Countdown

If you could find out exactly when you’re going to die… would you want to know?

This movie has such a lame title I completely forgot what it was called when I went to buy the ticket. In the UK we have a quintessentially British quiz show of the same name – which tests vocabulary and mathematic skill against the clock – and I just can’t with it. Despite the fact the film isn’t that bad, it loses one point off the bat for the title.

When a nurse downloads an app that claims to predict the moment a person will die, it tells her she only has three days to live. With the clock ticking and a figure haunting her, she must find a way to save her life before time runs out.

Countdown

*Spoilers*

My Review

Some kids at a party accidentally stumble across a phone app called Countdown and, for a laugh, all decide to download it at once. The app as you know if you’ve read the above synopsis tells you how much longer you have to live. The kids decide that the loser (aka the person with the least life left) has to drink everyone else’s booze. Alas, Courtney draws the short straw in this sicko game with mere hours to live.

Well no prizes for guessing who won’t have to worry about a hangover in the morning: the app doesn’t fuck around and more than that eerily eludes to the fact that you can’t cheat death if your time is really up. Which is something I think we’ve heard before…

Countdown is a sort of Final Destination/Happy Death Day hybrid (though not as good as either) but I was quite pleasantly surprised by it anyway.



When newly qualified nurse Quinn Harris (You‘s Elizabeth Lail) learns about Countdown from one of her patients – Evan, boyfriend of our first victim – she stupidly downloads it without a care in the world. It’s something she grows to regret when it tells her she only has a few days left.

And when Evan’s own fate it revealed, she starts to believe there might be something more to the app than it just being a silly prank. Add to the mix sexual harassment in the form of a smarmy doctor and family stuff, Quinn ain’t having the best few days but she’s willing to try everything to turn back the clock.

Unfortunately, her first thought – to simply get a new phone – is not the one, so she’s forced to get increasingly  creative.

When she teams up with Matt, another Countdown victim, they try technology AND religion to save themselves – and the life of Quinn’s annoying little sister Jordan. Will any of their hare-brained schemes work?



Honestly, it’s very silly and a little bit loose on the old folklore but we’re not here for realism, are we? I kind of love how it escalates – and becomes a completely different film to the one I expected. The main demon guy is dreamy af and I love his particular brand of mischief, as he tortures the dead victims to be.

There are some brilliant side characters in the form of Tech Guy and the crazy demonologist/priest which went a long way to keeping this interesting and Lail is very good as Quinn. In fact, she is a likeable and well-rounded final girl who probably didn’t need the tragic backstory she was given.

In contrast I did like the shit-head doctor (sort of) getting his comeuppance but the climax is a little sloppy. Generally I could have done with more killings in more creative ways too.

Otherwise this movie was fun and stupid and exactly what you need on a Monday night straight from work.

Film details:

Starring: Elizabeth Lail, Jordan Calloway, Talitha Eliana Bateman
Director: Justin Dec
Year: 2019
IMDB Rating: 5.4/10
My Rating: 3.5/5

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