Countdown (Review)
Countdown is Another Horror Movie that Proves to be A Guilty Pleasure.
So often in horror, I come across movies with great ideas that are executed poorly. Countdown though miraculously seems to have the opposite problem. The premise itself is laughably bad at best, an app that counts down to the moment of your death. However, it is filled with moments and characters that are much better than it deserves. Don’t misunderstand, it’s still a bad horror movie at heart, but it’s one that is surprisingly fun to sit through if you don’t stop to think too long about what’s happening on screen. I rolled my eyes plenty of times at the trailer before sitting down to see it, but by the time the credits started, I didn’t regret seeing it at all. While not great, Countdown manages to be just right more often than not.
The idea of a killer app is one that’s been done in plenty of straight to video horror movies before (Bedeviled leaps to mind immediately). However, Countdown manages to add a bit of a twist in the app in question as it reveals to users that moment that they’re supposed to die with a countdown (hence the name). Most people find out that they’ve got years of life ahead of them, but an unfortunate few discover that they’ve only got days or even hours to live. While most shrug it off as just a gimmick, it becomes clear to a few that the numbers are far from random and something sinister is at work behind it all. The film follows a nurse named Quinn (Elizabeth Lail) who tries the app and discovers she only has three days to live. Not being the kind to simply roll over and accept fate, she sets out to find a way to beat the clock and incurs the wrath of a supernatural force that will stop at nothing to ensure it’s schedule is kept.
So, there are a ton of little things that bothered me in Countdown. From a scene where an addict brings his overdosing girlfriend to the hospital by somehow walking in, getting on an elevator and ridding up to another floor, then getting off right in the middle of the nurses’ station, instead of taking her to the ER to Quinn searching for her birth certificate in her parents house and finding it stashed in a random drawer. It’s pretty clear that Countdown really doesn’t care about the details of the scenes and is instead focused on just getting to the good parts. It’s obnoxious, but at the same time shows that director Justin Dec knows exactly what his audience wants. They’re there to get their fright on. So, Dec brushes over the stuff that horror fans don’t really care about and focuses wholeheartedly on the horror and comedic aspects of the movie. This makes Countdown a movie that will appeal to a very specific audience, but I have a feeling that they will really enjoy it.
Most of the film is filled with pretty bland characters. Don’t get me wrong, Lail and Jordan Calloway give very capable performances, but they don’t really have a ton to work with on their ends. However, Tom Segura and P.J. Byrne play two incredibly memorable and well-crafted characters. Segura plays a cynical but brilliant cell phone tech genius who is absolutely hilarious with his non-stop sarcasm that made me laugh out loud each time he delivered a stinging insult. Byrne, on the other hand, plays a stoner priest who is actually a huge demon geek who goes so far as to call the bible “the ultimate graphic novel.”. The two don’t get nearly enough screen time but prove to be the best parts of Countdown. Honestly, I would pay good money just to watch a sequel or spin-off starring these two as tech-demon hunters. If Justin Dec is reading this, I strongly suggest he consider that as his next film.
As lame as the premise might be for Countdown, it has some legitimately scary parts. Those that try to avoid their fate are plagued by visions of deceased loved ones who they harbor feelings of guilt over. Of course, they’re hardly friendly ghosts and instead become sick and twisted versions that relentlessly attack and manipulate them. With that concept comes plenty of jump scares that are actually incredibly effective, despite how easy they are to see coming. The demon behind it all is also incredibly well designed, with its face distorted behind a bloody death shrowd, giving it an almost reaper-esque appearance. It honestly looked like something straight out of the Conjuring universe and despite the PG-13 rating managed to send chills down my spine. It takes a while to really get into the swing of things, but once Countdown builds momentum, it doesn’t slow down.
At its core, Countdown is a stereotypical horror movie. That means it suffers from the same old problems that most in the genre have. It’s built on the stupidity of its characters, only being possible thanks to their constant poor decision. Most characters are shallow cliches and the horror elements are uninspired for the most part. Despite all that, I found myself actually enjoying the movie once I was able to simply accept it for what it was. When I did that, I found myself shocked at how well executed so much of it was. The monster is scary, the laughs are numerous, and the subplots are actually interesting. Countdown is a guilty pleasure that, like Escape Room, I probably enjoyed much more than I should have. It might be a trashy film, but so are most cult classics. I doubt it will reach that level of prestige, but if you’re a fan of horror you’ll probably find yourself pleasantly surprised by this flick. As I said, I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a spin-off or sequel starring the best parts of this movie, Byrne and Segura.
