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I watched Netflix’s Don’t Move and I have to talk about the countdown gimmick

Umito November 4, 2024

SPOILER WARNING: The following article gives some details about the film Don’t move. If you haven’t seen this yet new movie 2024really think about your next step if you continue reading.

One of my most frustrating cinema pet peeves is when a film introduces a significant countdown – like a timer on a bomb – but doesn’t actually depict it in real time. When I saw this storytelling device put forward in the marketing of Don’t move – A new Netflix movie about a woman who is injected with a paralyzing drug by a serial killer – I had hopes that it would incorporate the actual length of its centerpiece’s countdown into the running time.

So, does this new horror movie from the producer Sam Raimi use this overused and rarely honored gadget with refreshing authenticity? Let’s take a look at my findings.

Kelsey Asbille as Iris setting the timer on her smart watch in Don't Move — (Image credit: Netflix)

Is the Don’t Move countdown holding up?

In Don’t moveIris (Yellow stone casting Kelsey Asbille) launches into a race against time after learning of her attacker, “Richard” (Finn Wittrock, who is used to playing the creeps of his many years as American Horror Story actor), gave him a relaxer that will shut down his body in 20 minutes. When she has a free moment, she sets a timer on her smartwatch (which is unable to make calls from the depths of the woods she is in) for that exact amount of time and continues to run away in search of ‘a good hiding place.

At that point, I decided to pause the movie, rewind a few seconds, and set my own 20-minute timer on my phone, making sure it was perfectly in sync with Iris’s. Once she became completely still and her smartwatch alarm started going off, I looked at my phone. There were still over 11 minutes left on the clock.

So while the trailer for Don’t move makes a big deal about Iris’ 20 minute countdown to paralysis, the plot point is actually bullshit and the sequence doesn’t even last half the promised length. However, there is one aspect of the film that thankfully honors its experience with time with some precision.

Kelsey Asbille as Iris lying paralyzed in a field of grass in Don't Move

(Image credit: Netflix)

The medicine lasts as long as the promises don’t budge

Iris also learns from “Richard” that the effects of the paralyzing substance last for about an hour. After a break Don’t move To take note of my findings from the timer experiment, I noticed that by the time the medication took full effect for her, there was almost exactly an hour left in the movie.

It’s not until the very end of the film that Iris is completely back to normal and able to move as she pleases. This means that while it stretches the truth about how long his smartwatch timer lasts, the rest of the movie, from that point on, is actually depicted in real time.

Kelsey Asbille as Iris sitting in a truck next to Finn Wittrock "Richard" in Don't move

(Image credit: Netflix)

Did the countdown affect my enjoyment of not moving?

To be clear, my enjoyment of a film rarely lives or dies on whether or not it contains a pet peeve of mine. In other words, the fraudulent countdown thing didn’t bother me too much. If such a thing had really really pissed me off, I wouldn’t have liked it. Saturday evening – which takes place over 90 minutes but actually lasts 109 minutes – as long as I do.

Actually, I think Don’t move – written by TJ Cimfel and David White and directed by Brian Netto and Adam Schindler – is one of best horror movies of the year, particularly in terms of pacing, which is particularly impressive considering how immobile and unable to speak our protagonist is for much of it. On that note, I thought Asbille and Wittrock’s acting was fantastic, really carrying the story and keeping the tension high even in its quieter moments.

If you haven’t seen this intense thriller yet and can get past the fake countdown gimmicks, I recommend tuning in to your Netflix subscription has flow Don’t move on Netflix when you get the chance.