Seven Days to Live (2000) User Reviews

Nightmare of the Haunted Shining Pet Poltergeist House.

[EnvyYouProductions · 5/10 · 26 December 2000]

Although most ideas are lifted from other horror flicks, this European movie produces quite a few jumpy scares. Something you should watch on your own in a dark and stormy night. Make sure you have a torch next to you, in case a fuse blows...

I'm willing to do anything you want to make this relationship work, but first please - if it's okay please - untie me.

[lastliberal · 6/10 · 8 November 2008]

OK, it does sort of remind you of The Shining, and you can find bits of other films here, but are there any truly new ideas today? Very few, I am afraid, so let's see what Sebastian Niemann does in his first feature film. He won an award for his first film, a short.

I thought that Amanda Plummer (Pulp Fiction, The Fisher King) did a really good job as someone who was slowly going crazy with those daily reminders of her impending death.

Sean Pertwee (Equilibrium, Renaissance) did an excellent job of channeling Jack Nicholson.

The rest of the cast was support, and there was, of course, the requisite special effects to give the film a great ending. It seemed to drag in the middle, but you didn't dare leave until you saw what was going to happen.

I have to say that I thought this was a British film when Pertwee said he "...needed to take a fag break." I was surprised that it was German. I don't remember fags in Germany.

Good production, disappoiting movie

[Phroggy · 4/10 · 10 May 2001]

A movie that promises a lot, but doesn't deliver… especially when you

realise it is a total take on "The Shining" ! The actors are excellent

and, at first, the mystery is well drawn, but when the main actor (A

writer falling under the spell of spirits - rings a bell ?) thries to

emulate Nicholson, everything falls apart, leading to an overdrawn

finale (The cop arriving at the right moment to save the day and the

"What the heck ?" sudden appearance of Fulciesque living deads…)

Granted, there are scary moments, but all in all, we are left

disappointed. Besides, like most German TV movie or series, it tries

pretty hard to hide its origin, sacrifing any originality whatsoever. So

far, the Spanish still deliver the best Euro-horror so far. Maybe we can

have hope for "Jeux d'enfants", a new French horror movie whose trailer

I saw before this one. Keep

Deja Vu Vu Vu...

[Poe-17 · 4 September 2001]

This film is like browsing in the fridge, late at night when you have the munchies; there's a piece of pizza, a slice of meatloaf, a spoonful of potato salad, a deviled egg ... stuff you've had before that doesn't add up to a proper meal. Genre buffs might have some fun spotting the past film's this movie borrows it's scenes from and there are a lot of them. I did. This is Frankenfilm, stitched together from limbs and parts of other films, a dog here, a basement there, a creeping insanity here, a dark ooze from the floor, wraiths, a marriage sabotaged by the supernatural. There are scenes in the movie that would have sizzled if that sizzling hadn't already been burned into our cinematic psyche by better movies. Still I found it hard to hate this movie. I'm not sure why. It didn't have heart and didn't even pretend to lunge for new ground. I suppose those of us who love horror in cartoons, poetry, fiction or film don't mind rummaging around in the old and familiar. I know that while watching this movie it reminded me of how much I liked this or that movie and caused me to want to rent them and see them again. I would advise everyone to not bother (a caution that is lost on the diehard aficionado - we will watch anything in hopes of finding even one "nugget" to remember). I'm happy to report this film has one such nugget and frustrated to report it is a structurally cruel and wasted nugget. That nugget is the film's first five minutes. Watching it I remember settling into my chair and bracing myself. I thought, this might, maybe, perhaps, potentially could be one of those small films where those involved have a dark and sinister bent and are going to take you on a wicked roller coaster ride rocketing and ricocheting through a sidestreet of hell ... but no. I dont' want to say anything else about the film's beginning since that is the movie's shot at redemption though it redeems not. It commits a fatal error, it packs its wallop at the beginning instead of the end. Don't bother, unless you like snacking unrelated leftovers from the fridge or leafing through family picture albums.

Why?

[wnterstar · 2/10 · 31 March 2006]

OK...this might not be the worst movie ever made, but it's close.

SPOILER... (Can you really spoil a movie that stinks this badly?)

Readers Digest version of the plot:

Grieving couple move into house that's been empty for 20 years. Wife starts seeing signs saying she is going to die in 7 days (hence the title of the movie). Husband doesn't believe her. She does research into the house and finds out that every couple that lives in house dies and/or kills themselves. She tells husband, he ties her up. She gets away and interminable chase begins. Sheriff who was present last time comes to a momentous decision and goes to help wife. Possessed husband is saved by wife saying "I love you", they get out...the house sinks into the swamp...the end.

Yet the house is standing again at the end credits.

I couldn't like anyone in this movie. The wife, who should have left early on, sticks around FAR too long, the "loving" husband is antagonistic and mean even BEFORE he becomes possessed, and the sheriff seems to be a wimp.

The movie defies logic in several places, and the plot is the derivative tripe that makes you laugh, rather than scares you. The acting is the kind of stilted over-acting you see in a bad high school play. The special effects (as little as there were of them) weren't very good. And you can just forget about suspense...What they meant to be suspense, just made the movie drag.

I gave it a 2 for a three reasons:

1. I liked the music. 2. The cinematography was pretty good 3. I was feeling generous when I wrote this review

I would say don't watch this movie for any reason, but it might be fun to watch it with a group of friends with the sole purpose of laughing at it.

worst movie since urban legends 2

[herr-gott · 1/10 · 6 June 2001]

this film really sucks. it is boring, the actors are awful and the computer animations (especially at the end of the film) aren't worth to be called so. it doesn't even come close to "the shining". fortunately i got the ticket for 5 Deutsche Mark.

Pretty bad

[hershiser2 · 2/10 · 5 August 2003]

I'm always looking for a good haunted house/ghost flick, and I have to say I haven't seen a good new one in years. Instead of something new, here we have a movie that borrows aspects and ideas from a bunch of other haunted house/horror flicks and combines them into one... making this very unoriginal and very dull. Watch The Shining, Poltergeist, The Changeling, Amityville Horror, and others instead of watching this rip off flick.

Not bad!

[LoupGarouTFTs · 7/10 · 25 March 2006]

I have to agree with the other reviewers that the movie was a send-up of The Shining, with lots of grass around instead of snow. The film had a kind of grainy, low budget feel to it, which I thought added to the element of creepiness quite a lot. It also had a bit of earthiness lacking in a lot of American films. Overall, I thought it was an enjoyable film.

I think that Secret Window may have borrowed a small element, in the form of the police officer. When Amanda Plummer visits the retired officer, she finds him painting and comments that it's not quite the thing you'd expect from a police officer. Mort Rainey finds the sheriff doing embroidery. Nifty, that.

A shame about the dog, though. Seven out of ten for being a good, solid, creepy film--even if it didn't have a huge amount of original material.

a bore

[vintage_duke · 2/10 · 12 January 2004]

best you can do while watching this movie is guessing which scene was stolen from which movie - so you could be able to stay awake. though sebastian niemann tries hard to give it a personal touch, he can´t overcome the ill-fated premise of the muddled script. worst of all- you simply don´t care for the characters. amanda plummer looks more like her father than ever.

Very similar to The Shining

[guyb · 7/10 · 4 November 2001]

We thought this was a pretty good movie except it's very similar to The Shining. It didn't have the "hollywood polish" which we liked. It gave an extra "edge" to it. We really like Amanda Plummer and don't see her often enough. The story line had some jumps in it that required suspended disbelief to get over some problems that were not really resolved if you care about that level of perfection.

A mix & match of good horror.

[skysloane · 4/10 · 17 October 2008]

7 days to live is an OK horror film if you have never seen a horror film before. I have counted at least 5 horror films that this is a mix match of including Amityville horror, The Shining, Maybe a little Misery, Psycho (hey look at that house),Poltergeist. There are very faint glimpses of other films as well. Could have been a lot better with more background on the characters. I would also liked to have seen a lot more detail on where the location is based on this film, it would make it a lot more interesting if the back story on the location was elaborated on then you could get a feel for the where and the why. The ending gave me the feeling that it was left wide open for a sequel because you get no feeling for what happened to the house.

Creepy! **Spoilers**

[HumanoidOfFlesh · 9/10 · 27 December 2001]

After watching such overrated horror movies like "The Blair Witch Project","Scream" or "The Sixth Sense" finally here is the film which really delivers the goods.Of course it's quite similar to "The Shining"(1980),but honestly I don't care.The atmosphere is really creepy,the acting is excellent and the ending literally blew me away(I love that Fulciesque zombies in the basement)!There is no gore-just a well-constructed mystery that is best viewed late at night.Check out this truly eerie film!

Not very original but still a decent time waster.

[loomis78-815-989034 · 6/10 · 15 March 2014]

Trying to restart after the devastating death of their son, Ellen (Plummer) and Martin (Pertwee) move to a big house out in the country. Martin is an author who begins writing his new book, while Ellen who is still trying to cope with the loss of her son starts experiencing unsettling and eerie things. She begins to receive visual messages warning her she has seven days to live. The movie begins to count down each day as she receives new messages. Ellen also starts seeing her dead son around the house and she begins to investigate the history of the house. Built on a marsh where thousands of bodies had been dumped the evil that surrounds the house is casting its spell. Martin becomes extremely agitated and he directs it at Ellen, as he becomes increasingly hostile. This film made in New Hampshire and the Czech Republic is a mix of ideas from other horror films. Martin's character truly turns into Jack Torrance of "The Shining" with abuse towards his wife and his writing. A great early scene has Ellen looking at an old photograph, and one of the people in the photo comes to life and looks at her. Effective but lifted from "Phantasm" when the Tall Man did the same thing. The ending scene in the basement with the house sinking into itself and creatures rising from the water in the form of shadowed zombies is scary and unnerving. Some suspense is delivered with some moderate chills sprinkled throughout. Amanda Plummer is a fine actress but her casting as the lead Ellen seems like a stretch here. This is not exactly dripping with originality but it is serviceable has a decent time waster.

Imagination or omen?

[michaelRokeefe · 5/10 · 22 October 2005]

Following the tragic death of their young son, Ellen(Amanda Plummer)and her husband Martin(Shawn Pertwee)search for a new life and move into an old two story house in the country. Eerie things begin happening to Ellen; she sees cryptic visions of her own death. Keeping this to herself is torture and the warnings progressively get more threatening. The visions may actually be a binder between her own death and deep dark secrets of the old house. Time keeps ticking away and there is an urgency for if the warnings are true...Ellen only has a very few days to live. A chilling methodical madness. Supporting cast features: Nick Brimble, Sean Chapman, Chris Barnes and Renee Ackermann. Manifistations of grief are not often taken lightly.

poor storyline

[errorist · 8 June 2001]

Although the movie has its exciting moments, the end is really bad. The story of this movie doesnt make sense at all. The whole "7 days" things is an unexplained phenomenom. The history about this haunted house remains unexplained as well. Perhaps somebody can explain it after seeing this movie, i could not. Save your money on this.

7 days to live, 7 minutes to forget this movie

[pkzeewiz · 3/10 · 7 January 2010]

I had watched this once before and knew it had something to do with a house, but I had forgotten much else. Now watching it the second time I hope I can forget it just as easily as I had the first time.

It's about a couple who lose their son and buy a house out in the country to try and cope with their loss. The man is a writer and the woman is just a mourning mother trying to move on. They don't know the story of the house and how it has destroyed many other families that lived there before.

The woman quickly starts to see things, including messages telling her shes going to die soon. The husband seems to think shes just having a hard time dealing with the stress, but he doesn't realize he is changing too, for the worse. As time goes on the truth unravels and we watch as the madness and the fear strike.

At first the movie is promising, the big house has potential to make a good haunted house movie, the hallucinations telling you you only have a few days to die would be very scary and here it gives hope for a creepy movie, but as it goes on you realize its going nowhere.

This movie is a supernatural thriller not to be confused with a horror film. It is not scary and quite frankly its down right stupid.

The actors are all bad, there is no cool production values and it has worthless CGI at times. I would not recommend it to anyone. It reminded me in a very small way of The Shining, but just because you liked that one doesn't mean you will this garbage.

Save your time and stay away from this boring movie, its not entertaining in any way, you could do worse, but you could surely find something way better to kill 90 minutes.

This is something. Else or otherwise.

[dravenvox · 1/10 · 3 April 2009]

seriously. swallows a hornet? that, mind you, landed in his cereal. only to be followed up with a shower scene? what am i watching? i had to write this after having viewed no more than 15.5 minutes of this. i hope it gets better. it won't. oh wait. there's a 7 on the steamy mirror. watch this in a dark room alone. as long as you're not in the room. and as long as there's something else on. probably with commercials. and you're doing something better. like having an enema or perhaps experimenting on the strength of the enamel of your teeth with a toenail clipper or testing the limits of your hearing on flea farts or listening to a gulp of water make its way from your mouth to your bladder, or to your anus, depending on what you ate earlier that day. and one must not neglect the amount of alcohol one drank that day, as well as the acidity level of any foods eaten in the period before the water was taken. it might not even be the water at all, seeing as how such conditions can be a result of a lack of water. these conditions may not be a function of water at all, but maybe poor nutritional choices at large. one cannot comment on the elections of others without knowing the motivation behind such decisions, but it can be safely assumed that the viewing of this film could not possibly be attributed to the aforementioned ailments/symptoms, but rather a morbid curiosity begat by boredom and the senseless desire to subject oneself to the efforts of a hungry director and the economic needs of actors that said, "Hmmm. Seven days until The Ring 'gets' me. Sorry, i got confused. I see. So, there's a child and a--doesn't matter. You're going to pay me for this? Right then. And the danish is free? Very well. Hmm. Well, there it is then. I'm on board. And we'll be done by Thursday? Super. I can get back to whatever i was up to before you bothered me. I believe i was thinking about purple or where i left my hat. Did you see it? Not my hat, but purple. It really is quite lovely. You know, my mother loves...." So...this is what this film is. Nonsense. Except this assessment was far more involved. Sorry for those who enjoyed this. Really. I am sorry for those who enjoyed this. And your families. And pets. Herumph.

"I bet you can't wait to find out how this story ends."

[Backlash007 · 24 February 2003]

~Spoiler~

I applaud 7 Days to Live. I don't applaud it for being a clone of The Shining, but for the efforts behind this film. It's the story of a writer and his wife who move into a haunted house to get away from everything and eventually he is driven mad. And the house, of course, has been built over a mass grave. That's The Shining comparison and the cliched bit. But it does generate its own genuinely creepy moments. The opening scene is bone chilling and will have you hooked from the start. Also, Sean Pertwee doing his best Jack Nicholson is reason enough to see the movie. With 7 Days, Pertwee has done two great horror movies recently (if you haven't seen Dog Soldiers I suggest you do so). Another familiar face is Sean Chapman...that's right, Frank Cotton in the flesh. I didn't fully recognize him until there was a scene with Chapman in it that mirrored Hellraiser (the moving furniture/bloody hand scene). It's too bad the hellraising actor didn't have a bigger part though. By the end of the film, you should recognize a few more horror movies stitched in here but it's all a bit of foreign fun. 7 Days to Live is worth catching if you enjoy the films in between the Hollywood hype and the direct-to-video garbage.

Greatest horror-movie from Germany...

[anneko · 10/10 · 11 November 2002]

I just rented the video and couldn't believe that this film was a german production!! Don't watch it alone because it's too scary... but you will really enjoy this great film by german hot shot Sebastian Niemann...

VERY Chilling Thriller....

[LRTony26 · 7 October 2001]

I loved this movie. Both Sean Pertwee and Amanda Plummer were great in it. The whole movie was very chilling. Great movie to watch on a cold, lonely night at home. That is what I did. Sean is great as a a man pushed over the edge and Amanda is very good as his freaked out wife and the main character. Check it out.....you'll like it, too!

The Shining Meets Poltergeist Meets The Amityville Horror Meets Ringu Meets...

[NoDakTatum · 8/10 · 23 October 2023]

This weird little effort may be one of the most entertaining derivative film I have seen in years. Amanda Plummer, who is normally the best thing in her films, plays Ellen the wife of successful novelist Martin (Sean Pertwee). The couple has lost a child, and move out into rural New Hampshire so Martin can complete his comeback book. Everything seems to be going hunky dory, except the film's prologue. Before the credits roll, we see Sheriff Farrell (Nick Brimble) and two others break down the door of a house that has been boarded up from the inside. They find a local man sitting in the corner staring at his very dead wife, who seems to have drowned- in the living room in front of the television. The house they broke into? The same one Ellen and Martin move into twenty three years later. Things are bad from the get-go. Ellen begins hallucinating that weathermen on the radio, the steam on the mirror after a shower, and a street sign are all telling her the same thing- she has one week to live, and these innocuous everyday things are keeping a running countdown for her. Farrell, now retired, visits Ellen and gives her a stray dog, but no information about why the creepy house stood abandoned for so long. Martin begins writing again, sometimes thirty pages in one sitting. He is moody, brooding, rude, and keeps locking the door to the basement when he comes up after spending way too much time down there. Ellen starts investigating what exactly is happening to her and her husband.

The film is unsettling, thanks to location filming the director may not have intended. The actors sport American and British accents, and with the countryside house, I assumed the film was shot in Australia. But then cars had the steering wheels on the wrong side, and the license plates looked European, so I assumed mainland Europe. True enough, the German crew shot in southeastern Europe. As indicated, screenwriter Dirk Ahner takes a lot of different ingredients from other horror films. Pertwee, who I only knew from his stint on the British TV series "Cold Feet," is the now clicheed frustrated writer who goes bonkers. Like Nicholson in Kubrick's "The Shining," he goes bonkers too soon. Before the bonkering commences, Plummer and Pertwee have an amazing chemistry. They seem like a real couple, complete with inside jokes and silliness. While director Niemann was handed a familiar script, his camera effort is top notch. The set is impressive, and he sure knows how to stage some spooky stuff. There are a couple of CGI effects, but Niemann does not rest the entire film on them. Plummer is probably beaten and battered around more than any other actress in film history, yet her strong character never does anything stupid. Her smarts while battling her husband are impressive. While the finale may strain credibility, this is a very good effort. "Seven Days to Live" is a pleasant surprise, not scriptwise, but buoyed by strong performances and a sure directorial hand.

Watch it in alone in a darkened room!

[Big S-2 · 10 June 2001]

This is one creepy and suspenseful movie. True, it borrows heavily from other movies (`The Shining' being one obvious example) but it still stands out as an exciting film in its own right. What lends it an even more strange atmosphere is the fact that it is hard to pinpoint where it is actually set. The old haunted house that is the focal point of the film and the surrounding landscape have a definite American feel to them – certainly in no way British or European. Yet all the cast with the exception of Amanda Plummer have very British accents. The cars also all carry British-style number plates, yet they are all left-hand drive. And although the nearby village - what little we see of it – is definitely not typically British, at the same time neither is it typically American or continental European. I have no idea whether this strange mix was intended by the film-makers or whether it arose purely by accident and lack of attention to detail. Yet for me this greatly added to the spooky atmosphere of the movie. As it is a European production, I came to the conclusion that it is supposed to be set in a make-believe, unnamed English-speaking country – a kind of fictional netherworld, but one which at the same time has a frighteningly `real' feel to it. Hard to put into words, but very effective. Not since the 60s cult TV series `The Prisoner' have I had such a feeling when watching a film. I challenge anyone to watch this movie and then go down into the cellar alone!!! A strong 7 out of 10.

Pretty good flick.

[Jack the Ripper1888 · 20 April 2002]

I bought this movie the other night from Blockbuster and I started watching it at around two in the morning. This is a great movie to watch late at night when all the lights are out. It actually scared me at some of the parts of the film.*POSSIBLE SPOILERS* Ellen (Amanda Plummer) is having disturbing visions of her own death. And she soon discovers that she only has seven days left to live. This movie reminded me in a way of THE SHINING. Maybe because the husband was writing a book, went crazy whenever his wife bothered him while he was writing and because he was the bad guy. Who knows. Just little things like that. 7 DAYS TO LIVE is a good movie to watch late at night. Period. If you're looking for something different, don't see it. But if you want a good rip-off late night movie, then this is the one. For a movie that didn't have a run in theaters, this one was pretty good........4/5.

****1/2 out of 5

[casey_choas66 · 19 May 2003]

7 Days to Live is a horror film so short, sweet and to the point that it nearly speaks for itself. To place thing into jaunt terms, if you are looking for an relentless trip into insanity that is sure to make the hair on the back of your neck stand up for weeks on end, 7 Days wins on every level. The dynamical experience of this film would be equal to hiding in a huge steel pipe, away from a raging psychopath on the run, who bangs the pipe to indicate each step he takes closer to your demise. It presents a strange grouping of innate puzzles that stretch down an endless tunnel into eternity. This tunnel of oblivious mind games becomes enthralling because it is string up on lies, deceit, and aggravation, where the answers are closer to the truth than the truth itself. The story in itself is an incredibly simple picture book of surprises. A writer named Martin and his wife Ellen move out of town to the secluded country side, only to inhabit a estate where strange things have occurred in the past, shown during the prologue. We also learn of the death of Ellen's young son from an accidental choking years earlier. She has still not come to terms with this horrid fracture. Martin has strayed from the town in hopes of producing another number one best seller after his last few publications flopped. After moving into the home Ellen begins to see visions, prophesying the end of her life's term. She sees a seven etched into her steam covered bathroom mirror after a hot shower. She also sees a road sign that states she has six days to live and so on. Fearing the worst, Ellen seeks mental help, due to lack of motivation from her working husband. She visits the family doctor only to be told that she still blames herself for the death of her son and her body feels the need to punish her mind for it. This film plays as simply astonishing. The environment casts a wretched shadow like a vivid house of mirrors from an abandoned carnival. It slowly eats away at your nerves until you just can't take it anymore; you know something is going on but refuse to believe it for fear of yourself. But never does it become an in-your-face experience. 7 days to Live is everything the Feardotcom wasn't and everything The Ring had hoped to be. It uses a technique of progress that I haven't seen done justice to since The Exorcist. Instead of playing its characters, director Sebastian Miemann plays with them. He places his characters into a defiance of existence that could serve internally for an endless amount of probable outcomes. He lets the characters experience instead of contemplate. There is no moderation in a film such as this, it is blunt and to the point. For this it is not an easy or enjoyable watch. But it does serve for an experience in delusion that blurs the lines between modernized fiction and realized fiction. There are no bad guys, nor good ones. There are no turning points or breakdowns. This is a slow, uphill climb that uses its time to build in order for fair distribution of thoughtful suspense. It was for this very reason that the Ring failed. It toyed with us and made us believe that it was going somewhere, and than when it didn't, felt that it owed us an explanation for such actions. This is a very unapologetic film. It feels no sympathy or regret for its forthcomings. It sees where it wants to go and feels no need to ask permission to execute. It takes a true directorial talent to take a thought of simplicity and transform it into a full on battle of the senses that is scary as hell and still makes use of a very dark bit of humour. It is such direction that gains this high praise, for were this to be a study of character it would have been nowhere near as enticing. Niemann has a vision for this film that was so intriguing it goes by only on a subconscious level. Early on in the film there is a direct reference to David Lynch, followed by a shot of an old, white radio that would surely applaud. There is than a shot in which the camera views the house while walking around the parameter of an outside fence. This is a frame that Hitchcock would tip his glass to. Brief scenes later the camera is allowed to become the first person as it drifts along the floor of the house, moving from room to room in a showcase of mysterious presence that pays homage to Sam Raimi. Finally, if that wasn't enough to wet the appetite of any cult film buff, we end with a nod to Stanely Kubrick in a climatic battle that perpetuates similar to The Shining. With such a high degree of directorial influence you would think this film would want to stroll down into rip-off territory. But instead of stealing ideas, Miemann uses them to persuade his material to be itself. This film uses a tired formula, brought back to life with a paroxysmal jolt of thulium-like entrails. The film stars Amanda Plummer as Ellen. Plummer plays her role as convincing where other would have played it as annoying. She plays her character as someone out to discover something but never resorts to searching for it. She portrays a stranded individual in the middle of a crossroad with no sense of direction or choice. Sean Pertwee plays Martin in a near genius casting call. Pertwee moulds his character like a cauldron of emotional baggage that could explode at any moment with unforeseeable consequences. The only problem with this film is its story. Some things go unexplained and some things are never brought forward in a proper fashion of development. All that said I see no need for such minor setbacks to invade the enjoyment of 7 Days to Live, for on a ratio of good scenes to bad ones, the good ones hold majority. I can't say that everyone will love this film, it does serve as a rather abnormal experience, but it is rare in this age when a film will come along that manufactures chills, and this one did so much more than that for me. Today's horror genre has become nothing more than parades of bizarre and obscene images, used only as a means to shock. Although 7 Days to Live is not an easy of fun experience, it proves that in a technologically dominated realm, less is more.