DVD: Dead In 3 Days (In 3 Tagen Bist Du Tot)
Submitted by videovixen on Sat, 2008-07-19 07:04.
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DVD Reviewed by videovixen
Starring: Sabrina Reiter, Julia Rosa Stockl
An Austrian take on I Know What You Did Last Summer, Dead In 3 Days (meaning within three days, not on the third day everyone dies, like I’d expected) is pretty much your stock standard teen horror that lacks any semblance of imagination whatsoever.
Jam-packed with all those horror genre clichés: pointlessly running upstairs for an escape route – check; slow-moving knife-wielding killer – check; underage boozing that leads to a death of some kind – check; useless, bumbling police force – check. “This isn’t a movie, this is real life” dialogue – check. Unnecessary boob shot – check. It’s all there.
After graduating high school, a bunch of teens receive a mysterious SMS saying they’re going to die in three days.
One by one they get knocked off. Halfway through we discover they have a secret which is directly related to the murders, and we know who the killer is. Pretty simple.
The kids make stupid, and completely unjustified decisions (yet another cliché), deciding to actually seek out the killers most likely residence, wielding just one gun. I’m sure you can piece together what happens next. No surprises there.
Since it seems the world is going through a bit of a horror/slasher film phase at the moment – though I think it’s starting to wear off due to an inability to up the visual gore stakes, and a lack of decent scripts and stories – films like this need to make an effort to be fresh in some way. Otherwise it becomes yet another direct to DVD release amongst a blur of much the same.
It’s almost like Dead In 3 Days actively tries to be clichéd. Not in a good, funny Starship Troopers kind of way, but in a horrible ‘we don’t know any better’ way.
On the upside, there are some half-decent performances, especially that of Sabrina Reiter in her debut role, and there’s some really pretty Austrian scenery. These aspects alone, however, do not make for thrilling viewing.
There’s not even much in the way of bonus features. Some standard trailers, plus a making-of featurette. And for some reason, the sequel (oh, yes) is in the making currently in post-production – coming to you straight to DVD I suspect!
With not enough plot to be a thriller, not enough gore to be a slasher flick, and not enough boob to be soft core porn horror, the title pretty much sums up the life of this film – dead in 3 days.
