Play or Die

Lucas Igor van Dessel and Chloé Roxane Mesquida are a once-dysfunctional couple who, after a year apart, are drawn back together when Chloé invites him to play a game called Paranoia, a contest that promises a million euros to the pair who finish it. The two travel to an empty, foreboding location with a handful of other qualifiers, all guided to an abandoned hospital where the game will unfold. A disembodied voice announces the official rules and the mechanics, but it keeps two chilling secrets hidden: nothing is real, and one of the players will die.

As the game begins, Lucas notices unsettling oddities in the setup, and a growing sense that the organizers intend to eliminate everyone. Chloé, however, refuses to concede to the idea that they’re all doomed. The tension ratchets up after the first challenge yields a corpse, a stark reminder that the game has real consequences. The danger feels personal, and the couple must decide whether to trust each other or distrust the very system designed to test them.

In a subsequent room they uncover papers about Naomi, Marie Zabukovec, who had been admitted to the hospital years earlier as a dangerous patient. This revelation points to a darker history lurking behind the tests, and Chloé begins to suspect that Naomi’s past could be connected to the murders that have already shaken the players. The realization intensifies the pair’s drive to solve the puzzles and to stay alive, even as fear gnaws at their judgment.

Toward the end, the couple reaches the final test inside an abandoned hospital church. The atmosphere thickens with dread as Chloé realizes that Lucas is not just a competitor but the murderer himself, a psychopath who also suffers from memory loss. The truth redraws the entire game in their minds: the endgame is a revelation that is as dangerous as it is unavoidable. In a desperate bid to survive, Chloé leads him toward a ladder that ascends to the church’s upper floor, and she pushes him off in a bid to escape. He, however, recovers, pursues her, and kills her in turn.

In a brutal, disorienting climax, Lucas, seemingly unaware of his earlier actions, confronts the “murderer” in a climactic struggle and overpowers him. When the killer’s mask is removed, Lucas sees his own face reflected back and understands that he is the man who murdered his mother and who organized the entire game. The revelation leaves him shaken and shaken the authorities as well, and he tells the police that the killer has escaped, a troubling note that implies the truth of the case may remain unresolved. His mother, Caroline Donnelly, would have known the pain behind such a loss, and the memory of Naomi’s case, the hospital’s dark past, and the twisted game itself linger as unanswered questions that haunt the remaining players and the investigators, including the presence of a police figure who may yet prove pivotal in piecing together what happened as the investigation continues, with Priscilla Adade standing in for the authorities as a key figure in the aftermath. The final act leaves the audience with a chilling sense of how far a game can bend perception, memory, and who we think we are, all while the line between reality and illusion remains unsettlingly thin.

Last Updated: November 22, 2025 at 16:00