Whistle Review

“I’d like to see more focus on writing interesting characters to lead the story.”

Corin Hardy combines elements of different horror movies in Whistle. There’s a cursed Aztec object, and then the most heavily felt inspiration of Final Destination in death coming to kill our cast. However, unlike the best entries of that series, there aren’t really any characters you’ll come to care for, and like the worst entries in that franchise, you end up predicting the direction the story is going way ahead of it reaching the third act.

Dafne Keen stars as Chrys, who has just moved in with her cousin, Rel, played by Sky Yang. On her first day at school, she comes into possession of an Aztec death whistle, which, of course, someone has to use, and soon everyone who heard that whistle is now being targeted by death.

There’s a highlight sequence in which a character is attempting to outrun death within a Halloween maze, but otherwise, the other kills are less inventive and rely heavily on CGI, which looks rather cheap. There is plenty of blood; if that’s all you’re looking for in your horror films, it’s mostly a light red that isn’t colour-balanced correctly. The benefit of the maze sequence is that it features a character being chased by a creature that often lurks in darker areas.

The inevitable solution the remaining kids end up using to escape death has been used in other Final Destination films, which is probably why I saw it coming and was a bit let down by the solution. It works better on the how-and-why than when Final Destination tried it, but still leaves a lot of room for questions. As does the film as a whole; not implying I need all the answers, but the script is piecing together different ideas and working out the logistics of the narrative as it’s being filmed, rather than before.

The one actor with the most personality in the film is Nick Frost, who makes a quick exit after his rather short appearance. An example of how to cast and then be open to playing around with the script after you land an actor worth keeping around longer should be discussed. Sophie Nélisse is doing a lot here, making the romance between her and Dafe Keen believable, and there’s a genuine sweetness to it, but the film gives it no more than one scene to properly build it and let the two stop and talk.

One thing that stood out was the loud, bass-heavy original soundtrack from Doomphonic, whom I couldn’t find much about through some quick research. It’s their first credited work on IMDB, but I want to keep my eye on their future work. There’s a lot of work the grinding gears of the music do to carry the kill-scenes in Whisstle.