Countdown (2019)

 

**This post contains spoilers**

The Story- A nurse named Quinn Harris (Elizabeth Lail) downloads the Countdown app, an app that features a clock that’s capable of pinpointing the exact time and date of the user’s death. Quinn shockingly learns she only has two days to live, and to make matters worse, Quinn’s younger sister, Jordan (Talitha Bateman) also downloads Countdown, revealing an identical time frame for her death.

Quinn works together with Matt (Jordan Calloway), Father John (P.J. Byrne), and a tech guru named Derek (Tom Segura) to escape certain death. Father John has a plan to help Quinn, Matt, and Jordan, but time is not on their side, as the demon Ozhin targets the group.

My Thoughts- The death app? Now that’s truly a unique idea for a horror film! Yes, you can say it’s a gimmicky trick, but Countdown still reinforces the inevitability and the hopelessness of death with a modern twist.

Think about the opening of the movie. Courtney (Anne Winters) didn’t want to get in the car with her drunk boyfriend, Evan (Dillon Lane), because she believed she had a better chance of escaping death, if she walked home. What happened? Ozhin murdered her at the house. And to add another eerie layer to Courtney’s demise, she would’ve died anyways, when Evan crashed his car.

Father John’s circle to stop Ozhin? It didn’t work, because Matt was lured away by Ozhin impersonating his dead brother. Derek rigging the app to add more years for a longer life? The clocks rolled back to the original time frames. Quinn planning to kill  Dr. Sullivan (Peter Facinelli) before his time runs out to break the curse? Ozhin prevented it from happening.

It’s a strong reoccurring theme throughout Countdown. You can’t escape or outsmart death. Your fate is unavoidable, and the end comes whether  you’re ready for it or not. Big difference in Countdown is, you know exactly when you’re going to die, and there’s nothing you can do about it. That’s truly terrifying.

Read the user agreement! It’s something we’ve all done, myself included, when you’re downloading an app or a new program. You see this massive wall of text, all these paragraphs, and there’s a chance you have no idea what most of it means. So you just scroll down to click or tap that “I agree” button. In Countdown, breaking the user agreement comes with deadly consequences. 

There’s a good amount of realism behind the characters in Countdown not reading the user agreement, because I’m sure it’s something we’ve all done before. South Park’s memorable HumancentiPad episode took the more comical approach to show how bad things can happen, if you don’t carefully read the user agreement. Obviously things are more serious in Countdown. Maybe all the trouble could’ve been avoided, if Quinn and others just decided to read?

Ozhin’s design is fairly gruesome. A demonic creature, the grim reaper who draws closer, as your time in the living world runs out. There’s a good backstory for Ozhin’s origins involving the story with the prince trying to avoid his death. The prince’s backstory proves you can have everything you want. Riches and a luxurious life, but none of that will save you from death. 

And it’s a trick that’s been overused in a lot of horror films, but Ozhin appearing as dead loved ones related to the main characters in an attempt to deceive them still works. Quinn is a good example. Ozhin disguises himself as her deceased mother, Jamie (Andrea Anders). Remember, Quinn never got a chance to say goodbye to her mother, before she was killed by a drunk driver.

Looking at the cast, Peter Facinelli delivers a solid performance as Dr. Sullivan. Dr. Sullivan is a creepy pervert. There’s just something slimy about him, and how he carries himself.

Tom Segura is genuinely hilarious as Derek or “Doc.” Derek is a sarcastic and brash know-it-all, and Segura absolutely nails Derek’s personality. P.J. Byrne’s enthusiasm as the unconventional priest brings a spark to the cast, and you can tell he’s having fun with the character. And he’s only in one scene, but John Bishop makes the most of his limited screen time, as Gerry, an unhinged and nutty conspiracy theorist. 

Segura, Byrne, and Bishop all deliver the laughs in their own unique ways, but it’s a problem. Countdown’s comedic side is far more entertaining and effective than the horror side of the movie. It’s strange, because Countdown has a promising opening. After Courtney leaves the party, it’s dark outside and she’s clearly being stalked by Ozhin. A good spooky sequence, but the problem is, Ozhin lurking in the background gets a a bit repetitive. 

I understand what they were they going for, Ozhin is the shadow that you can’t run from, and it doesn’t matter where you are. But after the fiasco with Courtney, Evan in the hallways at the hospital, and Quinn in the parking lot, Ozhin suddenly appearing out of nowhere loses its wow factor.

If we’re talking about cliches, Jordan being the bratty and rebellious teenager is the only one that’s too on the nose, but there’s a good reason for it. Jordan, similar to Quinn and their father, Charlie (Matt Letscher), is still grieving over the loss her mother. She’s too young to process everything, and she’s upset Quinn is not adequately filling the role of the protective big sister.

Quinn dealing with the ramifications of Dr. Sullivan forcing himself on her is the big subplot. Quinn feels alienated, and Nurse Amy (Tichina Arnold) is one of the only people, who she can talk to, and Sullivan manages to sabotage that relationship. Solid execution for this subplot, because Sullivan is a lying weasel, a cretin who deserves his comeuppance for targeting women, while abusing his position of authority. 

The swerve during the ending, with Jordan using the syringe to revive Quinn? Well, you had to know Quinn had something up her sleeve, because she didn’t want to leave Jordan behind. And it’s no surprise Quinn’s plan didn’t work. Countdown ends on a cliffhanger, revealing Countdown version 2.0 downloaded itself on Quinn’s phone. Sorry, but it just wasn’t believable that Quinn beat the clock, because it’s proven throughout the movie, that no matter what you do, it’s impossible to cheat death. 

Countdown is a gimmicky horror film, but the potential is undeniable. It’s a story about loss, learning to deal with death and everything that comes with it, and the fear of not being able to alter your fate, when you have good intentions to do so. There’s a good scene during the ending, where Quinn, Jordan, and Charlie visit Jamie’s grave together as a family. They’re looking for the closure they all desperately need, a good somber moment, when you consider all the obstacles the family had to endure to get there, especially Quinn and Jordan.

Countdown is hampered by the usual PG-13 mainstream horror movie setbacks. Too many predictable jump scares, a step by step process of storytelling, and a cheap cliffhanger that’s most likely not going to go anywhere (Countdown was released in 2019). There’s a solid story to work with here, and using an app for death is a creative idea. Countdown is not a horrible film, but it could’ve been so much better.

Rating- 5/10