Wednesday, September 19, 2007



IN 3 TAGEN BIST DU TOT
(DEAD IN THREE DAYS)
(Review)

Five childhood friends from Ebensee, Austria, have just graduated from high school. Just before the graduation dance, they each receive the same text message: In 3 tagen bist du tot. Translated: In 3 days, you’re dead.
When one of them goes missing at the dance, then is found dead, the police take the youths’ claims seriously. But even as the investigation tries to get to the heart of who would have a vendetta against them, the killer stalks them one by one and exacts cold, bloody vengeance.

Directed by Andreas Prochaska, In 3 Tagen Bist Du Tot is an assured and controlled throwback to the slasher heyday of the 80’s. It’s a familiar set-up, after all: a bunch of friends being picked off one by one, a perhaps too-suspicious suspect, a couple of interesting and effective killshots.
And of course, the secret that lies at the heart of the film is not readily divulged to the audience; a semi-cheat, admittedly, particularly when there aren’t any significant clues to indicate there is even a secret in the first place. It does however, prolong the mystery and suspense rather neatly, and the tension established by Prochaska manages to keep a hold on the viewers’ interest till the climax.

Granted, this is the still the sort of film where characters make stupid and annoying decisions, where there’s a last minute jeopardy pawn, and where you have to wonder, why the frak did the killer wait all that time before actually starting the kill spree.
Ultimately though, the film gets the job done: throw in some good cinematography by David Slama and a bunch of fresh faces that aren’t readily recognizable*, (always an advantage so the suspension of disbelief is easier to maintain), and In 3 Tagen Bist Du Tot manages to be an agreeable thrill ride.
Think of it as a Eurohorror variation of I Know What You Did Last Summer, if need be. But if you love your slashers, you could do far worse than watching this one.

* We all know that if this were a Hollywood movie, the cast would be made up of random samplings from the latest batch of young Hollywood du jour, recognizable from TV or the gossip rags.
Who knows, we could get an English-language remake with Paris Hilton, Lindsey Lohan, and one of the Olsen twins (which could potentially be more frightening than the original, if you think about it).

(In 3 Tagen Bist Du Tot OS courtesy of blairwitch.de; Spanish OS courtesy of aullidos.com.)

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