Countdown

In a teenage party, a group of friends download the app Countdown that predicts when the user will die. The teenager Courtney (Anne Winters) sees that she has just a couple of hours to live and does not accept the ride of her drunken boyfriend Evan (Dillon Lane). She walks home but she is killed by a supernatural creature when the timer in her cellphone reaches zero. Meanwhile Evan crashes his car at the same time of her death and he goes to a hospital where the nurse Quinn Harris (Elizabeth Lail) works. Evan discloses that he is afraid to go into surgery since the app Countdown predicts that he will die at the same time of the surgery. The doctors and nurses of the hospital decide to download the app and Quinn learns that she has only three days of life. When Evan mysterious dies in an accident at the hospital, Quinn buys a new cellphone and finds that the app is also installed. When she meets Matt Monroe (Jordan Calloway) at the parking lot of the store, she learns that his death is predicted for a couple of hours before her and they team-up to look for a means to break the curse.

"Countdown" is an entertaining horror film for fans of "Final Destination". The plot and the acting are not bad and Quinn Harris is a pleasant character. There are silly and unnecessary subplots, like the harassment of Dr. Sullivan, the priest that likes to joke or the romance of Quinn and Matt, but in general the movie is worthwhile watching. My vote is six,

Title (Brazil): "A Hora da Sua Morte" ("The Time of Your Death")

As this horror film opens a group of teenagers are at a party; one of them has downloaded a phone app, called 'Countdown', that claims to predict when the user will die; the others install it and one of them is somewhat disturbed when it says she has three hours to live; her boyfriend is only predicted slightly longer. This being a horror film she does indeed die. He is injured in a car crash and is worried because he is predicted to die at the time of his surgery. He tells newly qualified nurse Quinn Harris about the app and soon many of the staff have added it... it tells her she has three days to live. At first she laughs it off but when the boyfriend dies she starts to take it seriously. After a chance meeting with a man who has also been given a short time to live she sets about trying to find a way of avoiding her fate. This will involve seeking help from the likes of a nerdy priest and a tech support guy. If that weren't had enough a doctor at work harasses her.

The idea of having somebody trying to avoid a predicted death might not be that original; there are famous examples from antiquity, but having an app make the prediction is a nice update of the idea. The story gets off to a good if predictable start... we have to see a couple of people die as predicted to accept that anybody could take it seriously. The film provides some good tense moments but for a horror film I'd have preferred it if it were a bit scarier. The demons that came for those trying to cheat death should have been the scariest thing about the film; instead that honour goes to the sleazy doctor who tried to take advantage of Quinn. The characters were rather fun; most notably the priest who was really into demons and curses. The acting is solid; particularly Elizabeth Lail as Quinn. Overall I wouldn't say this is a must see but if you want a mildly scary horror film that will pass ninety minutes you could do a lot worse.

Countdown (3 out of 5 stars).

Countdown is a decent supernatural horror film that takes an interesting spin with the modern technology and death. Kind of reminds me of Final Destination on how death goes after the people who are suppose to be dead. Countdown adds the interesting spin of a countdown death app. Which people can download on their smart phones to see how long they would have to live. Some will live 80 or so years. While some will only have a day or two. When the countdown is up, some ghostly or death looking figure chases them down and kills them.

The plot follows nurse Quinn (Elizabeth Lail) who downloaded the app. Only to find out, she has two days to live. Thinking it is some stupid app. She reads about it after a couple of teenagers have been reported dead after using the app. She starts experiencing supernatural delusions with some death figure that's watching her. She is trying to break the curse to stop the countdown and escape from this supernatural figure.

The plot is decent. The plot messes with the idea that every character has a certain fate. And the countdown changes it to a different course. Either someone was suppose to be killed in an car accident but they avoided getting in the car. Which they will die in a different fate. Quinn is still struggling about loss within the family. Which her and her sister Jordan (Talitha Bateman) are in a struggling family drama. Quinn gets company who is facing the same conflict with the app, Matt (Jordan Calloway) who joins her in trying to break this curse.

The direction does have a few creepy moments like being followed by some shadow figure. Or some jump at the screen scares. I did not find the movie to be at all scary. It was entertaining and thrilling but lacking the scares.

The cast ensemble was okay as well. Elizabeth Lail gave it her best as a struggling nurse. After being threatened with her job cause the Doctor played by Peter Facinelli is upset that she does not want to sleep with him. So he filed a complaint about harassment against her. Jordan Calloway and Talitha Bateman were both okay as their characters. P.J. Byrne playing Father John was cheesy as the character. Who is trying to make the father character cool with his hip hop attitude and easily obsessed with the supernatural world.

Overall, Countdown is an okay film. It is entertaining and thrilling. The plot is okay. The direction lacked scares and has the typical clichés for a horror film.

This horror film does a surprising amount right, despite the attacks that modern times are not only inflicting on entertainment arts and pop culture. The basic idea (minus the cellphones and apps) could also have originated in the 90s, the jump scares aren't over the top and feel appropriate, the brutality of modern exaggerations gives way to the classic approach of not showing too much, but certainly not too little. The balance that director Justin Dec finds and implements in this film is an increasingly unusual sight. The effects are well done, the supernatural is well staged and the humor relies on lovingly written supporting characters who shine with dialogues that you can hardly find anywhere in films these days.

The actors are all okay to good. Elizabeth Lail in particular plays her role of a rather shy but quite powerful woman very believably. Jordan Calloway is okay, if a bit pale, and Talitha Bateman is at times a little over-the-top in her role. Byrne and Segura show that they have a little more experience in the film business and are small highlights in their very comedic supporting roles. Facinelli also plays his role as a secondary antagonist appropriately, if not particularly multifaceted.

The film might open up one or two secondary storylines, but doesn't let them distract it from its path, instead integrating them for the most part appropriately into the main storyline. This is interesting with its intersection of religious horror and modern technology, which often proves to be quite real horror of its own kind. The quiet narrative style is impressive, the mixture of frightening scenes and a good horror staging, which can be found in quieter moments, the conveyed film feeling, which through cinematography, lighting and scenery seems like a journey through time to better times in film history and the short playing time, the one really good pacing favors such a storyline.

Director Dec's feature film debut comes as a bit of a surprise. Although this is not a film that can be found in the ranks of great films of the genre, it is definitely a nice popcorn cinema that is fun and shows on many levels what so many modern productions lack: passion for the genre, a feeling for atmosphere and the courage not to take yourself too seriously.

A Nurse downloads an app, which gives a real time countdown timer of the user's death. The app has a worrying success rate.

I've seen a few films where a killer app is used as the thrustt of the horror, none of them has been great in terms of production or acting, what this one lacks in terms of originality, it makes up for with quality. It's very nicely put together, the acting is of a high standard, the scares are good.

There is some real depth to the characters, they have a back story, and they have appeal. Elizabeth Lail is the real star of the show, Peter Facinelli is good, his character is a monster.

Don't expect it to be brilliant, it's not, but it's is good, 6/10.