Countdown (2019)
Directed by Justin Dec
A young nurse downloads an app that tells her she only has three days to live. With time ticking away and a mysterious figure haunting her, she must find a way to save her life before time runs out.
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What critics say influenced Countdown
A functional riff on the same “timer” mechanics that defined some sci-fi flicks earlier in the decade (In Time, Tim3r) and a way-less-fun retread of the Final Destination series, Dec’s film tells the story of a truly “killer app,” which, when installed in each of the main characters’ off-brand iDroid X Galaxies, supposedly shows the date and time in which they’re going to die.
That's the jumping-off point for "Countdown," a mediocre horror flick that's somewhat of a kissing cousin to the "Final Destination" and "Happy Death Day" flicks in that the main character knows when her death is going to occur and then learns that if you try to change that, well, the Grim Reaper -- in the form of, natch, an ancient demon -- ends up none too happy about your changing of his plans.
If we learned nothing else from the “Final Destination” franchise, it’s that “death’s grand design” will not be thwarted.
The premise recalls Final Destination, except that the fun in that series was in how, exactly, death was going to fill its quota; here, instead of some unexpected, hilariously elaborate Rube Goldberg device of destruction, we get… a generic CGI ghoul, using its poltergeist powers to toss the marked around like rag dolls.
The premise presented here in Countdown is not exactly terrible; it brings to mind the Final Destination franchise and the clock-ticking deadline present in The Ring.
What Dec aims for is “Final Destination for the #MeToo” generation.
The obvious comparison is to Gore Verbinski's 2002 chiller The Ring, in which everyone who watches a cursed videotape – including lead Naomi Watts – dies seven days later.
There’s a touch of The Ring, too, in the film’s ticking-clock scenario, and Countdown inherits the arguable flaw of that suspense device, which is that knowing exactly when a character is going to die sort of neutralizes any potential danger en route to the moment of truth.
The premise presented here in Countdown is not exactly terrible; it brings to mind the Final Destination franchise and the clock-ticking deadline present in The Ring.
It has an atrocious script littered with plot holes so big characters seem to fall into them, and the premise is an inherent rip-off of better films (I see your Final Destination and raise you The Ring).
Even if the prologue is far too reminiscent of 2002’s The Ring English-language remake, it still succeeds in setting up the premise of the remainder of the film and setting the foundation of the app’s demonic mythology quite nicely.
Fond memories of The Ring and Final Destination franchises loom large over writer/director Justin Dec's bland jump-scare fest.
Writer/director Justin Dec makes his feature debut with a premise that pairs elements from films like Flatliners (1990) and Final Destination (2000) with a mysterious app that knows when you’re going to die, but it does far too little with those ideas.