Arka Mukhopadhyay
Written and directed by Justin Dec in the director’s feature debut, the 2019 supernatural horror thriller movie ‘Countdown’ builds on the theme of free will and fatality. The best way to place a horror is to probe into the unknown, and since nobody knows when we are about to die, it seems like an excellent place to begin. While chatting with her friends, Courtney and her boyfriend Evan stumble into an app that predicts the exact time of their death.
While people nervously dismiss it as a prank, the app’s predictions seem immaculate. When people begin to die in supernatural incidents, trainee nurse Quinn must find a way to break the cycle. It is like ‘Final Destination,’ if you replace visions and premonitions with a cellphone app. Although critics dismissed the movie, fans highly praised the comedy-horror concoction, making it a commercial success. However, you may wonder how much of the story is true. In that case, let us keep you posted.
Is Countdown a True Story?
No, ‘Countdown’ is not based on a true story. If you think that there is a killer app lurking in the furthest corners of your app store, you should snap out of it. Although the movie is high in entertainment quotient, it never claims to have a basis in reality. Writer-director Justin Dec envisioned the film on his own, building from his 2016 short film of the same name. The idea came to the director Justin naturally, looking at his phone timer. He questioned how it would be like if the timer would indicate people’s deaths, which gave rise to further questions.
Justin thought, we all have an internal timer, and what would happen if people could find the information at their fingertips? Then, at a Halloween party, he listened to ‘Purple People Eater’ by Sheb Wooly. The song is a classic – and although creepy, it has a contagious tune. All the ideas came together in the short films. He wanted to chronicle the last three minutes of his protagonist’s countdown when the song starts to play. It would stop only with the countdown. He put his ideas in a paper and shot it in his apartment in two nights.
Justin sent the short to Sean Anders and John Morris, the producers, and they immediately jumped on the project. They suggested putting together a feature with the idea, and that is how the project came to be. The director admitted that creating the script for the movie was a lengthy process. Justin believes in doing a lot of legwork – preparing the characters and sequencing the film – before putting things on paper. He did not want his protagonist to be a teenager, and he followed the path of ‘The Ring’ to depict a twentysomething character who is a little more professional in the world.
But finally, the director champions the cast ensemble for articulately bringing out the essence of his characters. However, you may still wonder if there is such an app on the internet. As it turns out, there is indeed an app on the app store by one Ryan Boyling. However, the app is an homage to the movie and not the other way round. Even if there was an app of the kind, would you really want to find out the day of your death? The director would instead remain oblivious.
Read More: Where Was Countdown Filmed?
