Whistle

On her first day at Pellington High School, Chrys Willet (Dafne Keen, "Logan," "Deadpool & Wolverine") is attacked by school jock Dean Jackson (Jhaleil Swaby, 2022's "White Dog") for 'disrespecting the dead' because she's been assigned Mason 'Horse' Raymore's (Stephen Kalyn) locker, the basketball star who burnt to a crisp in the showers after a game six months earlier. History teacher Mr. Craven (Nick Frost, 2025's "How to Train Your Dragon") and Dean's own girlfriend Grace (Ali Skovbye, TV's 'Firefly Lane') defuse the situation, but once the hall has cleared and Chrys opens her locker, she will find what Craven will later identify as a Mayan Death 'Whistle.'

Laura's Review: C+

Lifting from films ranging from "Final Destination" to "It Lives Inside" to every teenage slasher flick featuring a harvest festival, "Whistle" works if you view it from the perspective of "Scream"-like self aware parody. Unfortunately writer Owen Egerton's ("Free Birds") tongue doesn't appear to be implanted in his cheek while he is also seemingly determined to confuse the Aztecs with the Mayans, the titular whistle even correctly attributed to the Aztecs in the film's production notes.

The film's opening scene portrays Horse's death, the young man on the court seeing a figure shrouded in smoke, first in the stands, then beneath the basket where he lobs the game winning ball. Visibly terrified, he enters the locker room alone, finds nothing, and heads to the shower where a man appearing to be burning from the inside out approaches him and shoves his arm down Horse's throat. His teammates arrive just in time to see Horse turned into a conflagration beneath a showerhead. This unpromising prologue feels like something we've seen many times before, but Egerton does have one new idea, revealed later, which not only changes up the game, but allows director Corin Hardy ("The Nun," TV's 'Gangs of London') and his effects team to have some fun.

Craven immediately gets to work researching the 'Mayan' whistle with his class, Grace translating the word etched into it as 'Summon the dead.'  Later, alone in the school except for the janitor, the teacher tries the whistle, its sound shattering the glass in his door. Out in the hall, he'll see a strange figure, one which the janitor apparently does not and one which will follow Craven back into his classroom, sucking the life out of him, his hair falling out like a shaken Wooly Willie. Meanwhile Chrys, who's moved in with cousin Rel Taylor (Sky Yang, "Anniversary") after a stint in rehab, is approached outside by Noah Haggerty (Percy Hynes White), who introduces himself as the local youth pastor while offering her drugs. Why do we have a drug dealing youth pastor in this movie you might ask? - because a later plot development requires it.

The next morning, students are assembled for the news of Mr. Craven's stage 4 lung cancer death. Rel steals the whistle from his office, the friends gathering that night for a pool party where Grace decides to give it a try. Ellie Gains (Sophie Nélisse, TV's 'Yellowjackets'), who appears to have romantic designs on Chrys, wants to investigate the whistle, convincing Chrys to visit Horse's mother, Ivy Raymore (Michelle Fairley, TV's 'Gangs of London'), a woman who collected things from around the world, now on her deathbed. She tells the girls 'You didn't find it. It found you,' revealing that its inscription more properly translates to 'Summon my death,' Death being one's own self depicted at the time of one's demise. And because Ellie's a high school student with a job at Pellington Hospital, she can access medical records(!?), Horse's autopsy stating that he died because of a gas leak in his late 40's.

Just like in "Final Destination," now Chrys, Ellie, Dean, Grace and Rel will all attempt to outrun their own versions of Death, everyone but Rel having rejected Ivy's explanation of how to stop it, and the filmmakers have cooked up a couple of inventively gnarly ones. Of course that Harvest Festival comes into play, allowing for some dress up opportunities in a threatening environment, Hardy's production admittedly slick, Chrys's embrace of her late dad's record collection supplying the soundtrack with tunes like Concrete Blonde's 'Joey.' But although the cast features a couple of well known names, Nelisse spends the entire film brandishing just one expression - worry - while Keen look morose throughout. At least these two offer a new spin on the 'Final Girl.'

Robin's Review: C

As I watched “Whistle” I felt like I was propelled back in time to the 1970s and 80s and the heyday of teen horror movies, like “Halloween (1878) and “Friday the 13th (1980).” Once again, we have a group of teenage outsiders who flaunt authority every chance they get and, like way back when, it does not go well for them.

Here, they are introduced to the cursed whistle by their teacher, Mr., Craven (Nick Frost), and he is the first to blow it – despite the curse – and it does not end well for the educator. The whistle changes hands and, of course, everyone feels the need to challenge the curse.

This is where the movie ramps up the body count with different, imaginative ways that are both inventive and been-there-seen-that. The horror is various forms of mayhem as each Doubting Thomas meets their own bloody end.

But, there is humor buried within the gore as the big climax is set during the town’s Harvest Festival – Halloween without calling it Halloween. This ramped up my “esteem” a bit as its spooky celebration leads us into a house of horrors. It is a bit of imaginative set design and execution.

This will come and go quickly. Years ago, it may have been one of those movies that would go “direct to videotape.” Now, I guess, it would go straight to streaming.

Those nostalgic for teen horror movies from 50 years ago will likely enjoy “Whistle,” but not me.

The Independent Film Company releases "Whistle" in theaters on 2/6/26.