Whistle Movie Review: Wasted Potential

Whistle wastes its eerie Aztec Death Whistle premise on bad writing, unlikable characters, and inconsistent horror rules.

The film opens in a crowded basketball game, where star player Mason “Horse” Raymore (Stephen Kalyn) suddenly spots a flaming ghostly figure staring him down from the stands. The image lingers, unnerving him until later that night when, alone in the locker room showers, the entity finally takes him. Mason is found burning alive, a striking setup that suggests Whistle might explore the eerie concept of death arriving in a twisted, personalized form. Unfortunately, that promise unravels quickly.

Three months later, Kris (Dafne Keen, of Deadpool & Wolverine), fresh out of rehab, moves in with her cousin Ralph (Sky Yang). Through a series of loosely connected scenes, Kris, Ralph, and a handful of classmates end up tangled in the curse of the Aztec Death Whistle. The object is supposedly steeped in ancient power, but the movie’s own rules about how it works shift constantly. Sometimes death takes its time with you, while other times it kills its victims immediately. Instead of creating mystery, these contradictions make the film feel sloppy and half-baked.

What makes it worse is that the ensemble at the center of the story never once feels like a group. These kids don’t even like each other. They bicker, toss out awkward one-liners, and speak in dialogue so unnatural that it feels like a bad parody of teenage banter. When the story inevitably starts picking them off, there’s no real tension, because we don’t care about them, and they don’t seem to care about each other either.

The acting doesn’t help matters. Dafne Keen and Sophie Nélisse are both capable performers, but here, their talent is buried under dialogue so clunky and ridiculous that not even the best actor in the world could have made it work. Nick Frost, as the strict and unethical Mr. Craven, seems to be here to collect his paycheck; he is obviously trying his best but his talents feel so underutilized.

To its credit, Whistle isn’t entirely devoid of entertainment. The kills, while inconsistent, occasionally deliver in a visceral, over-the-top way that horror fans may appreciate. There are moments where death takes on creative, terrifying forms, and the sheer idea of the Aztec Death Whistle has a lot of potential. Unfortunately, the film never digs into that mythology in a meaningful way. It waves at the concept but relies on cheap jump scares and loud sound cues instead of building genuine dread.

By the end, Whistle feels less like a horror story and more like a frustrating exercise in wasted potential. The premise is strong, but the script is so badly written and the characters so unlikable that it’s hard to imagine anyone being invested in their fates. What could have been a chilling exploration of ancient curses turns into a goofy, contradictory mess that undermines itself at every turn. 

Whistle was screened at Fantastic Fest on September 25, 2025. The film will be released in U.S. theaters on February 6, 2025.