Director: Samuel Gonzalez Jr.
Year: 2023
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Anthology
Plot:
After arriving at a deserted police station, a distraught woman catches the eye of a small-town sheriff with her tales of the subjects behind the wall of missing person posters.
Review:
Generally, this is a pretty serviceable and enjoyable short-burst anthology effort although its format does present it with some issues. The general quality of the setup and the way the shors play out isn’t bad, with the rushed introduction to the strange woman wandering into the station and the condition she’s in sets this up quite nicely for that kind of burgeoning mystery to get unraveled by the time the main stories proper start. This sets up the rather likable and somewhat chilling, with the first two especially being quite worthwhile as the young kid who disappears stopping at a questionable ice cream truck, and the second featuring a young girl who answers a phone-sex call from a serial killer. These both offer a lot of shocks, practical effects, and a generally fun time packed into a short running time.
While there’s nothing overtly wrong with the other two segments, one about the residents of a seemingly-perfect town with a dark secret for how that came to be and a man determined to be with his true love regardless of the circumstances, don’t have much physically wrong with them but it’s more the fact that they’re so short they leave a ton of questions at the end of them. The third segment doesn’t have any time to answer practically any of the endless questions that arise at the end of it, from how the town works to what the purpose really is beyond numerous others, while the last one is tantalizingly obscure about its target given the framework for the anthology clashing with the resolution offered. This here really could’ve used more time to make its setup work or just let the world in play breathe since the segments are so short, but it’s not that big of an issue here.
Overview: ***/5
A solid enough and generally likable anthology effort, a few missteps and some issues with its running time aren’t enough to hold this one back from the remaining positives on display that make for a fun time here. Those who enjoy this kind of indie anthology effort or are curious about this one will have the most to like here while most others out there should heed caution with this one.
Night of the Missing is now streaming on Screambox!
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