Dead In 3 Days refers to the mysterious threat that Nina (Sabrina Reiter) and
her friends receive on their cell phones. It was texted from an unknown caller,
and it warns them that, in three days time, they will have all shuffled off
their mortal coils. Needless to say, it comes as a major surprise to the group
of teenagers, who’re all busy celebrating since they just graduated from high
school. And thanks to the raucous festivities, Nina quickly forgets the
threat--thinking it’s nothing more than a prank from Patrick, a creepy kid they
know from school. However, things take an ominous turn when Nina’s boyfriend
Martin turns up missing. When he’s found, it’s by Nina, who makes a ghastly
discovery when she sees Martin’s body in the lake.
Martin had been abducted from a party that he, Nina, and the others had attended.
He was trussed up, his feet tied to a weight, and thrown into Lake Traunsee, where he drowned. And so the cell phone
threat against Nina and her friends was all too real, with the killer’s M.O.
turning out to be drowning his victims. But the big question that Nina and company
need to find out--before it’s too late--is why is this sadistic killer after
them. I’ve watched some pretty lackluster horror films in my time, among them
the lame I Know What You Did Last Summer sub-genre,
and I often wondered how much better they would be if they were populated with
rational characters in an intelligent storyline.
Well, with Dead In 3 Days, director Andreas Prochaska and writers Thomas Baum
and Uli Brée have done just that: they smartly put an ingenuous twist on many stalker movie
conventions--such as the killer's POV, and the fake scare--by taking hoary old slasher movie
clichés and revitalizing then with a healthy dose of tension and creative filmmaking
that manages to walk a fine line between being an all out horror film, and a
suspense thriller. But regardless of what genre it threads, Dead In 3 Days is a
gripping little movie that blows most slasher films out of the water with its
sheer white knuckle intensity. And that’s thanks in large part to Sabrina Reiter,
who’s extremely sympathetic as Nina, the traditional "good girl" heroine who
tries to get to the bottom of these killings.
Shot in Austria, the filmmakers use their scenic lake locations to very good
effect, making the region seem like just as much a character within the storyline. And
Prochaska wisely pays close attention to the details, which makes the payoff at
the end all the more better. Unfortunately, the DVD is not equipped with any
special features, other than an option to watch the film in a dubbed English
version (there are also subtitles for the deaf). Dead In 3 Days was originally released in its native Austria back in
2006, but wasn’t officially released on DVD in the States until March, 2009. And
after seeing this intense rollercoaster ride for the first time on DVD, I can
honestly say that it was well worth the wait. --SF
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