By Melissa Antoinette Garza
Last Shift (2014) is a movie that I’ve seen the cover for and passed on watching again and again. I expected a found-footage mess with boring and overdone CGI effects. I was shocked and ecstatic to get a film reminscent of The Evil Dead (1981) and Black Christmas (1974) that utilized creepy practical effects and old-school horror that at times was truly terrifying.
First and foremost, kudos to the filmmakers for making a modern movie that was not found-footage. That was the initial element that made me think, “this may not be bad.” When it was evident that the plot was solid and the acting top-knotch, I was hooked.
It opens with Jessica (Juliana Harkavy) a rookie cop who wants to walk in the footsteps of her dead father’s shoes. She takes an assignment to stay in an empty police station for one night. The following day, the new station will open, but until then the old one needs to be guarded. Many have said this is an obvious homage to John Carpenter’s Assault on Precinct 13 (1976). There are definitely many similarities, but there is also an incredibly original manner of telling the story that should be applauded and recognized.
Jessica’s first encounter is with a large disheveled man who urinates in front of her and then attempts to assault her when the power goes out for a moment. She locks him in a cell. She then gets a phone call from a young girl who claims she is in trouble. Jessica tries to help but the phone line is continously disconnected.
Soon, Jessica begins having visions of a Charles Manson-esque man. She sees him on a surveillance television, physically in the station and generally all around. He and his female followers scare the hell out of her. The power keeps going on and off and Jessica doesn’t know what is real and not. Blood drips from her equipment, she sees people with bags on their head trying to shoot her, she sees a fellow cop she believes to be a friend but isn’t as he appears, and when she decides to escape she gets a phone call from who she believes is her dead father telling her to stay.
Everything about this movie is fantastic. Julliana Harkavy is marvelous. She’s tough and sensitive, strong and smart, sympathetic and real. She has a very Jennifer Lopez quality to her acting. In fact, elements of her character reminded me of Lopez’s performance in the film Enough (2002).
Sometimes, movies cross the line attempting to make up for the days when women were constantly in need of saving. They want to show strong women, but rather than creating realistic characters, they make women into super heroes who are never afraid and can kick the ass of anyone. The damsel-in-distress has now been replaced with an almost robotic Terminator style. Both the former and the latter are insulting. Last Shift and Ms. Harkavy in particular didn’t fall into that crazed mentality. Jessica was trained enough to take down a man three times her size and taze him when she needed to, but she wasn’t unafraid when super natural things began happening. She didn’t play nonchalant when the prospect of losing her mind was in front of her. All in all, brilliant performance, brilliant direction, and brilliant film.
I’m not going to reveal anything about the end so no spoilers other than to say there are some questions left unanswered. Rather than to the detriment of the movie, this is actually a positive. We could have been provided a straight-forward lazy conclusion but instead the filmmakers went the route of Inception (2010).
I’m so happy to see a real horror movie that doesn’t fall into the current tropes but brings back some of the traditional ones and even shows originality in creating new tropes.
I can’t recommend this enough. If you don’t have Netflix, rent it on Amazon. It’s definitely worth more than one watch and worthy of much respect. It deserves its place in cult classic history.
Scared Stiff Rating: 8.5/10 A Soon-To-Be Cult-Classic
