5. 4. 3. 2. 1. The time for Countdown is now, killing it’s audience with immense boredom and disappointment.
The movie, “Countdown,” is based around a phone app that is supposed to determine the date of death of whomever the device belongs to. These dates range from decades, months, or even a couple of hours. Some people are freaked out by it, others don’t believe it, but of those who do, some try to change their fate. In doing so, they drag out the terrors following their inevitable demise.
The story surrounds a nurse at a hospital who receives a patient that downloaded the app. Curiosity takes over and she downloads the app and learns her death is days to come, she tries to avoid it, and as she does so, figments of a ghostly monster start to appear to her, taunting her with fear to make death seem more frightening.
Elizabeth Lail, who plays the main protagonist, Quinn, has been featured previously in the popular 2018 televison show “Once Upon A Time.” While her experience as an actor and performance have previously impressed audiences, the movie did her career no justice. Her character was a bland overused horror trope, the protective older sibling who would do anything to protect her bratty little sibling, despite their poor relationship.
For a scary movie, there wasn’t much to expect. The jumpscares were pretty predictable and left me feeling like I was watching a sad romance film. If the cursed monster didn’t look like something from a live-action Scooby-Doo movie, maybe I would’ve left with a lasting feeling of terror, but it took more away from the movie than anything else. They also built up a lot of suspense and tension so when the actual scare came it was underwhelming. Those who are under the age of 14 may find it to be scary, but many of those older might be unimpressed.
However, as a comedy, the film was brilliant. The movie featured a priest listening to rap music in his chapel and other references associated with teenage social media. At most, I was impressed by how accurately they managed to stay in touch with the sense of humor teenagers have these days, and it was brilliant to finally see a successful attempt at such. Some parts of the movie which had intended to be scary ended up being ridiculously hilarious and easy to make fun of for how unrealistic the characters’ reactions were.
As for the characters, they were very dull and flat, replicas of the same overused classic horror movie cliché. The idea of the movie was unique, but in it’s final product became somewhat comparable to a knockoff of the movie “Unfriended.” Nothing in particular stood out, and it felt like a rerun that comes on Starz during Halloween.
Overall, “Countdown” didn’t meet my expectations for a horror movie. While there were funny bits here and there, the trailer hyped up the movie to be so much more than it actually was. I give “Countdown” a 2 out of 5 stars because I left feeling immensely disappointed.