Macabre...ish Horror Review: Alice in Borderland

Alice in Borderland, 2020/ Series

A student who lost his mother and escapes finds escape in video games, is pressure by his brother and Dad to do anything else. But he’s not interested and decides to find somewhere to be besides disappointing them. So he’s hoping one of his friends will let him stay over. But the timing could not be worse. And his friends suggest that he stop wasting his time with them and move on with his life.

While goofing off, they find themselves in an empty subway station and upon returning returning to the street...it’s empty and silent. No people anywhere, everything just where everyone left it before the entire population vanished. Except the 3 of them, Arisu, Chota and Karube, they split up, run around town and find no one else.

There’s no cell signal and no electricity. Suddenly one entire building lights up. It says, Welcome Players, The Game Will Commence in a Moment. They run to another lit building, The GM. It’s a dump.  There a sign that says the arena is up ahead. So they head to an elevator with a sign that says ‘1 person at a time’. They each pick up a phone from the many that are lined up.

A lady arrives and she warns that if they cross the borderline, they will never return. There are deadly lasers set up if they try to leave. The game commences when another woman arrives. They are given a challenge with a time limit.

If they choose not to play, they die. If they take to long, they die. If they are wrong, they die. They have to figure out how to play, how to win and what they are playing for. Turns out the gamer, Arisu, is also a mathematician and his skill with solving puzzles might be key. But either way, they only have minutes to solve each challenge. And this is only the first game.

They are warned by another stranger that there is no end to the game. And they see what happens when you tap out.

This is a Japanese dystopian series about a game of survival, it’s not too graphic, it is bloody but not very gory. It’s a thriller and feels like a live action remake of an animation. It’s quite an emotional roller coaster, so far I’m enjoying it.