I’m slightly partial to movies with curses. From way back to The Exorcist, The Omen, and more recently HeadCount and Luz. 47 Hours fits neatly into the category of death curses. The film is from director Patrick Johnson and follows two teens Rose and Cadence. They decide to randomly partake in a game of demonic witchcraft straight off the internet. Small nods to CreepyPasta, and films Final Destination, and Countdown, this comes with its own demon whose intent is to take you out at the end of 47 hours. The selected curse is titled, The Spiders Kiss and involves some blood and candle burning. Then the recital of a short rhyme is chanted while passing a phone from one player to the other. Participants then ask the demon to pick someone, a photo is taken and the lucky person is told death will come in the allotted time frame.

Rose and Cadence are two friends with not a lot going on. There is an opening scene that introduces Cadence while text-driving. Cadence (Allie Marie Evans) is not the most likable character. In fact, her decisions throughout leave a lot to be desired. If you are looking for a film where you kind of want one of the leads to die a horrible death by Demon, Cadence is your girl. But there’s nothing wrong with a simple paint by the numbers storyline. Alongside Rose (Annie Hamilton) the two made a watchable duo.

There are a few great creepy movie moments in 47 Hours as both Rose and Cadence get a turn of being the chosen participant. After summoning the demon, Rose begins to look into the repercussions and discovers previous players who have since died after getting in on the game. The more she finds, the more scared she is. While being placated by Cadence initially, she too becomes convinced they have accidentally entered into a competition where the loser will die.

Performances are good considering what I assume to be a fairly modest budget. There are some strong backstories for a few of the more prominent characters. While I disliked the character of Cadence, the narrative for her suited the overall premise with an especially fitting ending. It’s easy to see, this film is something the filmmakers are proud of and effort is put into many aspects compared with other films in this price range. Pacing is disjointed, I have to agree with others who have pointed this out in reviewer circles. There is a lot of time spent where nothing is really happening that is pivotal to the storyline.

Overall, 47 Hours Was Good

Cinematography worked for the most part, but there were obvious glitches in some areas with too much light to create the desired scare factor. Most of the practical special effects are decent however some of the graphics were a little unnecessary and came out looking a little cheap.

Overall I really liked 47 Hours and I don’t think I could ever get sick of the movie curse theme. I loved that the universe created included a wider scope to think about. The discovery of others who were trapped in a continuous demon passing loop was a great addition. That specific aspect of a movie curse plot is usually missing and here Rose and Cadence track down both the person who put The Spiders Kiss onto a website and other players who’ve been trading curses for a lot longer. Best of all, it’s showing on Amazon Prime Video free with a subscription.