Director: Corin Hardy
Year: 2026
Country: Canada/Ireland
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Supernatural Slasher
Plot:
Arriving at a new high school, a bullied teen discovers a strange whistle-like object on campus and tries to make sense of it, but the more she and her friends try to live their lives, they realize that the whistle is a means of summoning future versions of themselves to kill their current selves.
Review:
Overall, this is a solid if unremarkable teen-oriented genre effort. One of the main positives of this one comes from the immensely likable setup that provides a chance to introduce some rather intriguing elements here. The central starting point of the whole affair, involving the family arriving in town and having the daughter stumble upon the device in her locker room, might be a bit flimsy, but it serves nicely enough to bring them into the sphere of the whistle so that the investigation into what it means sets up the introduction of the Aztec lore at the center of the film. Offering up a twisted variation of the deadly wish coming true trope where those who blow into the device are murdered by a version of themselves when they would’ve died normally and trying to find a way of reversing the effects before they all die at the hands of the psychotic versions of their future brings about an intriguing way of bringing these elements together while still being focused around the other forms of teen-angst drama and nonsense.
As well, there’s also a rather solid amount of interactions on display, where those future versions are shown to be quite fun and somewhat gruesome. Starting with the fantastic opening in the school shower where the star player is set on fire and burns alive in front of everyone, it gives a great idea about what the demonic threat is capable of so that later interactions are just as much fun. These scenarios, from the teacher being confronted by his future self in the darkened hallways of the school, a wholly over-the-top chase through a haunted carnival attraction before being ripped apart by a demonic version of herself, or a victim being turned into roadkill with the wounds of the incident appearing on their body in front of his parents despite everything taking place in their bedroom, bring about some standout moments that are incredibly fun while also being far more graphic and bloody than expected. That carries over into the other attacks and manages to keep them engaging enough to be quite fun when they arrive, holding it up for the most part.
There are some issues here that hold this one down. The main issue with the film is the inherent sense of familiarity that runs wild throughout the running time as it fills in plenty of elements from other films out there. The notion of characters being cursed to die from future versions of themselves that end up making their death look like the death that would’ve taken them out in the future feels like a genuinely intriguing idea until it’s realized as invisible entities no one else can see in moments that no one else is around, so it comes across as bizarre accidents straight from numerous other entries in the genre. It makes things that much more predictable, especially once the characters start to play up the kind of stereotypes that the genre thrives on without much variation, making it even harder to come across in a surprising manner.
The other factor against this one is the fact that this one tries to offer up a kind of lore that makes for an intriguing main villain, yet never stands up to much scrutiny when looked at logically. The whole point about a whistle being the main summoning tool for the supernatural figures to come get them, which is then never brought back again, so it could’ve seemingly been any cursed object with how little it plays into things despite having it be the main calling card. Moreover, it tries to introduce this novel idea of skipping the ritualistic killing by offering up a sacrifice that comes about mere moments before the whole thing gets brought about, which is then turned into a rather cliched approach that is turned away before anything can happen, and ends up leaving the surviving figures way too predictable. When combined with some rather obvious and weak CGI, there are some drawbacks on display here.
Overview: ***/5
A watchable if overall flawed teen genre effort, this one has some intriguing factors going for it that could’ve been a lot of fun had some of the drawbacks featured here not been as detrimental as they. Those with an appreciation for this kind of teen-centered genre fare or who don’t mind these flaws will have the most to like here, while most others out there might want to heed caution.
Comments
Post a Comment