Countdown (III) (2019) User Reviews

Definitely flawed but not completely awful

[GlarkCable · 6/10 · 24 October 2019]

What I liked:

• interesting, original concept that feels strangely applicable to our modern society. Let's be honest: if we could really download an app like this, most people would.
• decent acting.
• surprisingly likeable and intelligent main character, which is kind of refreshing in this genre.
• not particularly scary to me but probably pretty creepy to someone who scares easily. Which is a good thing.
• no inconsistencies or plot holes I could find.

What I didn't like:

• unnecessary romance is unnecessary.
• the comic relief priest.
• the weird sexual harassment subplot. I feel like they could've done without.
• bit predictable at times, clichés throughout.
• a couple of dumb jump scares.

Overall not a terrible experience. Probably don't care to watch it again but if you're in the mood for a fun horror flick this'll do just fine.

For lovers of final destination

[Embroideredjune · 6/10 · 25 October 2019]

The movie gave me the same feeling I had when I first watched Final Destination; trying to beat death with a few good laughs and nice characters. You know what's going to happen but still you're in suspense.

Not the best horror movie of 2019, but definitely enjoyable to watch around Halloween. And deserves a better rating than it has.

Pretty good.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 6/10 · 8 September 2020]

A Nurse downloads an app, which gives a real time countdown timer of the user's death. The app has a worrying success rate.

I've seen a few films where a killer app is used as the thrustt of the horror, none of them has been great in terms of production or acting, what this one lacks in terms of originality, it makes up for with quality. It's very nicely put together, the acting is of a high standard, the scares are good.

There is some real depth to the characters, they have a back story, and they have appeal. Elizabeth Lail is the real star of the show, Peter Facinelli is good, his character is a monster.

Don't expect it to be brilliant, it's not, but it's is good, 6/10.

Countdown

[questl-18592 · 4/10 · 30 October 2019]

Countdown is one of those movies that aims big but never really gets there. It has an interesting concept, an app that can tell you when you'll die with unbelievable accuracy. That's fun, right? Unfortunately the concept, and the movie as a whole tends to fall apart if you look at it too hard.

To its credit, I'm not sure how hard it's really trying. It at times seems to take itself seriously and then at other points not at all. The performances are all... There. Nothing really great to report. Oh, and there's a lesson about sexual harassment as well.

At the end of the day, it's a blah horror flick. Not terribly memorable beyond the concept and, honestly, not worth spending the money to see it on the big screen.

A nice surprise of modern Horror comes in a tale of classic 90s genre art

[patrickfilbeck · 7/10 · 30 August 2022]

This horror film does a surprising amount right, despite the attacks that modern times are not only inflicting on entertainment arts and pop culture. The basic idea (minus the cellphones and apps) could also have originated in the 90s, the jump scares aren't over the top and feel appropriate, the brutality of modern exaggerations gives way to the classic approach of not showing too much, but certainly not too little. The balance that director Justin Dec finds and implements in this film is an increasingly unusual sight. The effects are well done, the supernatural is well staged and the humor relies on lovingly written supporting characters who shine with dialogues that you can hardly find anywhere in films these days.

The actors are all okay to good. Elizabeth Lail in particular plays her role of a rather shy but quite powerful woman very believably. Jordan Calloway is okay, if a bit pale, and Talitha Bateman is at times a little over-the-top in her role. Byrne and Segura show that they have a little more experience in the film business and are small highlights in their very comedic supporting roles. Facinelli also plays his role as a secondary antagonist appropriately, if not particularly multifaceted.

The film might open up one or two secondary storylines, but doesn't let them distract it from its path, instead integrating them for the most part appropriately into the main storyline. This is interesting with its intersection of religious horror and modern technology, which often proves to be quite real horror of its own kind. The quiet narrative style is impressive, the mixture of frightening scenes and a good horror staging, which can be found in quieter moments, the conveyed film feeling, which through cinematography, lighting and scenery seems like a journey through time to better times in film history and the short playing time, the one really good pacing favors such a storyline.

Director Dec's feature film debut comes as a bit of a surprise. Although this is not a film that can be found in the ranks of great films of the genre, it is definitely a nice popcorn cinema that is fun and shows on many levels what so many modern productions lack: passion for the genre, a feeling for atmosphere and the courage not to take yourself too seriously.

Waste of money, cliché and predictable.

[stopthekeemstar · 3/10 · 27 October 2019]

This horror movie was a huge disappointment. Though some things were decent, it's definitely not worth time and money, The idea of finding out when you'll die could've been explored in a much more creative and scary way meaning this film had lots of wasted potential. The only scares were the cheap jump scares.

Certain aspects of the movie such as the protagonist and those she knows being tormented by the "demon thing" a lot more than the girl and guy at the beginning doesn't make sense. It sort of contradicts what the Father says during his scenes. Also what were those scenes about anyways?? Although they were funny, they definitely went a bit overboard and it started to feel like a comedy instead of a horror; it was super hard to take the movie seriously. The fact that the demons powers suddenly stopped working such as not being able to stop Quinn from killing herself and the idiotic, unrealistic choices of the characters (oh my dead mother is back all of a sudden, oh I should apologise to my dead brother (bit convenient that they have guilt related to their deceased family members)) that make the movie the opposite of immersive. I just wanna say that the sexual assault subplot was very cringey and unnecessary, they should've thought that through better.

Plus literally no one reads the terms and conditions of apps so practically everyone would be dying very soon if they downloaded the app, I guess that would require the demon to be in more than one place at one time (which it's incapable of apparently e.g when trying to kill Jordan and stopping to kill Quinn). Just move countries and you'll be fine - or record everything that goes down so that it goes mainstream. Who approved of this app anyway?!!! I guess demons in their universe have time to make apps.

Overall 3/10, save your time for the videos criticising this movie, would probably be more engaging and keep your braincells intact.

Actually pretty good for PG 13

[bandblawrw · 7/10 · 25 October 2019]

Great times when a movie completely surprises you by being good. PG 13 horror movies tend to be mediocre but #Countdown was really good. A bit more to the plot than the trailers implied. Witty (snarky) dialogue and a great group of unknowns, with two great veterans dropped into the mix, Tichina Arnold and Peter Facinelli, whom I didn't even know were in the film. As a teen movie, everyone is gorgeous *eye candy* but the twist in the movie gave it more depth than anticipated. Two peripheral characters added an unexpected comic appeal for a "horror" movie. I think the Happy Death Day franchise has spun off a new genre "com-horror" maybe? Anyway, on a regular movie scale this is maybe a 7? but for the PG 13 horror rankings, a solid 9. Great date movie, as there is no nudity, or a movie to see with a group of friends for laughs and jump scares.

Not really impressed

[therevanchist-14739 · 2/10 · 26 October 2019]

So to begin, for some strange reason in horror films many people just seem to lose their common sense. Sorry just had to put that there, on the other hand I thought the pace is the movie was faster than it should have been and then to top everything off the character development for the main characters was really disappointing in that, I never really gained a reason to care about these people who were falling victim to the app, the main girl really is just some girl who downloaded the app and we just have to watch her try to figure things out, and her love interest all of a sudden shows up out of nowhere because his time is running out as well, farther in the movie they have a thing and then he gets run over by the car lol Just not impressed with this movie

Make sure to read terms and conditions

[seanmatern · 6/10 · 27 October 2019]

Honestly I was in the mood to be spooked, and that's what this movie did. It's all about jump scares, so if that's not your thing then I wouldn't suggest this movie. But I don't know why this movie is getting all these bad scores. If you want to be scared by jump scares and have some laughs then I suggest this movie

Countdown (2019)

[rockman182 · 5/10 · 25 October 2019]

This looked like it came from the maker of Truth or Dare. A film about a group of young people who are being plagued by a haunted game of life or death. This month is the month where I'm always in the horror movie spirit, though this didn't seem like that type of film that would cure that horror itch. This film was bland, predictable, cliched, and just flat out bad.

The film is about an app called "Countdown" which when downloaded onto your phone will tell you the exact moment when you will die. Some people have many years to live. For the protagonist of the film, she has only a few days an she must find a way to break the curse and defy her destined death. She pairs with another stranger who is in the exact same situation.

This film is cliched and just felt very generic. The scares are predictable, unoriginal, and come exactly when you would expect them. I actually like the idea for the film. We live in a modern digital age where phones and social media runs supreme, so in theory its a good idea for this film. However, its dull in many passages. Also, they stuffed in a sexual harassment angle that felt off place, most likely to address current modern movements. Also, a love story arc with the two leads that absolutely made no sense with the duration of screen time they had together.

Its just a mess of a film that is exactly what you expect. I kept checking my watch during the 90 minutes hoping for it to end as it is dull and the would be scares are so drawn out. We see these types of movies every year; a horror film that does nothing for its genre and just goes through motions we have seen before. You can completely avoid this film, which really felt like a countdown to when you gladly can leave the theater.

5/10

5.4 RATING I THINK NOT!!!!!

[jwagner-74299 · 8/10 · 27 October 2019]

Okay so I love horror movies, I am a big fan of The conjuring,Anabelle,Halloween movies ect. I thought this movie was gonna be stupid, just like how bye bye man, and wish upon were. Then to top it off I read the reviews, it was first a 5.3/10 when I first saw the rating. But i usually still give movies a shot. I was suprised, I would fairly rate it as good as Happy Death Day, if not better. It was funny like how Happy Death Day adds some chuckles, and like there was so many good jump scares!!! Definitely a must try before being judged movie.

Better than expected

[fayelovesgreenday · 6/10 · 25 October 2019]

I was expecting this to be awful and especially in the first 5 mins but it was actually really scary and the acting was decent for a horror movie, if you are looking for a way to kill time with your friends i definitely recommend you go see this movie, it was pretty good

Lame and predictable

[chrisagray-27399 · 2/10 · 27 October 2019]

This movie was terrible. Should have gone straight to Redbox. It was slow, predictable and boring. Save your money.

Overall horrible

[dimitris-karageorgos-dk · 1/10 · 15 January 2020]

The only horrific thing in this movie is the quality. The jumpscares are predictable and not scary at all, character development is boring at best and the consistency of the story seems non existent. I don't usually give just 1 stars to movies because the work of the actors or the directors etc deserve some praise even if the end product is crap. But in this everyone seems to have done a terrible job, from the writer to the actors, even the cameramen. I wasted almost 2 hours of my life watching this movie and I got t to the trouble of writing this review so you don't have to waste that time too.

Can Nurse Quinn Harris avoid her date with death?

[Tweekums · 7/10 · 6 February 2022]

As this horror film opens a group of teenagers are at a party; one of them has downloaded a phone app, called 'Countdown', that claims to predict when the user will die; the others install it and one of them is somewhat disturbed when it says she has three hours to live; her boyfriend is only predicted slightly longer. This being a horror film she does indeed die. He is injured in a car crash and is worried because he is predicted to die at the time of his surgery. He tells newly qualified nurse Quinn Harris about the app and soon many of the staff have added it... it tells her she has three days to live. At first she laughs it off but when the boyfriend dies she starts to take it seriously. After a chance meeting with a man who has also been given a short time to live she sets about trying to find a way of avoiding her fate. This will involve seeking help from the likes of a nerdy priest and a tech support guy. If that weren't had enough a doctor at work harasses her.

The idea of having somebody trying to avoid a predicted death might not be that original; there are famous examples from antiquity, but having an app make the prediction is a nice update of the idea. The story gets off to a good if predictable start... we have to see a couple of people die as predicted to accept that anybody could take it seriously. The film provides some good tense moments but for a horror film I'd have preferred it if it were a bit scarier. The demons that came for those trying to cheat death should have been the scariest thing about the film; instead that honour goes to the sleazy doctor who tried to take advantage of Quinn. The characters were rather fun; most notably the priest who was really into demons and curses. The acting is solid; particularly Elizabeth Lail as Quinn. Overall I wouldn't say this is a must see but if you want a mildly scary horror film that will pass ninety minutes you could do a lot worse.

Abyssmal rip-off of The Ring and Final Destination

[dreamfactory-534-814309 · 1/10 · 10 January 2020]

Zero skills, zero craft and zero talent went into producing this by-the-numbers horror film that has literally nothing interesting or unique going for it. Avoid.

Similar to Final Destination with a technology spin on the concept.

[cruise01 · 6/10 · 23 January 2020]

Countdown (3 out of 5 stars).

Countdown is a decent supernatural horror film that takes an interesting spin with the modern technology and death. Kind of reminds me of Final Destination on how death goes after the people who are suppose to be dead. Countdown adds the interesting spin of a countdown death app. Which people can download on their smart phones to see how long they would have to live. Some will live 80 or so years. While some will only have a day or two. When the countdown is up, some ghostly or death looking figure chases them down and kills them.

The plot follows nurse Quinn (Elizabeth Lail) who downloaded the app. Only to find out, she has two days to live. Thinking it is some stupid app. She reads about it after a couple of teenagers have been reported dead after using the app. She starts experiencing supernatural delusions with some death figure that's watching her. She is trying to break the curse to stop the countdown and escape from this supernatural figure.

The plot is decent. The plot messes with the idea that every character has a certain fate. And the countdown changes it to a different course. Either someone was suppose to be killed in an car accident but they avoided getting in the car. Which they will die in a different fate. Quinn is still struggling about loss within the family. Which her and her sister Jordan (Talitha Bateman) are in a struggling family drama. Quinn gets company who is facing the same conflict with the app, Matt (Jordan Calloway) who joins her in trying to break this curse.

The direction does have a few creepy moments like being followed by some shadow figure. Or some jump at the screen scares. I did not find the movie to be at all scary. It was entertaining and thrilling but lacking the scares.

The cast ensemble was okay as well. Elizabeth Lail gave it her best as a struggling nurse. After being threatened with her job cause the Doctor played by Peter Facinelli is upset that she does not want to sleep with him. So he filed a complaint about harassment against her. Jordan Calloway and Talitha Bateman were both okay as their characters. P.J. Byrne playing Father John was cheesy as the character. Who is trying to make the father character cool with his hip hop attitude and easily obsessed with the supernatural world.

Overall, Countdown is an okay film. It is entertaining and thrilling. The plot is okay. The direction lacked scares and has the typical clichés for a horror film.

Waste of time

[popcolin · 1/10 · 10 January 2020]

Not sure all the mediocre to favorable reviews. This movie is a clear ripoff of such films as The Ring and Final Destination without having even one creative impulse on its own. There is just absolutely no style here for a so-called "horror" movie. Also a weird "anti-rape" subplot. I think everyone hates that and even more just makes men look like idiots. I don't know. Don't waste your time with this one, I'm sorry to say.

Entertaining Horror Film

[claudio_carvalho · 6/10 · 17 January 2020]

In a teenage party, a group of friends download the app Countdown that predicts when the user will die. The teenager Courtney (Anne Winters) sees that she has just a couple of hours to live and does not accept the ride of her drunken boyfriend Evan (Dillon Lane). She walks home but she is killed by a supernatural creature when the timer in her cellphone reaches zero. Meanwhile Evan crashes his car at the same time of her death and he goes to a hospital where the nurse Quinn Harris (Elizabeth Lail) works. Evan discloses that he is afraid to go into surgery since the app Countdown predicts that he will die at the same time of the surgery. The doctors and nurses of the hospital decide to download the app and Quinn learns that she has only three days of life. When Evan mysterious dies in an accident at the hospital, Quinn buys a new cellphone and finds that the app is also installed. When she meets Matt Monroe (Jordan Calloway) at the parking lot of the store, she learns that his death is predicted for a couple of hours before her and they team-up to look for a means to break the curse.

"Countdown" is an entertaining horror film for fans of "Final Destination". The plot and the acting are not bad and Quinn Harris is a pleasant character. There are silly and unnecessary subplots, like the harassment of Dr. Sullivan, the priest that likes to joke or the romance of Quinn and Matt, but in general the movie is worthwhile watching. My vote is six,

Title (Brazil): "A Hora da Sua Morte" ("The Time of Your Death")

Nothing Original

[mgentalen · 3/10 · 29 October 2019]

Let me say, I love these B Horror films ( normally0. With Countdown, there was nothing original. The first two acts were good, not great, maybe a low B. The third act, even though the movie is only 90 minutes, felt 20 minutes too long. There is a exorcist theme, the whole " someone has to die first for us to survive."

The Doctor harassment story line could have been better crafted. I know the budget isn't substantial, it felt really pieced together.

Such a great scary movie!

[Jacksonsev · 8/10 · 26 October 2019]

I was honestly super skeptical about seeing this movie because I feel like supernatural-technological movies are flat out STUPID (movies like "Rings" and "Unfriended") AND the ratings on this movie were so low!! BUT I WAS THOROUGHLY SURPRISED

I am a scary movie guru and I've seen pretty much any scary movie you could name and trust me this one was one of the good ones! The acting from the lead actress was phenomenal (which was expected: her acting from the tv show "You" was phenomenal!) the jump scares really got me, and that RARELY happens! There were scares that I was totally not expecting. The story was great with some comedic moments that will make you chuckle!

I encourage you to ignore the bad ratings and watch it for yourself! I'm sure you will see the movie and enjoy it like I did!

Like Final Destination, it's entertaining.

[deloudelouvain · 7/10 · 28 January 2020]

Another decent horror/thriller that doesn't please everybody. But you also have alot of people that liked it, me included, as for me the movie has constant suspense, pretty good horror scenes, and the cast wasn't bad at all. Some compare the story to Final Destination, and I get that, but it's not the complete same story. As for Final Destination there were sequels, and I wouldn't be surprised if this one did as well. I would watch it for sure.

So bad it's bad.

[lopez-ramiro · 1/10 · 27 October 2019]

Best way to describe it is it's like a (really) bad mash-up of the ideas behind "The Ring", "Final Destination" and "It follows" among others. Unoriginal, boring and full of cliches, it's not even funny. Acting is terrible and the script is even worse, it's one of those movies you quit after 10 minutes if you're not in the movie theater. Don't waste your time.

Waste of time

[cdzmisty · 1/10 · 16 January 2020]

Don't waste your time watching this trash, totally garbage and dumb.

Wildly predictable but entertaining enough

[aprilsfriendorin · 6/10 · 13 October 2020]

I think the best word I can come up with to describe this film is.... Average. It's no masterpiece by any means, but it was entertaining enough and pretty solid scares for a PG-13 horror film. It's very predictable- there wasn't a single plot line we didn't guess would happen- but it's still interesting to see it play out, and there are some good gore moments. Ultimately, if you like horror movies and aren't in the mood for something too serious or complicated, check this out.