Last Shift. It’s Jessica Loren’s first shift as a police officer. She must spend the graveyard shift alone, babysitting the last night of a closing police station. The question becomes, is she really alone?

Director: Anthony DiBlasi
Writers: Anthony DiBlasi, Scott Poiley
Stars: Juliana Harkavy, Joshua Mikel, Hank Stone, J. LaRose, Sarah Sculco

Last Shift is scary, creepy and interesting. It’s also frustrating and filled with so many, “Don’t fucking do that!” moments that keep it from being a great film. The acting is fine. Juliana Harkavy is totally believable in the role of Jessica Loren, the rookie cop. She’s in every scene and her performance never grows old or stale. The story is also good. It’s just a few of the little things that ruin the overall experience. Just too many times when I grew frustrated at the decisions our young rookie cop made.

The special effect are well done. There are some very nice closeups of the various makeups and they’re all wonderfully gruesome. You don’t see a lot of closeups of the makeup in a lot of lower budget movies because the quality just isn’t there. It’s a lot of quick cuts and the camera keeps its distance from the effect. That’s not the case in Last Shift. Really strong effects done by Lee Grimes.

There’s just so much to like about Last Shift. Last Shift also contains some homages to other great films, A Nightmare on Elm Street and The Sixth Sense to name a few. It’s obvious the filmmakers are fans of the genre.

I’m on the bubble here. I think what bothered me were all the slamming doors or the expectation of them. At one point Jessica, the rookie cop gets herself locked in a room. Sort of predictable. Then it’s scene after scene of her walking into other rooms and she seems to have no memory of getting locked in the last room. One would think after that mistake she’d be a little more wary of walking into rooms without making sure the door isn’t going to swing shut again.

Then, there was the ending. I don’t want to give it away but I wasn’t thrilled with it. I liked parts of it. I can’t go into detail without ruining it so I will say, I liked all of it but the finality of it. After you see it, you’ll understand what I am saying.

A good ending can make or break a film. The only exception to that is Titanic. Serious, they kill off the main character for no reason. Then, to top it all off, old Rose throwing that priceless diamond into the ocean and people loved the fucking movie! Brilliant film otherwise. Anyways, Last Shift’s ending just didn’t work for me. I got where the film was going. It just wasn’t the outcome I was looking for. The ending basically said, “You just watched and cared for no reason.” But, I honestly don’t know how the film could have ended any differently.

So I say watch it. Let me know what you thought of the ending. As I write this sentence I’m also at the end of the Last Shift. I always have the movie on as I write these reviews. Maybe it’s me and not the ending. Maybe all that needs to be said about this movie is how I started this review? “Last Shift is scary, creepy and interesting.” When it comes down to it, that’s kinda the point of a horror movie.

To all two and a half fans of this site, it’s on you now. Watch it and tell me what you think.