"Countdown" Will Have You Counting Down Until the End Credits

Countdown is about the newest app that people can download onto their phones that will predict the exact time they are going to die. The story revolves around a nurse and a man who she meets trying to stop this app from killing them.

We have Friend Request, Slender Man, and Unfriended. Now, we have Countdown. Hollywood seems to think that if they make a horror movie about something that is relevant at the time, it will be the next biggest hit. The problem with this is that there is not timeliness within these movies. Having an evil spirit on your phone does not make for an interesting story.

This review is not going to be as in-depth as some of my previous reviews. This is because... well, let's be honest, this movie is awful. There are not very many positives that I have about this movie and I have a whole list of negatives. With that being said, let's get started with the pros on this movie.

The opening scene of the movie actually sparked my attention for a split second. The film opens up on a character who will die within the first five minutes, so you don't give two shits about her. However, we see that she was supposed to die in a car crash but she got out of the car because her boyfriend was driving drunk. Since she cheated death, this evil demon comes after her and kills her instead.

This scenario intrigued me, however, we will talk more about this in the cons because it felt too similar to another horror film.

This is linked into the folklore that gives reasoning as to why this demon comes after people. I found this story about a knight founding out that he is going to die in battle very interesting. He decided not to go into battle so the demon haunts him. This idea about fate and death intertwined was the most interesting thing that this movie has to offer. If they were to have made the folklore into a movie rather than the technology is linked to the folklore, we might have gotten a pretty decent horror film.

I honestly don't know if this is positive or negative, but I also found there to be some good humor with two side characters in this movie. There is a tech guy and a priest who stole the show. They delivered some pretty funny lines in the small amount of screen time that they had. Now, this is not necessarily a good thing since it is supposed to be scary and not funny. However, since this movie is so boring these two characters at least make their screen time worth watching.

My biggest problem with this film is that it is not scary. As much as I hate them, there are only a few jump scares. Nothing interesting happens as these characters try to stop this curse. The movie is barely 90 minutes long, but it feels like a two-hour-long movie.

I think the main reason this movie is so boring is that the filmmakers had no idea how to handle the project. I mentioned that the opening scene is actually interesting, but I had a problem with it. It reminded me too much of Final Destination. Our characters know when they are supposed to die so they cheat it, obviously. So, death comes after them because it is their fate. However, what makes Final Destination more interesting is that there are interesting ways in which death comes back after them. It is like a domino effect that death is putting in place in order to kill the victim. However, Countdown cannot copy this so the victims are killed by an invisible ghost with no lead up to their death. They are just thrown around by an invisible force until they die. THIS IS NOT SCARY!

In Final Destination at least it makes sense how death comes after the victims from cheating death. In Countdown, it is never explained how the evil demon creates an app that people can download. Why would it even care to tell people when they are going to die? They try so hard to link it to the folklore explained in the movie, but it just didn't work for me. The script is very messy and it is very obvious while watching the movie.

I did not buy into any of the subplots scattered throughout this movie. There is a romantic subplot with the nurse and this guy but we do not care. They meet and within the day they are rubbing all over each other. This is a horror movie, nobody cares that you are falling in love! However, the most obnoxious subplot is one about the doctor in the hospital making moves on the nurses. It is shoehorned in the movie to make a statement. This does not work in a horror movie. My dad has always said that there is a time and place for everything, this was neither the time nor place. We can turn the news on to have the Me Too movement shoved in our face!

Where this movie is a complete failure is that there is no sense of urgency. These characters literally know when they are going to die, but it does not feel intense or suspenseful. This should be a perfect opportunity to create amazing suspense, but it is nowhere to be found in this film.

In my opinion, do not waste your time or money on this movie. There is nothing that can be enjoyed here. It is another predictable horror movie that does not feel like a horror movie.

You are better off with never seeing this movie. It is not the worst movie ever, but it is just not enjoyable. Just trust me, skip this one.