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Film / Countdown (2019)

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A 2019 American Supernatural Horror written and directed by Justin Dec that has a young woman (Elizabeth Lail) downloading an app that predicts when she will die and ends up in a fight for her life.

The movie also stars Jordan Calloway, Talitha Bateman, Tichina Arnold, P. J. Byrne, Peter Facinelli, Anne Winters, Matt Letscher, and Tom Segura.

It was released on October 25, 2019.


Tropes for the film:

  • Alliterative Name: Matt Monroe.
  • Asshole Victim: Doctor Sullivan attempted to force Quinn out of her job by claiming that she sexually harassed him when it was the other way around. Ultimately Quinn fails to kill him to "beat" the app, but is able to expose him and encourage others to come forward.
  • Curse Escape Clause: The titular app is eventually revealed to be a curse inflicted by a demon; anyone who downloads the app will die at the time indicated, and will suffer if they attempt to avoid their fate. A priest eventually determines that the entire app will be defeated and everyone who used it will become safe if they can prove the app "wrong", either by keeping someone alive beyond the time they were meant to die or killing someone before the app's predicted time of death.
  • Fright Beside Them: Quinn and Matt spend the night together, convinced they have thwarted the curse. In the middle of the night, Quinn hears creaking floorboards from outside the room and sees a shadow under the door. Frightened, she tries to wake up Matt, who is sleeping behind her with his arm draped over her body, but he does not respond no matter how many times she shakes his arm and calls his name. The bedroom door slowly opens... To reveal Matt, who asks "Yo, are you calling my name?" Shocked, Quinn looks down to see that the hand next to her is now a demonic claw, which seizer her, drags her under the covers, and attacks her.
  • Magical Defibrillator: Having failed to kill Doctor Sullivan to beat the app, Quinn instead deliberately overdoses herself after instructing her sister to inject her with Naxolone afterwards, beating the app.
  • One-Word Title: Countdown.
  • Tagline: "If you could find out exactly when you're going to die... would you want to know?".
  • You Can't Fight Fate: The app ensures that everyone who uses it will die at the time indicated on the countdown, even if they attempt to avoid their fate; the film opens with a girl choosing to walk home rather than get in a car with her drunk boyfriend, and ultimately she is attacked and killed by a supernatural force at the same moment as her boyfriend crashes his car.

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