A killer app is the focus of a New Age variant on Final Destination and The Ring that is mainly an unfussy, trite horror exercise erring on the side of less blood.
Countdown has a silly efficiency about it from daring at the outset and subsequent curiosity with the new smartphone software which lets the user know when their life will wrap up. Courtney (Anne Winters) resists a ride with her inebriated beau Evan (Dillon Lane) after learning her hours are down to three that registers the fateful message “user agreement broken”
Old-school, jump dark, unseen forces with mention of the gypsy lore comes by way of helmsman Justin Dec centering on new nurse Quinn (Elizabeth Lail). Panic sways in her medical center in which Evan is to have surgery. Suffice to say, a mysterious mess ensures but not before Quinn and many of her colleagues are enticed with the app. And, she can’t disable it having learned she only has three days to live.
Jordan Calloway’s Matt Monroe is the charming lad (also living on borrowed time) Quinn will befriend. Quinn’s teen sister Jordan (Talitha Bateman) is in tow as they try to get to the bottom of a demonic logic. What purports to be comic relief comes by way of a vigorous, exorcism-minded priest (P.J. Byrne) they meet along the way.
The main thrust of the narrative needs padding to reaching feature length. So, there has to be a timely (#TimesUp) subplot concerning a touchy-feely physician (Peter Facinelli, remembered from the Twilight saga and further back films like Can’t Hardly Wait) that pops up near the conclusion.
Ultimately, Countdown lives down to its title as many will hope it’s quicker than it is. Others may find its unoriginality like dodging the Grim Raper not unable to whet their appetite for this kind of fare as Halloween approaches. But, between this and Jexi (with its Siri) studios are finding it hard to not to by cheat the consumers who are enamored by what downloading has to offer them.