Whistle (2025 film)

Whistle
Canadian theatrical release poster
Directed byCorin Hardy
Written byOwen Egerton
Produced by
  • David Gross
  • Whitney Brown
  • Macdara Kelleher
  • John Keville
Starring
CinematographyBjörn Charpentier
Edited byNicholas Emerson
Music byDoomphonic
Production
companies
Distributed by
Release dates
  • 25 September 2025 (2025-09-25) (Fantastic Fest)
  • 6 February 2026 (2026-02-06) (North America)
  • 13 February 2026 (2026-02-13) (Ireland and the United Kingdom)
Running time
100 minutes[a]
Countries
  • Canada
  • Ireland
LanguageEnglish
Box officeUS$3 million[5][6]

Whistle is a 2025 supernatural horror film directed by Corin Hardy and written by Owen Egerton. It stars Dafne Keen, Sophie Nélisse, Sky Yang, Jhaleil Swaby, Ali Skovbye, Percy Hynes White, Michelle Fairley and Nick Frost. The film follows a group of students who find an Aztec Death Whistle and discover that the sound it emits will summon their future deaths to hunt them down.

Whistle premiered at Fantastic Fest on 25 September 2025, and was released in the United States on 6 February 2026, and was released in the United Kingdom and Ireland on 13 February.

Plot

During a high school basketball game, star athlete Mason "Horse" Raymore is haunted by visions of a burned man before mysteriously bursting into flames and dying. Months later, transfer student Chrys Willet inherits Mason's old locker and finds a skull-shaped whistle. When provoked by Mason's former teammate Dean, both he and Chrys are sent to detention by Mr. Craven, along with her cousin Rel, Dean's girlfriend Grace, and Ellie, a smart but diabetic girl.

After detention, Mr. Craven confiscates the whistle and blows it out of curiosity, while Rel later sneaks back to steal it. Unbeknownst to Rel, Mr. Craven is soon killed by a grotesque apparition of himself. Later, the detained students also blow the whistle, and its sound causes them to be haunted by their own apparitions.

The next morning, Mr. Craven's death is reported as extreme stage lung cancer, which baffles those who knew him since he exhibited none of the symptoms from the day prior. Chrys and Ellie later learn from Mason's occult-collecting grandmother, Ivy, that the whistle is an Aztec death whistle inscribed with the phrase "summon your death". Anyone who hears it becomes stalked and is eventually killed by a manifestation of their destined demise. Despite their attempts to warn the others, Grace dies after rapidly aging into an old woman, and Dean is later killed in a manner resembling a car crash. When Chrys, Ellie, and Rel visit Ivy on her deathbed, she reveals that the curse can be avoided by marking another person with their blood, while their respective demise is nearby, and transferring it to them.

Rel abducts a violent youth pastor, Noah, and attempts to mark him with his blood, but Chrys and Ellie intervene, refusing to sacrifice someone else. Rel relents, but is soon killed by his apparition, which tears him apart like a junkyard shredder. Chrys and Ellie discover the curse can also be escaped by briefly dying and being revived, and Ellie has the medical supplies and equipment at hand having kept such in her car for emergencies. While attempting to stop their hearts and resuscitate each other, Noah escapes and confronts them, but after touching Ellie's blood, the curse inadvertently transfers to him and he is killed by his own apparition.

Three months later, Chrys and Ellie are now together and believe the curse has ended, until a new student named Asha opens her locker and discovers the whistle inside. In a mid-credits sequence, Asha is called to the stage at a school assembly in the auditorium to play the school anthem on her violin to kick off the spring semester, but instead pulls out the whistle. Chrys and Ellie scream for her to stop, but she blows the whistle anyway, dooming everyone in the auditorium.

Cast

  • Dafne Keen as Chrys Willet
  • Sophie Nélisse as Ellie Gains, Chrys's love interest
  • Sky Yang as Rel Taylor, Chrys's cousin
  • Jhaleil Swaby as Dean Jackson, Mason's teammate
  • Ali Skovbye as Grace Browning, Dean's girlfriend
  • Percy Hynes White as Noah Haggerty
  • Michelle Fairley as Ivy Raymore, Mason's grandmother
  • Nick Frost as Mr. Craven
  • Stephen Kalyn as Mason Raymore, a basketball and Dean's teammate
  • Conrad Coates as Clayton Jackson
  • Mikayla Kong as Asha Nelson

Production

Whistle was written by Owen Egerton from an adaptation of his short story and directed by Corin Hardy. A Canadian and Irish co-production, it was produced by David Gross for No Trace Camping and Macdara Kelleher for Wild Atlantic Pictures.[7] In October 2023, Dafne Keen, Sophie Nélisse, Sky Yang, Percy Hynes White and Nick Frost were added to the cast.[7]

Principal photography took place in Hamilton, Ontario, from 15 November 2023 to 19 January 2024.[8] Scenes were shot at Delta Secondary School, a house off Aberdeen Avenue, and at the Rockton Fairgrounds.[9]

Release

In October 2023, Black Bear Pictures handled sales at the American Film Market.[10] In May 2025, Independent Film Company and Shudder acquired the U.S. distribution rights to the film.[11]

Whistle premiered at Fantastic Fest on 25 September 2025, and was released in the United States on 6 February 2026.[12][3][13] Black Bear Pictures was released the film in the United Kingdom and Ireland on 13 February.[14][2]

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 62% of 102 critics' reviews are positive. The website's consensus reads: "Whistle doesn't blow it when it comes to milking some memorable frights from its nifty conceit, although this horror flick could've dared to be more original beyond its main hook."[15] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 55 out of 100, based on 9 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[16]

Notes

  1. ^ Sources vary on the film's runtime. The Fantastic Fest lists the runtime as 97 minutes,[3] while others list the runtime as 108 minutes[1] and 100 minutes, respectively.[2][4]

References

  1. ^ a b "Whistle (15)". British Board of Film Classification. 21 October 2025. Retrieved 21 October 2025.
  2. ^ a b c "Whistle (2026)". Irish Film Classification Office. 14 January 2026. Retrieved 26 January 2026.
  3. ^ a b "Fantastic Fest 2025". Fantastic Fest. Retrieved 7 September 2025.
  4. ^ "Whistle [14A]". Alberta Film Classification Office. 26 January 2026. Retrieved 26 January 2026.
  5. ^ "Whistle". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 23 February 2026.
  6. ^ "Whistle- Box Office and Financial Information". The Numbers. Retrieved 17 February 2026.
  7. ^ a b Wiseman, Andreas (19 October 2023). "Dafne Keen, Sophie Nélisse, Sky Yang, Percy Hynes White & Nick Frost Set For High School Horror 'Whistle' From 'The Nun' Director Corin Hardy & Black Bear – AFM". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on 19 October 2023. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
  8. ^ "DGC Ontario Production List" (PDF). Directors Guild of Canada. 12 January 2024. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 January 2024. Retrieved 13 January 2024.
  9. ^ Nolan, Daniel (8 December 2023). "High school horror picture Whistle finds a home in the hallways of Delta". The Hamilton Spectator. Archived from the original on 8 December 2023. Retrieved 8 December 2023.
  10. ^ Staff (31 October 2023). "Major market projects at AFM 2023: latest updates". Screen Daily. Archived from the original on 8 December 2023. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
  11. ^ Grobar, Andreas (19 May 2025). "Independent Film Company & Shudder Acquire Horror Film 'Whistle' From 'The Nun's Corin Hardy". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on 19 May 2025. Retrieved 19 May 2025.
  12. ^ Grobar, Matt (14 August 2025). "Fantastic Fest Lineup: Black Phone 2, Sisu: Road To Revenge, Shelby Oaks, Primate, Vicious & More Set For 20th Anniversary Edition". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 14 August 2025.
  13. ^ Navarro, Meagan (28 July 2025). "Whistle Teaser – Dafne Keen Summons Death Curse in New Horror from The Nun Filmmaker". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved 28 July 2025.
  14. ^ Dalton, Ben (26 January 2026). "UK-Ireland film cinema release dates: latest updates for 2026". Screen Daily. Retrieved 26 January 2026.
  15. ^ "Whistle". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 14 February 2026.
  16. ^ "Whistle". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved 13 February 2026.
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