Countdown

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.

Great times when a movie completely surprises you by being good. PG 13 horror movies tend to be mediocre but #Countdown was really good. A bit more to the plot than the trailers implied. Witty (snarky) dialogue and a great group of unknowns, with two great veterans dropped into the mix, Tichina Arnold and Peter Facinelli, whom I didn't even know were in the film. As a teen movie, everyone is gorgeous *eye candy* but the twist in the movie gave it more depth than anticipated. Two peripheral characters added an unexpected comic appeal for a "horror" movie. I think the Happy Death Day franchise has spun off a new genre "com-horror" maybe? Anyway, on a regular movie scale this is maybe a 7? but for the PG 13 horror rankings, a solid 9. Great date movie, as there is no nudity, or a movie to see with a group of friends for laughs and jump scares.

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.

The movie gave me the same feeling I had when I first watched Final Destination; trying to beat death with a few good laughs and nice characters. You know what's going to happen but still you're in suspense.

Not the best horror movie of 2019, but definitely enjoyable to watch around Halloween. And deserves a better rating than it has.

Honestly I was in the mood to be spooked, and that's what this movie did. It's all about jump scares, so if that's not your thing then I wouldn't suggest this movie. But I don't know why this movie is getting all these bad scores. If you want to be scared by jump scares and have some laughs then I suggest this movie