Parents' Guide to Whistle

This high school horror movie doesn't add anything new to the "cursed object" subgenre, instead wallowing in dumb jump scares, rubbery CGI effects, and half-drawn characters. The most impressive thing about Whistle, which was directed by Corin Hardy (The Nun), is the long list of other, better horror movies it steals from, including (but certainly not limited to) Talk to Me, Flatliners, Smile, It Follows, and Final Destination. (Frost's character is even, rather blatantly, named after director Wes Craven.) The second most impressive thing is the poster's tagline: "Don't Blow It." Otherwise, viewers are given a batch of teens with approximately one character trait each, except possibly Rel, who has a crush on Grace and likes The Revenger comic books.

The five friends are a typical horror cliché (one that was nicely spoofed in The Cabin in the Woods) in that they seem more like casting decisions than actual friends; these people probably wouldn't really hang out together. Nevertheless, there's a brief period in which viewers will likely want to try to root for Chrys. Her trauma and vulnerability come across as genuine. But as things get going, the movie drops characters in favor of plot, and that appeal is lost. Everything happens more or less as expected, from the telegraphed gory kills, to characters being stalked and saying "c'mon guys ... this isn't funny," to the textbook visit to the wise, older survivor of the object's bloody rampage in search of a solution. Whistle may get some points for not being a sequel or a remake, but, at the same time, there's nothing terribly original about it.