One of the first lines of this film is "Mom its fine,
most cops go their entire career without seeing any action" How foreboding
is that? Directed by Anthony DiBlasi, Last shift is about Jessica Loren(played
by Julianna Harkavay(walking dead fans would know her as Alisha) who is
starting her very first night shift as a rookie cop, and boy do things start
off weird. She enters this sterile police department and finds...no one. As she
calls out she finds police sergeant Coen, played by a grizzled Hank Stone, who
screams at her to turn around suddenly (What a great way to introduce
yourself!) They discuss the new department, and Coen informs her that she has
the privilege of working the last night shift in the old police department
before it shuts down for good(can anyone say Five Nights at Freddie's?!) Her job: from 8 pm to 6 am she has
to guard the seemingly empty and eerily quiet building and she can't, repeat cannot,
leave until then.
Things start off slow, reading turns to sleep, and then a
strange call comes in. A girl asking for help wakes up the young rookie. (Who’s
forgotten what Coen said, that all the emergency calls were being rerouted to
the new department. Spoooooky!) Everything in the department, all the
rooms, the halls, the ceilings are bright white with giant florescent lights
which emphasizes how empty this giant building is, and how alone our
protagonist is.
After hearing a knock on the front door, Officer Loren goes
outside to investigate and finds nothing. When she turns around to go inside,
she finds a grizzled and dirty man who appears either to not notice her asking
him to GTFO or just doesn't care. But the real question here is: how did this
man get inside in the first place? Considering that she closed and locked the
door behind her.
Strange noises, echoes from the old pipes, sound like
arthritic bones crackling and create a real sense of unease and a good deal of
suspense. As she explores through the vacant rooms and hallways, things move on
their own, doors open suddenly(and in unison), heavy shelves sway impossibly,
all when she's not looking, and she continues to receive calls from the distressed
girl. Things really hit the fan when she discovers that the back door
broken open and her police radio begins to play children's music.
About Halfway through the film she's joined by officer Ryan
Price(played by actor insert here) who comes to check on her and tells her
about “the wannabe Manson family”, a religious cult that killed Jessica’s
police officer father, but nothing is at it seems in this mindfuck of film. As
music and sound bounce off the white walls, yells of people, singing girls, and
masked individuals appearing and disappearing just in the periphery, out of the
corner of the eye, the viewer is left asking: Is she going crazy? Is this all
in her mind?
Disappointments: why do cops never fire their weapons in
movies? Or call for back up? Why is that not a thing?! Also, if your phone
rings and it’s a dead parent that usually means your speaking to a demon/ghost
thing. I mean, come on.
Diblasi makes amazing use of camera angels and lighting, (or
the sudden lack of lighting) to put the viewer through the ringer and back. The
echoey soundtrack and rhythmic bass tones help the tension to rise until it's
almost too much. It has amazing gore and practical effects, some excellent
cinematography, a perfectly moody soundtrack and had just the right about of
jump scares. This is a really scary and well done horror film. It’s
definitely worth your time.
Overall, I give this flick 4.5 out of 5
-Leslie Rae
No comments:
Post a Comment