Whistle review: Cliched horror saved by inventive deaths
A cursed-object horror has been done many times before, but there is still plenty of scope for original ideas within that sub-genre. Unfortunately, with Whistle, it is only different in the death sequences and hits all the typical horror tropes elsewhere.
The film stars Dafne Keen as Chrys, a troubled former drug addict who moves to a new school and lives with her cousin Rel (Sky Yang). On the first day of school, she discovers an Aztec death whistle in her locker. We wouldn’t have a movie if somebody didn’t make the extremely foolish mistake of blowing it – so naturally, a member of her group – which also includes jock Dean (Jhaliel Swaby), his cheerleader girlfriend Grace (Ali Skovbye) and Grace’s best friend Ellie (Sophie Nélisse) – does just that. They soon learn that the death whistle summons their future deaths, and anybody who hears its sound will be cursed and hunted down by their future death.
Whistle feels like a cross between Talk to Me and Final Destination or Smile, as there is a deadly artefact and our characters are being pursued by death and have to find a way to break the curse and survive. I know every horror is influenced by what’s come before but this feels like it borrowed too heavily. It’s a bit too familiar and lacking in originality, ticking off many horror cliches and archetypal characters along the way.
But the death sequences are the standout moments. They feel inventive and clever. Each death is vastly different from the others and a few feel genuinely unique; I’d never seen it done quite like that before. It was interesting finding out how that character would have died and what their future death looked like. The death count is decent and a couple of the demises are shockingly visceral and gory. I didn’t expect the film to go that far!
Along with the deaths, Keen and Nélisse are the film’s saving grace. Their budding romance is the heart of the story and they try to bring depth, subtlety, and naturalism to their characters despite the heightened environment and Owen Egerton‘s iffy writing. I wasn’t too taken by Yang and Swaby, but Skovbye tries to bring nuance to her stereotypical character and Nick Frost is subtly comedic as the teacher.
Whistle, directed by The Nun’s Corin Hardy, has an interesting premise and set of rules, but it needed more originality outside of the terrific death sequences.
In cinemas now