★
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.
Classification: 15
Laughably bad to the point of embarrassment, Countdown is a throwback of lazy horror with its non-subtle inspiration from Final Destination. Writer-director Justin Dec, (someone who definitely seems bitter about his teenager always using Snapchat) develops a tone-deaf, clueless tale about an evil smartphone app. The only reprieve to be had in watching the film is the stupidity in how Dec thinks he's creating worthwhile social commentary and then laughing at the failed results. Cherry-picking the most common plot threads and hot button issues, Countdown is an unholy hybrid of nonsensical logic and terrible performances.
The way the story of Countdown unfolds is a failure in tackling its modern premise in a fresh original way. The "countdown" app is uncreative in how it executes its victims, playing into tired out clichés of user agreements, notifications and then the film delivers the blandest kills. Dec only delivers a few victims in this monotonous tale and the gory deaths are as pathetic as the rest of the film. A film like Countdown should really just put all of its chips into creative shocking deaths a la Final Destination but instead thinks a shoehorned Me-Too storyline is more important. Another horribly misguided attempt that trivialises the social movement against sexual harassment through the main character Quinn having to deal with workplace assault alongside a demonic phone app trying to kill her.
Everything about Countdown just feels tacked on, a half baked stapling of "trending" ideas then regurgitated into an awkward mess. The performances are atrocious, no believability because of the one-note characters in the script but also that Dec's writing just goes for the bottom of the barrel stereotypes. Elizabeth Lail as lead Quinn is fine but has nothing to work with and having her as the focus of the film makes the ninety minutes bearable but even her character is forced to ridiculous extremes. Talitha Bateman and Jordan Calloway have the most poorly written characters with their performances being cringe-worthy especially Bateman who has to be Dec's vision of a bitchy teenager. Only P. J. Byrne is able to take the terrible dialogue and goofy premise and make it fun for the audience, his performance is still awkward but its the only part of Countdown that feels legitimately entertaining. Byrne is Father John, a "cool" priest who believes in demons and uses the internet, Quinn and her friends go to him as a last resort to save themselves from the demon hunting them and John jumps at the chance to take on a demon.
At this point, you're literally praying that Countdown throws away all pretence and goes full "Cellphone Exorcist" complete with holy water and demonic screams but alas no. It's disappointment after disappointment with this film because there is no artistic motivation for this film. The way it comes all together is as anti-climatic and obvious as the rest of the film and then pats itself on the back because it highlighted the danger of smartphone apps and sexual assault. The only contribution this film has made is to future bad movie marathons but even then the few chuckles you can get from the ill-considered script or appalling performances aren't worth anyone's time.
Director: #JustinDec
Cast: #ElizabethLail, #JordanCalloway, #TalithaBateman, #TichinaArnold, #PJByrne, #PeterFacinelli, #AnneWinters, #TomSegura
Release Date: October 25th 2019
Trailer:
Written review copyright ©CoreyBullochReviews
Images and Synopsis from the Internet Movie Database
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