Directed by Anthony DiBlasi
Starring Juliana Harkavy, Joshua Mikel, J. LaRose, Mary Lankford, Natalie Victoria and Sarah Sculco
Well, Netflix, it looks like you picked a winner for me this week. Last Shift was one of the standouts of the 2014 London FrightFest film festival, and I've got to say that I agree with teh consensus. For a change. People know me as an annoying contrarian, but every once in a great while I reverse this trend and go along with the crowd. In this case, it's well deserved, because this flick is a pretty damn good and pretty damn creepy time in front of the tube.
This is one of those movies that's all about atmosphere. Director Anthony DiBlasi chose to set the entire thing in one single closed off setting, isolate one character, and fuck them all up to high heaven. It's a plot device that I recently saw in the four-star (bah Gawd)-reviewed Oculus, for my money one of the best horror films I've seen in a good long while. While it isn't QUITE as effective here, it's got the benefit of having one of the best horror movie performances in years, a really likable lead character, and one of those bummer endings that breaks your heart. In the good way, I promise, not the "oh come on, you've gotta be kidding me" way that The Devil Inside pissed audiences off to high heaven. Enough jibber jabber. Let's get going.
The setup is incredibly simple. Meet rookie cop Jessica Loren, played by Juliana Harkavy in one of those performances that immediately launches her into the Jamie Lee Curtis hot girl stratosphere of horror movie heroines. While there are other people in the movie, she's on-camera for almost the entire thing, and you don't get bored of her - she's dynamite. The character itself is fairly straightforward, as she's stuck on a curious assignment her first night on the job: guarding an abandoned police department for one 8 p.m. - 4 a.m. shift. I always relate to characters who work similar hours to myself, because I know how messed up my life feels and how an entire work week feels like one gigantic day that never ends, so +2 cool points to the movie here as well.
Things start innocently enough. Her mother doesn't want her to do the job, since her father died on duty. The guy that she relieves is kind of a dick who likes playing tricks for no apparent reason. And then there's the boredom once those doors close. But after a while, the movie starts springing its bag of tricks on you. And this bag of tricks is one that any white bunny would be damn proud of (/tomatoes). She periodically gets calls from a young woman who says that she is in trouble in a farm outside of the city, only the station is no longer receiving 911 calls. There's a homeless bum who invades the police station and urinates on the floor, only to sneak back in later for no apparent reason whatsoever. And then there's all the ghosts and other assorted ghoulies that go bump in the night.
To be sure, the flick has a fair amount of "loud noise" stingers, but here...they're actually effective and get under your skin. I think the reason is that we become really invested in Jessica and what she's going through. Working your first day on a new job is one of those situations that we've all been in on numerous occasions, the nerves and apprehension you feel about fitting in and pleasing your bosses and all that. Add some demons into the scenario, and we've got a recipe for some emotional investment. (Lick Ness Monster cliche time) And that's the best thing that any movie can do!
There's a fair amount of demonology and ghost activity contained within Last Shift, and it's all based around a subject that isn't touched upon much in horror movies. It seems as if a year prior to the events of this film, a bizarre, murderous Charles Manson-style cult was arrested and brought into this station for questioning. Worshiping not Satan but "the King of Hell," the being said to inhabit hell before ol' Goatface himself arrived, the cult is/was primarily young woman following their Bray Wyatt-style leader John Michael Paymon (Joshua Mikel, who is dynamite for the few scenes that he gets). All of them appear to have stuck around after their creepy mass suicide bit, and have every intention of taking out the daughter of one of their arresting officers. Oh yeah, spoiler alert. All things build up to a finale that admittedly shocked the hell out of me. And if it shocked the hell out of me...it probably won't shock you, because most people are smarter than me.
That's where we're at with Last Shift. It's slick, it has good acting, and it has execution better than almost any horror movie that you've seen in recent memory. Meaning that when it feels like getting under your skin, it can do this with Guns N' Roses 1987-style aplomb. If you've got Netflix, check this one out. It's well worth 90 minutes of your time. Also, here's hoping that Juliana Harkavy impressed a few people with her performance here, because she's got way more charisma than a good 75% of actresses whose names can be found on marquees these days.
*** 1/2 out of ****. Good scares and good shocks await. Turn down the lights where applicable and have fun with this one.
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