Just in time for Halloween comes the new film “Countdown” which has an engaging premise: what if you downloaded an app that told you when you are going to die and you only have a short time to live? The movie, hindered by its low budget and a poorly constructed screenplay, does not fulfill its promise, however, while providing some scares along the way.

At a table at a party, one person downloads the app Countdown and urges her friends to do so. Courtney (Anne Winters) is frightened when she discovers that she has a few hours to live while everyone else has long lifespans.

Later, she refuses to accompany her sloshed boyfriend Evan (Dillon Lane) as he tries to drive her home. As she walks home in the dark, which I found unwise and creepy enough, her phone informs her that she has broken her user agreement. She was meant to die in a car crash with her boyfriend. If you try to avoid your death by altering what you planned to do, the app not only knows, but now you are tormented by a demon prior to your scheduled death.

Courtney goes home but is later predictably killed in her bathroom by an unseen force. Meanwhile, we see a bloodied Evan in his smashed van. A tree branch has protruded into the passenger seat, and would have killed Courtney had she been there.

Now we go to the hospital where Evan is a patient. He confesses to a new nurse, Quinn (Elizabeth Lail), about the app. He also just has hours to live and is scheduled for surgery, during which he presumes that he will die.

In a gathering of hospital staff, several staff members download the app. One older nurse and a priest, the only ones with sense, refuse to do so. Quinn discovers that she has only days to live. She blows it off.

When Quinn goes to her family home to retrieve a document, she agrees to go the cemetery with her family on the weekend. Her sister, Jordan (Talitha Bateman), eventually downloads the app and also gets a short time to live.

Quinn’s work life gets complicated when Dr. Sullivan (Peter Facinelli) decides to hit up on her in front of a comatose patient. Before she can report him for sexual harassment, he falsely reports that she has harassed him. Unbelievably she gets suspended even though it is just his word against her word.

Quinn decides not to go to the cemetery and now has broken her user agreement. She cannot delete the app so she decides to get a new phone. The app reappears on her new device. Quinn experiences her first demon experience in the parking lot where she is befriended by Matt (Jordan Calloway), also informed by the app that he is to die soon.

Together they end up at the office of a demon-obsessed priest (P.J. Byrne) and they are on the way to solving the mystery of the app. But will they be in time to prevent their own deaths?

The movie does have some scares, mostly of the jump-start variety. But you don’t get to see enough of the demon early on. This kind of a tease is usually the sign of a low budget, and lessens the horror value of the picture. When you finally do see the demon, it is somewhat unfulfilling and does not induce the terror one would expect.

The script is all over the place with subplots. They often intrude in a way that breaks up the action and the scares. This is not to say that they don’t eventually find a way to tie into the plot, but the quality of the horror is diminished by their appearance.

The characters are poorly drawn as well. The difference between a great or clever horror movie and a poor one often boils down to the inherent smartness of the characters who are besieged. In this picture, characters often act against their own best interest, or, worse, do the exact wrong thing so that they get killed.

The introduction of demonology into the plot is a welcome addition. It provides some way to deal with the app and is organically integrated into the story. Of course one can question why Satan or a demon underling is using an app to torment people but I guess even Hades has to keep up with modern technology.

There is nothing outstanding about the acting, although it is workmanlike. The production values speak to the film’s low budget. When your hospital has an abandoned area, then you are probably filming in an abandoned building.

I found the premise, downloading an app that predicts your death and then makes sure that you die, to have great potential. The use of Latin in the code for the app is a nice touch. But all films live or die on the basis of how well written their screenplays are. Sadly, this one fails to fully realize the promise of its starting point.

Yet, despite these criticisms, the picture did have some scary moments. So it will suffice as a movie for the Halloween season. It ended with the potential for a sequel so don’t be surprised if that production appears next Halloween.

Two and a half out of five stars

When a nurse downloads an app that claims to predict exactly when a person is going to die, it tells her she only has three days to live. With time ticking away and a figure haunting her, she must find a way to save her life before time runs out.

Cast: Elizabeth Lail, Jordan Calloway, Talitha Bateman, Tichina Arnold, PJ Byrne and Peter Facinelli
Director: Justin Dec
Screenplay: Justin Dec