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Title: Last Shift (2014)
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| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Juliana Harkavy | ... | Jessica Loren | |
| Joshua Mikel | ... | John Michael Paymon | |
| Hank Stone | ... | Grip Cohen | |
| J. LaRose | ... | Patrick Black | |
| Sarah Sculco | ... | Kitty Paymon | |
| Kathryn Kilger | ... | Dorthea Paymon | |
| Natalie Victoria | ... | Marigold | |
 |
Mary Lankford Poiley | ... | Birdie (as Mary Lankford) |
| Matt Doman | ... | Officer Ryan Price | |
|
|
Lindsi Jeter | ... | Bashed Face Betty / Ghost Girl |
| Randy Molnar | ... | Steve Loren | |
|
|
Jason Fusco | ... | Bio Joe / Paymon Follower #1 |
| Scott Poiley | ... | Bio Clean #3 | |
|
|
Jeremy S. Brock | ... | Detective |
|
|
Skyler Poiley | ... | Ghost Girl |
From director Anthony DiBlasi comes a Manson inspired horror film centering around a transitioning police station. Officer Jessica Loren has been assigned to wait for a Hazmat team to pick up bio-hazardous waste from the station's armory. But unbeknownst to Jessica, cult Leader John Michael Paymon has haunted the department ever since he and two of this followers committed suicide a year ago to date. And now, Jessica is about to find out how dangerous they can be when she's left alone on this Last Shift.
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I have to give credit to Juliana Harkavy because if not for her convincing performance, I would not have been able to finish this heap of garbage. Last Shift follows an officer covering the final overnight shift of a police station that's closing down. It's one of those isolated, creepy slow burn movies that can get under your skin. At least, that's what it could have been. What Last Shift lacks most is subtlety. There are jump scares *everywhere*. There's one sequence where it's just "boo!" after "jump!" after "ahh!" and it's just f*cking annoying after a while because none of it works. This wouldn't be such an issue if the story was relatable but it's not. The creepy cult angle has been done a million times before. Last Shift also features every haunting trope in existence - doors slamming, dead people hallucinations, whispering, singing - it's freaking exhausting.
The way the story is told is even worse. They introduce characters solely for the purpose of exposition. Instead of trying to push the narrative forward with some character development or any semblance of humanity, these characters just say exactly what's going on and then leave. Nothing is left to the imagination. The movie plays its hand right off the top and forces us down this rabbit hole of insanity and stupidity for an hour and a half. Another thing is the protagonist isn't relatable. Harkavy gave a fine performance given the material but her character is a dumbass. She should've hauled ass out of there twenty minutes into the movie but no, staying and protecting this abandoned sh*thole of a police station is more important than keeping her sanity. Yeah, no.
There's nothing salvageable here. The subject matter is inherently disturbing but it's exploitation in its purist form. It doesn't go into the psychology of cults or having a family member tied to a heinous crime. It's just like, hey, sh*t happens. Surface level scares that don't even scratch the surface. After a while of bashing you over the head with jump scares you're so desensitized to everything it becomes a waiting game for the movie to end. I guess Last Shift succeeds as an exercise in patience - how long can you sit through every poorly constructed horror cliché known to man? I recommend skipping this shift, even if it means losing the job. Whatever they're paying, it's not worth this.