A bloody but iterative teen slasher
Whistle, the newest horror film from director Corin Hardy (The Nun) and distributed by IFC and Shudder, is a smartly crafted exercise in mindless iteration. Like an eager groupie of the Final Destination franchise, Whistle riffs, steals, and honors the re-energized ‘90s franchise (Final Destination: Bloodlines was a surprise hit in 2025) to entertaining but ultimately forgettable ends. Whistle’s campy teenage horror proves the elasticity of the subgenre, even as the illogical script and unbalanced acting places a chokehold on the film’s effectiveness.
Whistle follows a handful of high schoolers who stumble upon an Aztec death whistle, a cursed object that summons forth one’s ultimate demise to claim an early death. Can they stop the curse before their future deaths kill them!? The high schoolers facing the prospect of gruesome premature fatalities include introverted transfer student Chrys (Dafne Keen, Logan), her extroverted nerdy cousin, Rel (Sky Yang, Rebel Moon), Chrys’ love interest, Ellie (Sophie Nélisse, Yellowjackets) and a pair of popular sweethearts, Grace (Ali Skovbye, Firefly Lane) and Dean (Jhaleil Swaby, The Lake).
There’s no explanation of the whistle’s origin, its appearance at this particular high school, the timing of when summoned death will attack, or how attacks can and/or will occur. The moment you spend more than two to three seconds thinking about the narrative logic, Whistle falls apart quickly and struggles to recover. A couple fun needle drops and two (maybe three) visually interesting, and super bloody, kills only carry the film so far. Everything in between, including frustratingly one-dimensional character stereotypes (mean jock, popular girl, nerdy jokester) are meant as ‘90s teen horror throwbacks (see again the Final Destination franchise), but fall flat.
Hardy has enough skill as a director to create a suspenseful atmosphere, and even ratchets up the horror as needed. He should just find better scripts to develop. At its conclusion, Whistle makes the unearned and unsurprising choice to leave the door wide open for sequels. I don’t find Whistle’s strengths strong enough to warrant further exploration, especially since the premise lacks the never-ending stream of opportunities afforded by, for example, Final Destination’s Rube Goldberg-styled killings. One and done is the way Whistle should go. Maybe another ancient civilization also created a cursed wind instrument worthy of cinematic treatment.
—–
Whistle opens in theaters on Friday, Feb. 6th
