Premiere:
Country of origin: Canada, Ireland
Director: Corin Hardy
Writer: Owen Egerton
Production Companies: No Trace Camping, Wild Atlantic Pictures
Distributed: Shudder
Genre: Horror, Mystery, Folk Horror
Runtime: 1h 40min
Starring: Dafne Keen, Sophie Nélisse, Sky Yang
When I first saw the poster for Whistle, I instantly felt: “Wow… I need to check this one out.” Then when I watched the trailer, I actually stopped it after only a few seconds because I did not want to know more. It immediately gave me this strong 80’s atmosphere and felt like one of those movies you should experience without knowing too much going in.
The movie centers around, new to town, high school student, Chrys (Dafne Keen), who finds a cursed Aztec death whistle inside her locker…
or maybe it found her. Together with her newly found friends, she
becomes trapped in a terrifying cat-and-mouse game with death itself.
What I really liked was how the movie used the mythology
surrounding the Aztec death whistles. In reality, their
exact purpose is still debated, which already gives them an
unsettling mystique. In this movie though, this is definitely not
something you would ever want to use.
The movie has a fantastic atmosphere throughout and mixes supernatural horror with slasher energy surprisingly well. It feels modern while still carrying the spirit of old-school horror movies. The death scenes are extremely graphic, gore-filled, creative and thematically connected to the lore of the story. The kills never feel random and instead feel carefully built around the mythology itself.
That old-school feeling is honestly one of the movie’s strongest
elements. The film carries clear influences from A Nightmare on Elm
Street (1984), while also echoing the vibe of The Breakfast Club (1985) in a more
subtle but noticeable way.
One of the clearest nods comes during a detention scene inside the school, which feels like a direct reference to The Breakfast Club. The setup is familiar, but the dynamic is flipped, instead of three guys and two girls, this film uses three girls and two guys trapped together.
The Breakfast Club (1985)
Chrys herself also feels like part of that influence. Her look and
style land somewhere between Allison from The Breakfast Club,
played by Ally Sheedy and the darker 80’s screen presence of Winona
Ryder.
The soundtrack helps build this feeling perfectly. The movie
blends 80’s inspired songs, lesser known tracks and newer music
that still carries retro energy. Together with the visuals, it almost
feels like watching some underground cult horror movie.
The movie also features a wonderful score by Doomphonic, which adds even more atmosphere and emotion to the experience.
8/10. It reminded me of the feeling of
discovering horror movies years ago while still feeling fresh enough
for modern audiences. Because of that, I completely lost myself in
the world of the movie for a while and genuinely cared about the
characters.
Links:
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt29550683
Official Homepage: https://www.whistle.movie/
No Trace Camping: https://notracecamping.com/#Room
And about the sound of the whistle itself…
Well… let’s just say it does not really end when the movie does.
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