Last Shift

I wasn't expecting much from this film having read some reviews, but I really enjoyed it. Scary,jumpy and unpredictable.Some reviewers have criticised the acting of the main actress but I think she did a good job ;not easy to carry an entire movie by yourself and she had beautiful green eyes to boot. Was riveted by this film from the very start which managed to suggest nasty things to come without telling you why,what or from which direction.Good storyline and reasonable script coupled with a few chair arm-gripping moments and what more could you want? It just shows what you can achieve with some level of intelligence,dedication,imagination and skill even if your budget is limited.Producers of mindless Hollywood pap please take note.

Rookie cop Jessica Loren (Juliana Harkavy) spends her first shift manning the desk at a soon-to-be-decommissioned police station, waiting for a clean-up team to come and dispose of some hazardous material. Inexplicable occurrences turn Jessica's first night on the job into a nightmare, as it becomes apparent that the cop shop is haunted by the ghosts of murderous cultists who committed suicide there, as well as the restless spirits of their victims (including Jessica's own father).

A person left alone in a creepy haunted location is hardly a groundbreaking idea for a horror film (indeed, this film reminds me a lot of a film I saw a few nights ago, The Possession of Hannah Grace), and the majority of the time is spent watching Jessica investigating the rooms and corridors of the station after hearing strange noises. It all becomes very repetitive, director Anthony DiBlasi resorting to mechanical jump scares to keep his audience from zoning out entirely. Harkavy does a pretty good job, looking convincingly disturbed by what she is experiencing, but one does wonder what it would take for Loren to call it quits and get the hell out of dodge. I think that a bloody levitating corpse with a bag on its head would be enough for me chuck in my badge and call it a night.

Jessica, however, is made of sterner stuff and sticks it out to the end, which doesn't work out that well for her. Sometimes, it's better to be a coward and live to see another day.

"And the commotion the next morning... I got a glimpse into their cell. And the bodies were gone. But...pure evil covered those walls."

My first thought after watching "Last Shift" was : "Damn, Jessica Loren surely deserves a medal for her perseverance". If I was in her shoes I would have abandoned that police station the first second while putting up my middle finger to Sergeant Cohen. I wouldn't stay there a minute longer. But despite all suspicious noises, apparitions and supernatural events, she remains loyal to her post. Is she afraid to fail in her task so she won't be allowed to join the force ? Or doesn't she want to be inferior to what her father meant as a police officer in the past?

I must admit however that it's been a long time since I've seen such an extremely creepy film, although everything is soberly portrayed and there's minimal use of special effects. A rookie is trapped in an office all alone without a living soul to keep her company. All she has to do is get through the night until a cleaning crew arrives in the morning to clean up abandoned evidence. The end result is a series of terrifying scenes, terrifying noises and disturbing images. The film even managed to scare the crap out of me sometimes. Something I'm normally totally immune for.

Despite it being a low-budget film and it all takes place in one place only, they still made very good use of (although well known) horror techniques to make a lengthy horror-trip out of it. Maybe that's already a minor flaw. It all took too long. But eventually it was scary and creepy with a threatening atmosphere and constantly ominous. Especially the gradual tension buildup was successful. The full story is patiently clarified. Although I'm sick and tired of paranormal movies, I was pleasantly surprised.

Juliana Harkavy carries the whole movie in a convincing way. The movie focuses practically entirely on her. Even the group of crazy devil worshipers who start to haunt Jessica can only be admired briefly. There was even a sort of "Sixth Sense" moment with the assistance of police officer Ryan Price (Matt Doman). I just wondered what the tramp actually had to do with it all. Did he just pass by in search of his shoes? A rather bizarre person who served as filling. And despite their brief appearance the three Paymon family members were convincing enough to conclude that this family was extremely insane. Bloodcurdling testimonies which leave nothing to the imagination.

Unfortunately, the end ruined it all again. Uninspired and in terms of originality certainly not of the same level as the rest of the movie. The rest was certainly of a high level. Both the structure of the story, the sound effects and the editing were excellent in this psychological terror film

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It's a rarity for movies to use lone character in extreme predicament. This rings especially true for horror movies, since most of them focus on diverse victims to build up tension. Surprisingly, Last Shift creates a very menacing night with great pace, eerie sound effect, visceral practical effect and highly intense atmosphere.

The first night at the job for Jessica (Juliana Harkavy) is also the last night her old precinct is in effect. This old police station is scheduled for closure and it's been in tattered condition for what seems to be a long time. It's the kind of building one would find in Silent Hill, with the rust and all. Being alone in the cryptic place, Jessica soon finds herself in bizarre unworldly situation.

As the exclusive lead Jessica Harkavy performs admirably. While the movie has several supporting characters, many scenes revolve around her. She brings a good young personality as a police rookie, she also displays adequate composure which slowly fades as her mind is exhausted. There's plenty of good convincing reactions from her as well as slightly more desperate ones when the paranormal occurrences escalate.

The movie also employs many fresh scare tactics, these are not limited to jump scares alone. Without spoiling much, the horror comes from creepy attrition on the lone cop, sudden swings of tones or simply precise timing for haunting. This frankly took me by surprise, they are effective either by playing with audience's expectation so well or just creating frightening bursts of ominous apparition.

Visually, it's dark but doesn't venture too much into vagueness. The occasional glimpse is deliberate, making good use of shadow and light. Sound effects play important role too, there are multiple scenes where the trickling and humming pique enough curiosity to excellently create the atmosphere.

It's not without flaws though. Not every scare is spot-on, a couple of them are less effective, and the movie still uses some fast editing. However, they are just minor hindrance as the movie keeps a solid consistent pace and its finer moments easily overshadow these hiccups.

Last Shift is a pleasant surprise. Delightfully intense and utterly creepy, it's one of the sleeper horrors in recent years.

For a seemingly very indi movie on a low budget made almost ten years ago, the creepiness in this really held up. I think this was quite successful in its own right, but more so than anything I seem to be focused on is the potential this has.

The story was not wildly original, but still interesting a pretty captivating. It was chock full of scares and creepiness. Sure, some of it was cheap/cliche and definitely had too many jump scares, but a lot of it was pretty darn dope.

Again, I don't want to seem like I am hating on this, because I'm not, but if this was redone with some tweaks I think it could be a real banger. A little more elaboration on the backstory would really set up the scene and felt a little lacking in the beginning. Also just really fleshing out the storyline because there were definitely some parts that felt silly or like potential plot holes. Also with a higher budget is going to come a better quality picture and better effects which on both fronts I think it would really benefit from. Also the acting was... not amazing. Main girl did not do a BAD job, she just didn't fully sell me on the terror. Also I wasn't wild about the ending but it wasn't offensive.

Regardless of its potential, this movie as is was entertaining and definitely creepy. Would recommend.