Zero Hour (2023) by Justin Groetsch

Director: Justin Groetsch

Year: 2023

Country: USA

Alternate Titles: N/A

Genre: Suspense/Thriller

Plot:

Trying to get through her job, a woman grieving the recent loss of her husband is shocked to learn that she can communicate with him over her phone although it turns to terror when the texts are there to warn her about a group of intruders arriving at her work that had killed him and must guide her to safety.

Review:

Overall, this was a decent enough genre thriller. The solid setup at play here, featuring the idea of the backstory involving her grieving over his loss and seeing a potential sign in the phone that can put her in contact with him only to realize that it’s all about warning her of the danger of the men who killed him coming for her, offers a strong enough starting point that the stalking scenes where she works come off incredibly well. With the scenario turning into a fun series of cat-and-mouse stalking inside the complex where she’s staying late alone, there are some genuine thrills to be had here with the masked invaders coming to pass on several impressive sequences.

The main issue here, beyond the fact that this favoring of thrills over genuine slashing means it falls just short of a solid slasher, is that it tends to pile on too much during this part of the film. The series of reveals about what they’re supposedly carrying out and why they’re targeting her is way too convoluted to make sense in the time given here with the brief running time preventing this one from really delving into how it all makes sense with it feeling quite rushed throwing all these different revelations at us in such a short period. It’s not enough to really hold it back, but combined with the low-budget look on display does bring it down somewhat.

Overview: ***/5

Likable enough for what it is, this solid but somewhat flawed thriller has enough to be watchable at best without doing much else beyond that with its flaws keeping it down enough in the end. Those with an affinity for this kind of indie genre effort or are fans of the style of suspense/thriller fare featured here will have the most to like while most others should heed caution.