Last Shift

there is nothing more pathetic than people who obviously must've been part of the cast or crew writing glowing reviews for movies that are horrible. Seriously guys stop you're embarrassing yourself. A rookie cop on her very first shift is to guard a police station that will be closing down in the morning. And it turns out the police station is haunted by a wanna be Manson family. Sigh...The film uses every tired and overused horror cliché in the book but they're thrown at you in such a bumbeling and clumsy way that any effect they might have had evaporates into a cloud of dumb. This movie sucks so hard that it actually creates a vacuum in which you will pass out from intellectual hypoxia within seconds of being exposed to it. Don't. Just don't.

I pretty much agree with both Jim's & Lucas' reviews above. It's interesting to note how yet AGAIN, the immediate negative votes for negative reviews . Negative votes are for reviews that are 'NOT HELPFUL', not because you don't agree with them. Anyway... I was severely disappointed with this movie. I DO like the premise and I feel that the film makers were indeed going for a Classic John Carpenter 'ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13' feel. But to me, I honestly didn't think that it was done that well. It's sad when they start with a good idea, but then the talent to bring it off just simply isn't there, at least not in this case in my lowly and wretched opinion. After reading some reviews and going into the movie knowing the basic premise, I was REALLY looking forward to seeing this. I really like the 'Deserted Police Station' Horror films, especially the recent 'LET US PREY' (Now THAT is a damn good film, full of atmosphere, dread, and LOTS of style!) This movie here though... I just kept watching it hoping that it would get better. I really liked the idea of the rookie girl alone in the decommissioned police station, and a FEW of the scares were okay. It's like if you read them from the script, you might think, yeah, that sounds pretty cool, but in the execution it just didn't really come across right. And then as I mention in my Summary, just showing us some really unpleasant sights, such as the disgusting looking bathroom (like, gee, never seen THAT before...) just to gross us the hell out. To me, that kind of effect is NOT at all scary or entertaining, just gross and pointless. The point where I really got disgusted (well AFTER the bathroom scene) and I mean 'disgusted' not literally, but with the poor quality and the amateurish way the film was being handled, was when they started showing the interviews with the 'Manson-like' family. I mean, COME ON... Have you ever seen such stupid, trite dialog and acting in your life...? SERIOUSLY... It was SO dang bad with the actors pretending their 'Evil' defiance and expressing in such corny ways how they enjoyed the suffering of their victims. Just stupid... (and insulting to the intelligence of the audience too, I might add) We are supposed to be sitting here 'Terrified' at how 'Evil' they are... truly pathetic, honestly. I mean, you compare the genuine tension and evil in an excellent film like 'LET US PREY', for example, and then look at this one. No comparison. At least to me. Actually, ALL the dialog up to that point, brief as it was, was done very poorly and pretty much indicated the lack of talent behind the camera / script. Both the interchange with the Sargent when she first arrived, and especially with the hooker hanging out in the back. The dialog and the acting were REALLY awful. You notice that both reviews before mine mention that... The primary reason why I am even writing a review for this film that I didn't like (which I normally don't do) is because I am quite honestly P*$$ed off at the reviews that I read which convinced me that there was some actual substance to this film. yes, there were individual ELEMENTS here and there that were kind of scary with things moving on their own and SOME suspense with her walking around checking things out. And, the ONE tiny scene in the locker room was kind of cool. But, what we are talking about here is yet another good idea, a good premise, ruined by film makers who just don't know what the hell they are doing (and some REALLY bad acting) So FWIW, I was seriously disappointed in what could have been a really good story. But, although there were a few, scattered moments here and there that were effective, there was really nothing of substance or any genuinely believable characters, dialog, or atmosphere to hold the film together... Sadly, I feel, a truly wasted opportunity...

Clearly, a low budget film. Good film-makers, when confronted with a lack of funds, will compensate with a lot of creativity. "Last Shift" falls squarely into this category. The film makes good use of their locale, and builds an air of dread that slowly begins to pay off. One nice touch is the use of quiet to build tension. In a few places, the music becomes intrusive, but a lot of the creepiness is in odd sounds (with nice use of the 5.1 surround mix). Only once or twice did they go for the "booga booga coming out at you out of a dark place" shtick. I thought the lead actress was very believable through most of the film. If the film faltered anywhere, it was nearer the end, when the lead character began to respond in more typical "illogical victim," but one could almost understand that given the psychological state of that character. SPOILER The only major way this film let me down as at the end. They had to go for "the twist," and in this case... ...it was "evil wins," which I find is something I don't care to spend nearly two hours of my life watching. Otherwise, very solid effort, making an authentically spooky and fairly original film on very little money.

I seriously felt like the whole movie was written, directed and acted out by elementary kids. This movie is a very poor attempt at a horror movie. It's not scary, the acting is just plain BAD and it is so cliché that its almost like they wanted this to be a stupid movie. They failed in every aspect. It's obvious all the positive reviews are fakes that were put here by someone involved with this disastrous movie in an effort to cut some losses at the box office and with DVD/Bluray sales. We only need to follow the money trail to find the scum that is responsible. Don't waste your time with this movie. It's that bad.