity and urgency the more things are uncovered. As a concept, Choose or Die makes perfect sense. Text-based games from the 80s put the player in a position to have an entire adventure by choosing one of two choices and causing branching ramifications and developments based on what they choose. Additionally, the ominous “Choose or Die” eliminates Kayla’s choice of not competing which pushes the story into one of immediately gnarly consequences.

With someone eating glass, another with a face full of needles, and another still with a tongue out and even more, Choose or Die thrives on its violence. The tense moments before an act is performed is what pulled a squirming reaction from me. A slow focus on the person being pulled into the chaotic violence, the film isn’t shy about blood and wants to make sure that every moment of pain is captured.

Choose or Die is a film that knows where it is in its genre, embraces it, and tries to push it as far as it can without breaking the toybox its playing in. This results in a fairly paint-by-numbers plot with tropes that tend to go where you expect, but the delivery of these elements is what makes it a thrilling watch.

That said, my biggest critique of the film is the choice to make Kayla’s mother a drug addict. Seeing Black mothers in such a light in 2022 when it most certainly doesn’t serve the plot is a stereotype that serves no one. Struck by grief, Kayla’s mother is self-medicating, sure, but the way that the film dances around her pain makes the addiction more like an unnecessary addition that doesn’t see the racist stereotypes it’s based on. Remove it, and you will still end up with the film in the same spot.

Outside of that though, there isn’t some genre-redefining narrative, and the film itself doesn’t offer up much in character growth or message and you know what? That’s okay. Some movies can be a fun horror flick to pop on for an hour and a half and walk away from. There isn’t depth, but there is an understanding of gameplay that is actually quite clever.

Choose or Die is a fun genre film that packs quite a bit of fright into only 94 minutes. As simple as the game type it’s based on, the film feels like a genre win, even with its stumbles. Having taken the gametype to heart, Choose or Die executes a deadly game with accuracy and dark twists on choices made that lead up to a climax that has a payoff that absolutely works. Sure there are some bumps in the road, but this Netflix Original is one hell of a way to spend a night in.

Choose of Die is now available exclusively on Netflix.

Choose or Die
  • 6/10
    Rating - 6/10
6/10

TL;DR

Having taken the gametype to heart, Choose or Die executes a deadly game with accuracy and dark twists on choices made that lead up to a climax that has a payoff that absolutely works. Sure there are some bumps in the road, but this Netflix Original is one hell of a way to spend a night in.

Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit Email
Previous ArticleXSEED Games Announces No More Heroes 3 for PlayStation4, PlayStation5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC
Next Article REVIEW: ‘Dance Dance Danseur,’ Episode 2 – “I Can’t Be Friends With A Guy Like Him!”
Kate Sánchez
  • Website
  • X (Twitter)
  • Instagram

Kate Sánchez is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of But Why Tho? A Geek Community. There, she coordinates film, television, anime, and manga coverage. Kate is also a freelance journalist writing features on video games, anime, and film. Her focus as a critic is championing animation and international films and television series for inclusion in awards cycles. Find her on Bluesky @ohmymithrandir.bsky.social

Related Posts

The Long Walk (2025) film review promotional image
9.5

REVIEW: ‘The Long Walk’ Is The Most Heartfelt And Heartbreaking Stephen King Adaptation

09/11/2025
Natasha O’Keeffe in Whitetail
6.5

TIFF 2025: ‘Whitetail’ Is An Intimate View Of A Woman Stuck In Time

09/10/2025
Love Brooklyn
6.0

REVIEW: ‘Love, Brooklyn’ Rests on Pretty

09/10/2025
Park Jeong-min in The Ugly
7.0

TIFF 2025: ‘The Ugly’ Is A Harsh Exercise In Self-Reflection

09/09/2025
No Other Choice
9.0

TIFF 2025: ‘No Other Choice’ Delivers a Bleak Vision of Capitalism

09/09/2025
Molly Lewis in Whistle
8.0

TIFF 2025: ‘Whistle’ Is A Breath Of Fresh Air

09/07/2025

Get BWT in your inbox!

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter and get the latest and greated in entertainment coverage.
Click Here
TRENDING POSTS
The Long Walk (2025) film review promotional image
9.5
Film

REVIEW: ‘The Long Walk’ Is The Most Heartfelt And Heartbreaking Stephen King Adaptation

By Kate Sánchez09/11/2025Updated:09/11/2025

The Long Walk is a brutal watch. Equally heartfelt and heartbreaking, it’s one of the best adaptations of Stephen King’s work.

EA Sports FC Icons Match promotional image from Nexon News

2025 Icons Match Returns With Football Legends Bridging The Pitch And Video Games

By Kate Sánchez09/03/2025Updated:09/03/2025

NEXON has announced the return of the ‘2025 Icons Match,’ a live event that brings a full roster of legendary players to the pitch.

Black Women Anime — But Why Tho (9) BWT Recommends

10 Black Women in Anime That Made Me Feel Seen

By LaNeysha Campbell11/11/2023Updated:12/03/2024

Black women are some of anime’s most iconic characters, and that has a big impact on Black anime fans. Here are some of our favorites.

DanDaDan Season 2 Episode 11
8.5
Anime

REVIEW: ‘DanDaDan’ Season 2 Episode 11 – “Hey, It’s a Kaiju”

By Allyson Johnson09/11/2025

The ragtag group faces down the mysterious kaiju in the thrilling and beautifully animated DanDaDan Season 2 Episode 11.

But Why Tho?
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram Pinterest RSS YouTube Twitch
  • CONTACT US
  • ABOUT US
  • PRIVACY POLICY
  • SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER
  • Review Score Guide
Sometimes we include links to online retail stores. If you click on one and make a purchase we may receive a small contribution.
Written Content is Copyright © 2025 But Why Tho? A Geek Community

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

But Why Tho Logo

Support Us!

We're able to keep making content thanks to readers like YOU!
Support independent media today with
Click Here