"In 3 Tagen bist du tot" is an Austrian horror film from 10 years ago and actually one of the most known movie from this genre from German-language territory. This does not make it a good film though. The writer and director is Andreas Prochaska and his movie here runs for slightly over 90 minutes, or slightly under if you don't count the credit sequence. You could certainly call it the Middle European take on "I Know What You Did Last Summer", but I think it is inferior. It is about a young woman and her friends who had a terrible accident in the past involving an innocent child and now, in the present, this accident comes back to haunt them, not in a supernatural form though. It is all about revenge.
Usually, about these films, they can work well in 2 different ways. The first would be that you actually care about the characters and hope they live because they are good people and likable. The second would be that they are so stupid and arrogant that you actually feel for the killer, which could be the case here because of the tragic background story. But neither of the two applied for me and this is why I did not enjoy the movie particularly. There were a couple moments that were decent, but there were also moments that were really bad and in which the characters acted in a truly idiotic manner. One of several examples would be when the boy points the gun at the killer at the end but stands there until he gets stabbed instead of firing one bullet after the other. I would love to say his sympathy made his reaction appropriate, but it just doesn't make any sense to me.
Apparently, audiences and Prochaska thought differently about this film and felt it deserved a sequel. I couldn't agree less. At least, the filmmaker managed to step up his craft recently with the pretty gritty revenge western "Das finstere Tal". In my opinion you should watch that one and not this film here. I do not recommend "Dead in 3 Days". Thumbs down.
Usually, about these films, they can work well in 2 different ways. The first would be that you actually care about the characters and hope they live because they are good people and likable. The second would be that they are so stupid and arrogant that you actually feel for the killer, which could be the case here because of the tragic background story. But neither of the two applied for me and this is why I did not enjoy the movie particularly. There were a couple moments that were decent, but there were also moments that were really bad and in which the characters acted in a truly idiotic manner. One of several examples would be when the boy points the gun at the killer at the end but stands there until he gets stabbed instead of firing one bullet after the other. I would love to say his sympathy made his reaction appropriate, but it just doesn't make any sense to me.
Apparently, audiences and Prochaska thought differently about this film and felt it deserved a sequel. I couldn't agree less. At least, the filmmaker managed to step up his craft recently with the pretty gritty revenge western "Das finstere Tal". In my opinion you should watch that one and not this film here. I do not recommend "Dead in 3 Days". Thumbs down.