Dead in 3 Days
Dead in 3 Days (German: In 3 Tagen bist du tot) is a 2006 Austrian horror film written and directed by Andreas Prochaska, and co-written by Thomas Baum. It was followed by a 2008 sequel titled .

Plot 

While celebrating their high school graduation, Nina, her boyfriend Martin, and their friends Mona, Clemens, and Alex each receive an anonymous text message telling them that they will be dead in three days. The quintet dismiss the threat as a prank up until Martin is found at the bottom of a lake, having been abducted from a dance and thrown into the water while tied to a weight. Patrick, an outcast and Martin's rival, is questioned as a suspect, but is released due to a lack of evidence indicating any involvement on his part in Martin's death.

Martin's killer captures Nina and attempts to drown her, but she is saved by Patrick, who the murderer stabs to death while Nina escapes. As Nina recovers in a hospital, the killer decapitates Alex by slamming her onto the frayed edge of a fish tank. Nina identifies her attacker as Manfred Haas, the father of Fabian Haas, a childhood friend who had died due to falling through a frozen lake that he was playing ice hockey on with her, Martin, Mona, Clemens, and Alex.

The police inform Nina that Manfred hanged himself two years after his son's death, and that his wife moved away, though she still owns a house nearby. Nina, Mona, and Clemens sneak out to explore the Haas property, and are followed by Nina's sister, Kerstin. The killer binds and gags Kerstin, and is revealed to be Mrs. Haas, who is attempting to avenge her son's death (which occurred three days after he fell through the ice) while wearing a mask fashioned out of her dead husband's preserved face.

Mrs. Haas fatally stabs Clemens, knocks Nina out, and chases Mona, who falls off of a balcony and onto a spiked fence. Unaware that Mona survived and has gone for help, Mrs. Haas leaves with Nina, and rows out to the middle of a lake, which she intends to drown Nina, and herself, in. Nina stabs Mrs. Haas and knocks her overboard, but is pulled into the water along with her. Divers save and resuscitate Nina, who they bring to the same hospital that Mona is in, while she flashes back to how she and her friends had taunted Fabian into skating onto thin ice, running off when he fell through it.

Cast 

 Sabrina Reiter as Nina Wagner
 Julia Rosa Stöckl as Mona
 Michael Steinocher as Clemens Lugmayer
 Laurence Rupp as Martin Loidl
 Nadja Vogel as Alex Gruber
 Julian Sharp as Patrick Urban
 Andreas Kiendl as Kogler
 Karl Fischer as Berger
 Michou Friesz as Elisabeth Wagner
 Amelie Jarolim as Kerstin Wagner
 Susi Stach as Doctor Erika Haas
 Michael Rastl as Manfred Haas
 Konstantin Reichmuth as Fabian Haas

Reception 

John Fallon of Arrow in the Head gave the film a 4/10, feeling that it "had most of the slasher ingredients in check but had zero clue as to how to mix them right" and was "so damn predictable and safe". A second review by the same website awarded a 2/4, and concluded, "This is a decent-enough entry into a subgenre that true horror fans have been wishing a quick and painful demise upon for years, and while there is nothing terribly new or original on view, it will while away an hour and a half of your time with no long term damage. Even if you will have to call shenanigans on the ending". Bloody Disgusting's Brian W. Collins gave Dead in 3 Days a positive review, opining that it was "a slick, well shot, and engaging slasher". Jon Condit of Dread Central called the film "a horrendously boring, embarrassingly predictable mess" that warranted a 1/5; conversely, fellow reviewer Steve Barton awarded it a 4/5, and wrote, "Dead in 3 Days is a solid and slick little film. Here's hoping that director Andreas Prochaska keeps his feet planted in the genre for a while. The guy knows what he's doing, man. Good stuff!"

David Johnson's review of the film for DVD Verdict concluded with the critic writing, "Some moments in Dead in 3 Days soar, hinting at a kick-ass horror thriller, but a too leisurely pace and long, uninteresting yardage between kills hold it back". "This film will fit perfectly on your teen slasher thrillers shelf log with the rest of them. You wont find a lot of innovation but you will find familiarity" was how Horror News summarized Dead in 3 Days.

Awards 

Sabrina Reiter won an Undine Award for best film debut by an actress, while the film itself won "Silver Méliès for Best European Fantastic Film" at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival.

References

External links 

 

2006 films
2006 horror films
Films set in 1996
Films set in 1998
Films set in 2005
2000s high school films
2000s teen horror films
Films about fishing
Films about revenge
Films about suicide
Films set in hotels
Films about bullying
Films set in Austria
Films shot in Vienna
Austrian horror thriller films
Films shot in Austria
2000s German-language films
Austrian slasher films
Films about mass murder
2006 independent films
Films about mobile phones
Austrian independent films
Films about police officers
Films set in abandoned houses
Films about dysfunctional families