THREE CELEBRITIES DIED IN THE SAME WEEK during the month of June in 2009. They were Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson and Ed McMahon. It was proof of a superstition I believed to be true; death comes in threes. Even to this day when I hear about someone dying, I think to myself two more will be happening soon. Some of my friends think the same thing because we have talked about it. Not that any of us are obsessed with death; but let’s face it, as one gets older one cannot help but be aware of death slowly finding its place at the table of one’s life. The other thing I have learned about death is how each person handles it in a different way. I knew an individual, who confronted with the bad news about the state of his health, went off the deep end and started acting out in extreme ways. He started abusing drugs and alcohol, finding himself waking up in strange places and not remembering the previous day’s events. It was troubling to see how self-destructive he had become. The people around him wanted to help, but he had no interest in their help or pity; he simply wanted to make himself numb enough to the point where he was not thinking about death 24/7.      IF I WERE TO RECEIVE NEWS about my life expectancy, I honestly do not know how I would react to it. There is a part of me that wonders if I would focus on trying to keep myself on my same routines: work, teach, exercise, movies. It is hard to say. I knew several individuals who never told anyone about their life status. Until it became apparent that something was serious, each of them continued living their life as if nothing had changed. I think it is safe to say most of us hope when our time comes it happens while we are asleep. It certainly is my wish. I have always said I hope my death does not make the news for something tragic or bizarre. Though I love watching movies I would really prefer not dying in a movie theater and being discovered dead only after remaining in my seat through a couple of full-length features. My other wish is I hope I get to see everything I want to see before my time is up. And I have a lot of things I want to see; one of them was not this horror thriller.      AFTER DOWNLOADING AN APP THAT TELLS the user when they are expected to die Quinn Harris, played by Elizabeth Lail (Unintended, Once Upon a Time-TV), finds out she has less than a week to live. She will need to do a lot of things if she plans on proving the app wrong. With Jordan Calloway (Riverdale-TV, Unfabulous-TV) as Matt Monroe, Talitha Eliana Bateman (The 5^thWave, Annabelle: Creation) as Jordan Harris, Peter Facinelli (Twilight franchise, Nurse Jackie-TV) as Dr. Sullivan and Dillon Lane (Better Things-TV, Here and Now-TV) as Evan; this film’s story was an unholy marriage of high tech and ancient lore. I thought Elizabeth had potential here, but the script made sure that never happened. The story was odd from the start and as time went on, I was getting increasingly bored. The film was pretty much a series of shock/surprise sequences; a tired formula by itself to tell a story. I felt the story needed to go through a few revisions to make better sense of it. Also, if they wanted this to be listed as a horror film it needed to add more suspense to build up the scary parts. After sitting through this picture, I hope I will not have to experience it in threes because of the extra scene I saw at the film’s ending credits.

1 ½ stars