Macabre…ish Horror Review: Countdown
Countdown, 2019/ 1 hr 30 min
“If you could know exactly when you were going to die, would you want to know?” That’s all that is in the description of an app called Countdown. Once you download it and accept the user agreement, you get your number.
At a party, a group of friends download it and one of them apparently only had 3 hours to live. And Courtney (Anne Winters) is so unnerved by it she refuses a ride home with her drunken boyfriend, opting to walk home but everything is freaking her out. Meanwhile, the timer on the app is counting down to zero as she checks the bathroom for intruders.
Just as it reaches zero, she is violently yanked up to the ceiling. Her boyfriend, Evan (Dillon Lane), meanwhile crashes his vehicle and a branches crashes into the seat where she would have been sitting.
Later on, he is in the hospital awaiting surgery and his timer says he only has 19 hours left to live. He will be in surgery then. His phone alerts and says the user agreement has been broken and something is after him. He hides in the stairwell, too late, he doesn’t survive.
And word of the app spreads through the hospital and people start downloading it. A newly minted RN, Quinn (Elizabeth Lail), countdown clock says she had just over 2 days to live. She hears about Evan’s death and she gets his phone and the countdown clock is at zero. Now she’s really worried. But then she gets the same alert, “user agreement broken”.
Quinn later discovers that she cannot delete the app and she checks on line and fines lots of articles about freak teen deaths. Posts about seeing dead loved ones who had recently died and feeling like they were losing their minds. Quinn is being to relate to all of that and immediately gets a new phone but somehow the app is on the new phone too. And in every reflection and camera she sees a grim.
After being attacked by it and crashing into a car, a guy, Matt (Jordan Calloway), with the same problem comes to her rescue. So they make a plan to find out what is happening. First they need to read the user agreement and see what they agreed too. But while they try to figure it out, something is actively trying to kill them and seeing really weird stuff. Once they cross paths with a Priest/theology stan, Father John (P.J. Byrne) and a tech guy, Derek (Tom Segura) who might be able to hack the app and look at the code.
This movie was fun! Lots of jump scares, good effects and cg. This is not very graphic or gory but there are a few moments. Also, the characters were really good and entertaining. Also in this movie is Tichina Arnold, Jonny Berryman, Candice Daniels etc. Continue watching through the credits. Enjoy!!