Last Shift
Director: Anthony DiBlasi
Cast: Juliana Harkavy, Joshua Mikel, J. LaRose
October 6, 2015
Reviewed by Brian M. Sammons
This is a low budget horror movie released direct to video. Yeah I know, the thought of that alone is usually more frightening than the movies that come out that way. Sure there are always one or two good ones per year, but there are dozens and dozens and dozens more that are either just so-so or complete crap. So what kind of movie is Last Shift? Well come along and let’s do some time with this flick and find out.
Jessica Loren is a young, female, rookie police officer who gets the unenviable task of watching over an abandoned police station on its last night of operation. Left all alone, she at first starts to notice small things that are just not right, like sounds in the supposedly empty building, things being moved around when she’s not looking, and a terrified girl that keeps calling her, begging for help. Naturally as the night goes on, the weirdness only increases, until it’s a full on horror show. There is a mystery to be uncovered as to why the police station is acting like the Amityville house, and while it’s nothing too terribly new, it is handled well. To say more about that would be to ruin some of the surprises and I’m not about to do that.
Minimalist horror can be highly effective if done right, and Last Shift does things very, very right. Essentially a one woman, and pretty much one room story, this film could easily be a stage play. Sure there’s more to it than that, but not much more, and please don’t take that as a criticism because it’s not. This is horror at its most basic, most primal, and it works. It has to, as it doesn’t have much to fall back on if the thrills and chills don’t hit their marks. Yes there are some special effects, but not much. That means you’re not going to get away with just being able to splatter the red stuff around to make a certain percentage of the horror community happy. Yes there is some bloodshed here, but this is far from a gore flick. While there are one or two BOO! jump scares, honest to goodness suspense, tension, and dread are far more in play here. And because this is a one woman show, all the considerable weight of carrying a feature film falls onto the shoulders of just one actor. The movie will succeed or fail based on their performance. Thankfully in this case that actress, Juliana Harkavy, is more than up for the challenge. In fact, she knocks it out of the park being both tough and capable and then turning on a dime to be frightened and vulnerable. Director Anthony DiBlasi, no stranger to fright flicks, is at the top of his game here. While I was not a huge fan of his first film (2009’s Clive Barker adaptation of Dread) he has impressed me greatly this time around.
So the movie is a winner, but how is the new Blu-ray from Magnet? Well it looks and sounds great, but that’s par for the course these days. There is a 10 minute making of featurette called “A Journey into Hell” that’s a collection of interviews and behind the scenes footage. There is another short featurette called “the Ballad of a Green Screen Guy” about one of the guys used to move things on screen but behind the scenes. Yes, it’s mostly played for laughs. There is another special about the foley and sound design that runs 6 minutes. A small part of the cult leader’s integration video that plays in the background in some scenes is also found here, as is a behind the scenes photo gallery, and a poster gallery. Surprisingly there is no trailer. Yep, I don’t know why either. There are five more extras of various lengths that can be downloaded and watched from BD Live. Why they weren’t just put on this disc to begin with is anyone’s guess.
Last Shift is a fine example of indie horror. It keeps things small and tight, but it doesn’t skimp on the fright. It shows what can be done when skill and passion are high, instead of cheap thrills and making a spooky movie solely as a quick cash grab. This film deserved a theatrical run more so than a lot of flicks that get them, but at least it’s out now and widely available on Blu-ray. Do yourself a favor and pick this one up. It is highly recommended.
