WHISTLE

Whistle boasts some truly gnarly kills that are certain to thrill any horror enthusiast, but the stereotypical writing that surrounds these great set pieces grinds the rest of the film to a halt, delivering a forgettable and disappointing horror experience that cannot deliver on its intriguing promise.

For as long as the horror genre has existed, there have been horror films about young people tempting fate and meeting a gruesome end. It’s a tried and proven formula that with the right hook for each new entry can lead to a truly terrifying time at the movies, and it is what director Corin Hardy and writer Owen Egerton have set their sights on in their latest project. Constructing the film around an ancient Aztec death whistle that summons death, there is great promise present for a fun teen horror film with some fun lore to set it apart from all similar films that came before it. But sadly, the novelty of the concept and the excellent set pieces of the film are cheapened by bland and frustrating writing that cheapens everything that takes place between the great and inventive kill sequences, leaving its lead actors with material that does not match their talents, resulting in a horror film that while has its moments of entertainment, is certain to ensure that Whistle will soon be forgotten once it begins streaming on Shudder.

Teens summon an ancient spirit that begins hunting them down one by one after meddling with an ancient artifact. It’s a story that horror fans know too well, and to make it work there has to be creativity and competent execution. Whistle accomplishes the first with the way that death hunts down these teens, taking the form of how they were destined to die and speeding up the process, capturing the unpredictability and shock value of the Final Destination series with some truly outlandish kill sequences (but more on those later). This is not Whistle’s problem. Its issue lies in the execution of the story. While suffering from a lack of originality, which alone is not a fatal flaw to a horror film, Egerton’s writing does not compensate for this with thinly written characters, painfully obvious and generic developments, and a general lack of emotion that removes any stakes for viewers. You know immediately where the story is going, get frustrated by the choices made by the character as it wants you to care for the integrity of their decisions even if logically you don’t (specifically one plot point involving a drug dealing youth pastor who actually killed a child as the story begs you to care about such a despicable character compared to an innocent individual), nor does the explanation of how to avoid the wrath of death and the death whistle, as it feels ripped right out of numerous other horror films. Looking back at Egerton’s filmography, the narrative experience of Whistle falls in line with that of his previous films, intriguing premise but lacking follow through, and sadly any hopes of the writing here rising to match the high standard set by the film’s kill sequences is disappointingly misplaced.

Dafne Keen is a talented actress who has delivered some of the best child performances in recent memory in Logan and His Dark Materials, and her presence brings a serious legitimacy to Whistle. The same can be said of Sophie Nélisse, but sadly the script does not give either of them the right material to allow their performances to elevate the film. There is no denying that they don’t each find magic, especially when venturing into their characters’ romantic subplot as they find a bubbly teenage love that adds some life to the film, but the screenplay forces them to deliver uninspired dialogue too often and forces them into dull situations, causing the film to never capitalize on their talents. Sky Yang, Jhaleil Swaby and Ali Skovbye round out the rest of the film’s protagonists, each doing their best to create a memorable character, but due to the writing, their efforts are wasted causing their characters only to be remembered by their showdowns with death. Veteran actors Nick Frost and Michelle Fairley each have small supporting roles, each delivering standout moments in the film, but with such little screen time overall, their talents are quickly forgotten in an otherwise narratively messy film.

Though, there is a truly outstanding element of Whistle, and that is the kill sequences. With death hunting down our protagonists in the form that they were each destined to die in, there is a great creativity to these sequences, with no two being the same and offering up big thrills and shocking imagery. Bringing to life wild kills that push the boundaries of the audience’s wildest nightmares, building tension and blood curdling terror as you watch the characters meet their bloody and grotesque fate, notably the maze sequence and car crash death, Egerton and Hardy deliver everything you could want from a horror film with copious amounts of fake blood and carnage. Yes, some of the CGI during these sequences is questionable, but when focused on the practical prosthetic and make up design to bring to life these gnarly moments, these set pieces deliver everything fans of the horror genre could want and more that make checking out Whistle worth the price of admission... even if the rest of the film cannot live up to the standard set by them.

Between the brilliant resurgence of the Final Destination franchise with Final Destination: Bloodlines and Osgood Perkins’ The Monkey, the bar has been set for outlandish kills in the horror genre, and the creativity in the kills of Whistle rises to this standard. They’re bloody, ruthless and chilling, but the unimaginative plot in between these set pieces and the nonsensical choices that writer Owen Egerton asks the audience to accept as the narrative progresses represents some of the laziest writing recently seen in a horror film that had the promise to be great. Even with the talents of Dafne Keen and Sophie Nélisse leading the film and some truly disturbing death sequences that is enough to excite any horror fan, Whistle is lessened mediocre horror entertainment due to its writing that relinquishes the film to get lost due to its generic and blandness in a sea of similar and far superior horror films that audiences are more familiar with.