Hurry Before Time Runs Out!

Kaleidoscope's latest is on STX Entertainment's production of "Countdown".  Directed & written by Justin Dec, the movie stars Elizabeth Lail, Jordan Calloway, Talitha Bateman, Peter Facinelli, Tichina Arnold, Tom Segura, Dillon Lane, & P.J. Byrne.  Rated "PG-13", it has a running time of 1 hr., 30 min.

The film's exposition opens at a party, and a girl named Courtney is persuaded to download 'Countdown', an app that supposedly predicts how much longer the user has to live.  Unlike the others, who are told that they have years to live, Courtney is astounded that she only has 3 hours.  When she refuses to get into a car with her inebriated boyfriend Evan (Lane), the app on her phone suddenly announces that she has broken its 'user agreement',  Arriving home after walking, Courtney goes into the bathroom.  She is attacked here by some invisible entity that lifts her off the bathroom floor & sends her crashing to the ground; her neck breaks as it hits the tub.  Concurrently, Evan crashes his car; as he does so, a tree branch smashes through the windshield right where Courtney would have sat.  Transition to nurse Quinn Harris (Lail) who works at the hospital where the boyfriend is taken.  Although she suffers repeated sexual harassment from her supervisor, Dr. Harris (Facinelli), she does not report him due to the fact that she has just become an RN.  She then encounters Evan, who confides in her about the 'Countdown' app & its prediction that he will die while on the operating table.  Quinn does not believe Evan & downloads the app herself.  After doing so, she is shocked to learn that the app advises that she has only 3 days to live.  Act I ends with another death, & Quinn's race to outlive the prediction is on.

Director Dec, in his feature-length film debut, has created a mildly scary freshman entry.  Borrowing tropes from such films as "Happy Death Day" & its sequel; "The Conjuring" universe; etc., Dec intersperses humor throughout the film to leaven the tension that is engendered in several scenes.  This was a wise move since many of the scares are predictable for the genre.  The inclusion of characters Derek (Segura) & Father John (Byrne) by writer Dec is especially funny as Segura plays a skeptical & sarcastic phone store owner & Byrne a much too excited exorcist priest.  There is really nothing new here; it is an average entry from a novice writer/director.  Lail is very good as the protagonist who must try to beat the app before its prediction for her becomes reality.  She is a beautiful, appealing actress who should go on to more prominent roles.  Facinelli does his patented smarmy man in charge role--a persona he has perfected in TV series such as "Nurse Jackie" & "Supergirl".  Comedian Segura is a hoot as unctuous & slick phone store owner Derek; his comedic appearance enlivens the scenes in which he appears.  Maxime Alexander's cinematography is low-budget thriller appropriate.  TV veteran composers Danny Bensi's & Saunder Jurriaans's score is effective & suitable for the thriller category.  They have honed their skills well while composing for such AMC series as "Fear the Walking Dead" & "NOS4A2" & Starz's "American Gods".

I give "Countdown" 7 out of 10 nuggets.  This is a moderately suspenseful entry in the thriller/horror genre that should appeal to devotees of the genre.  For others, wait for its appearance on HBO, Showtime, or streaming.