by Joseph Davis, Contributing Writer
Well, it’s that time of year again: the time of year when leaves begin to think about changing colors, the days get shorter, and Davis watches a scary movie because of Halloween coming up. Since I’m not the most well-versed in terms of horror movies, especially ones from outside the United States, I usually reach out to some of my friends to discuss with them about some good candidates. And this time one of the films recommended to me for this month’s Out of Market was a 2006 movie from Austria, In 3 Tagen bist du tot, possibly known better in the English speaking world as Dead in 3 Days. Seeing as how I’m currently trying to learn German, this was a natural fit for me.
The first thing I want to talk about is the setup of this movie. Knowing how often I get spam messages today, I find it pretty intriguing that the killer in this movie texts their victims to set up the plot. It’s pretty unique compared to answering a call from the killer. It also does help tie into the story later on as the mystery unfolds in front of our eyes. I like it, especially as time goes on and the characters become more and more concerned about the events around them.
Another thing that strikes me here is the investigation. While I do want to knock the movie on the fact that it is like every other movie where you have to wait to file a missing person report (which is not true), I do like how we have the same officer going through the film working with both the main characters and working with investigators. It actually feels like the officials take things seriously early, on and actually try to work the case. It genuinely feels like the film progresses naturally on the investigation side of the story.
The last thing I want to discuss is some criticism. This has a good story, but there are parts of the film that feel out of place, or which should have been done differently to leave the viewer in the dark more. A good example is the first kill: It feels drawn out, when it would have been more effective if we either saw a brief scene or no scene at all, and left things truly mysterious in the beginning. It doesn’t severely hurt the movie in my eyes, but the tension would work so much better if there were a few changes made.
Overall, it’s a fun movie to watch. It can be a bit formulaic at times, but it’s worth the hour and a half investment. The setup works well enough, and the flow works enough to keep me intrigued regarding who the killer is, and how the film will end. Not only that, but it shows off how beautiful the country of Austria looks, and that’s more than worth it for me.
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Author’s note: some scenes can be triggering for some viewers, I clued in on a depiction of suicide early in the film. Viewer discretion is advised.