By: Nastassja Posso
NIAGARA UNIVERSITY, N.Y.- On Oct. 25, the American thriller/horror film “Countdown,” was released in the US.
Countdown was written and directed by Justin Dec. The whole film revolves around a new phone application called ‘Countdown.” Once the app is downloaded to the user’s cell phone, it begins a countdown until the end of the person’s life. The movie takes an unexpected turn when the characters realize the app is truly accurate when determining the date and time of everyone’s death.
The issue that the majority of characters come across is that much like anyone in today’s society, none of them were reading the user agreement once the app was first downloaded. Within the agreement, it states that the user cannot attempt to change their path or fate.
SPOILER: So, when Courtney, the first victim of the app, decides to not get in the car with her drunken boyfriend Evan, she was avoiding her death coincidentally with what the app had told her.
Returning home Courtney knew she was being followed by someone or something so she ran into her house where she was attacked and murdered. Her boyfriend, that was driving drunk ended up getting into an accident at the same time that Courtney’s time was up. Evan did not believe it all until he survived the accident that was almost purposely staged so that Courtney was the only one that doesn’t make it.
Evan now, extremely spooked and injured, is taken to the hospital where he is supposed to have surgery for his leg and is feeling very suspicious and reluctant to go through the procedure. Around this part of the movie is when he meets his nurse Quinn, who he shares his thoughts and worries with.
He explains the situation with Courtney and how his countdown is supposed to end around the same time he enters the surgery. At first, Quinn doesn’t believe him, until he gets killed by the demon in a staircase from trying to avoid his death in the surgery.
The movie then begins to focus on Quinn’s life as she has now downloaded the app as well, and is starting to believe in the curse. She begins to hallucinate and be taunted by the demons as other people explained on the reviews. Her younger sister also downloads the app and they try to find ways to reverse the curse. Quinn runs into Jordan at a cellphone store when she tries to buy a new phone.
The two of them realize they are doomed as they cannot delete the app on any phone they end up having. After realizing the circumstances, they are in, Jared Quinn decide to spend the final moments they have alive together. They then take Quinn’s younger sister in and they all seek outside help from a priest.
SPOILER: As any viewer in the movie would catch on by now, the app ends up killing one of the main characters. Then the other characters find a way to essentially reverse the curse and outsmart the demon.
Overall, Countdown is a well-produced with plenty of jump scares to catch the audience off-guard. As for being truly scary, there are many varying opinions, as not everyone deems a film as horror solely because of jump scares. However, the fact that the “Countdown,” app is an actual downloadable application on the App Store in real life, is spooky enough.
Image by: Nina Grenga
Niagara Wire 