On April 15, Netflix will make their suspense thriller film, Choose or Die available to stream around the world. The movie is scripted by British screenwriter Simon Allen, and directed by Toby Meakins, who has mostly worked on short films such as Breathe and Floor 9.5 in the past.
One of the main stars of Choose or Die is Asa Butterfield, who after a relatively understated prior career, burst into global consciousness with his role as Otis Milburn in Sex Education, which is also a Netflix-distributed production.
Butterfield is joined on the cast by the likes of Iola Evans (The 100), Ray Donovan's Eddie Marsan and English actor Ryan Gage, who is famous for his roles in BBC's The Musketeers and in The Hobbit series of films.
Netflix acquired the distribution rights for Choose or Die in June 2021, but the picture is in fact produced by Stigma Films and accomplished producer and financier Anton (Greenland).
The streaming platform released the trailer for the movie towards the end of March, giving audiences a peek into the world of the story. From this, expectations appear to be high for the arrival of Choose or Die, with fans especially keen to watch Butterfield's performance.
What Is 'Choose Or Die' About?
'After firing up a lost '80s survival horror game, a young coder unleashes a hidden curse that tears reality apart, forcing her to make terrifying decisions and face deadly consequences,' the plot summary for Choose or Die reads on IMDb.
The film was originally called CURS>R, but was later adapted to the more layman and tongue-friendly title with which it will debut when it finally drops on Netflix. Iola Evans plays the role of the young coder in the story, who goes by the name Kayla.
Evans' character is described as 'a troubled college student who, after losing her job as a window cleaner, is drawn into the nightmarish world of CURS>R (the old horror video game). Asa Butterfield plays the part of Isaac, who is a close friend of Kayla's, while Eddie Marsan portrays a character called Hal. Nightmare on Elm Street and Stranger Things star Robert Englund plays a fictionalized version of himself.
Other members of the cast include White Lines star Angela Griffin, as well as Kate Fleetwood from Amazon Prime Video's The Wheel of Time.
What Are Fans Saying About 'Choose Or Die'?
Going purely by the trailer, as well as photos and other information that has been released about the film, there seems to be genuine excitement building for the premiere of Choose or Die on Netflix.
A lot of the comments on YouTube are of fans who feel that the movie is comparable to Bandersnatch, the Black Mirror film that was released in 2018 - also on Netflix. Bandersnatch is described on Netflix as the story of 'a young programmer [who] starts to question reality while he adapts a mad writer's dark fantasy novel into a video game.'
These similarities in plot appear to have excited a lot of people, although the hype is perhaps just as much for Asa Butterfield as Isaac in the Toby Meakins movie. 'This movie reminds me of Bandersnatch and that went in directions I did not expect it to go,' one such comment reads. 'I love Asa Butterfield so I am definitely going to watch this!!'
'Asa never disappoints. Looking forward to this,' a second fan writes, with another even referring to the actor by his Sex Education name: 'Here for Otis! 🥰'
Other Fans Have Compared 'Choose Or Die' To 'Jumanji' And 'Stay Alive'
It would also appear that Asa Butterfield's fans are not only from Sex Education. One particular fan praises his performance in Ender's Game, a 2013 military science fiction action film that he starred in.
For others, their love for the 25-year-old is rather unconditional: 'Literally love everything Asa is in so I'm excited for this,' one audience member writes.
Other than Bandersnatch, fans are also seeing similarities between Choose or Die and some of their older, favorite movies. One observed that the concept of an immersive game is replicated in this film as it was in Jumanji.
On Twitter, one fan writes, 'So its like Stay Alive (2006) but with money involved.' According to Rotten Tomatoes, that was a film about 'teenagers [who] decide to pass idle time by playing an online game that has a horror theme.'
It is difficult to predict how good Choose or Die will be until it is actually streaming, but if the anticipation is anything to go by, there will be many people quite invested in the story - and in Asa Butterfield.
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