Whistle

by Mike McGranaghan

I first learned of Aztec Death Whistles through a series of online prank videos. (If you’ve never seen one, take 30 seconds to watch this.) The gizmos emit a loud, shrill sound that’s like a scream from beyond the grave. It’s no wonder people are easily freaked out by them. Whistle, the new chiller from director Corin Hardy (The Nun), revolves around the discovery of an Aztec Death Whistle and the very bad things that happen when somebody blows into it.

Chrys Willet (Logan’s Daphne Keen) is the new girl in school. She’s assigned the locker that formerly belonged to a basketball star who died in a mysterious fire. At the top of the locker, she finds a strange-looking urn that contains an equally strange-looking whistle. Teacher Mr. Craven (Nick Frost) confiscates it when she brings it to detention, but a friend steals it back and gives it to her at a group homework session. Another friend blows into the whistle, and before long, the entire gang begins dying one-by-one in gruesome ways. Chrys wants to stop the cycle, especially before death comes to new girlfriend Ellie (Sophie Nélisse).

Whistle will appeal to fans of the Final Destination franchise, as it has a similar tone. The gist here is that the whistle summons each individual person’s death prematurely. However they would die at the end of their natural life is how they die now. A character who smokes cigarettes deteriorates into a body decimated by cancer. Another scheduled to die in a car accident finds his body abruptly mangling itself. Each death is more hideous and more elaborate than the one before, and tension is generated from waiting to see how the expirations will play out.

Despite the goriness of the kills, Whistle has a whiff of self-aware humor. Owen Egerton’s script pokes fun at teenage stereotypes, and Mr. Craven’s arc is inherently comical. A centerpiece scene takes place inside a ridiculously large maze at a local festival, where the characters get lost while trying to outrun death. In other words, this isn’t the kind of horror movie that will traumatize you; instead, it provides good jolts to make you shudder, then giggle at your own reaction.

Unfortunately, the plot doesn’t have any new ideas outside of the whistle itself. In fact, it’s paint-by-numbers. There’s the requisite scene where Chrys and Ellie visit an old woman, a.k.a. “Exposition Lady,” who explains how the whistle works. She’s particularly underdeveloped in this case. As for Noah (Percy Hynes White), the sleazebag who preys on female peers, you’ll see his fate coming long before he even realizes he’s got one.

Predictability is generally forgivable since Hardy shoots the picture with so much style and energy. (His use of Chvrches’ song “Final Girl” at the end is perfect.) Those qualities, combined with a likeable cast and a handful of gloriously sick kills, make Whistle a fast-paced fright flick full of macabre fun.

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