Director: Jem Garrard
Year: 2025
Country: South Africa
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Slasher
Plot:
Working the night shift together, employees at a fast-food restaurant come to believe that a creepy customer might be a serial killer being sought by the police, and decide to confirm the possibility to acquire the reward money, putting themselves in danger the longer they keep him there.
Review:
Overall, this was a solid enough if somewhat flawed genre effort. Among the better features of this one is the immensely likable and thrilling setup that brings about some more intriguing elements than expected. The main idea of the group arriving at the diner to begin their shift, go about their normal duties, and try to placate the different parts of their lives that are in full force the more time goes on including different backstories on why they’re working there that helps to paint their lives at the time as anything other than ideal so that the escalating situation has some tension. By the time the customer arrives, and the belief spreads that this is the serial killer that has been terrorizing the community, and that letting him leave would be a mistake, the race to confirm the killer’s identity while not alerting themselves or the customers to what’s going on.
By the time it comes for the confrontation, this springs into action with the group trying to keep him contained and restrained to the point they’re able to inform the police of what’s going on and keep everything from getting out of control, meaning that the different attempts at keeping him under restraint are handled rather nicely. The fact that everything is kept in a loose round-up offering a series of different ideas and concepts into play with the way it switches around what’s going on by bringing about more twists and turns involving the actual killer, what’s going on with the actual killer who’s far more unexpected that is brought up in a rather great manner so that the final half is a series of intriguing stalking scenes. Confining everything to the restaurant is a lot of fun, so there’s a nice bit of claustrophobia involved alongside the great skills and tension-building that’s featured due to the kind of presentation going on here, all of which are what make for a lot to like.
There are a few minor drawbacks to be had here, which bring it down. The main issue with the film is the overlong finale, where it has a lot of great action, most of which is due to stupidity keeping them in danger or clumsily introducing characters simply to be slaughtered shortly afterward. There are far too many times where the killer has the upperhand but gets distracted in the most nonsensical manner or gets the drop by the staff who fail to press the advantage simply to get more time stalking everyone, so it gets slightly repetitive. Likewise, with some of the bizarre characters brought into the situation in some of the most inopportune means, so that there are more bodies here, and it never comes close to bringing it all together all that conveniently, and alongside the films’ obvious low-budget at times being quite obvious, these are what bring it down the most.
Overview: ***.5/5
An incredibly fun and effective slasher effort, this one comes off far better than expected, with so much to like that the few issues on display aren’t too damaging or crippling for it. Those with an interest in this kind of style or approach, or who are fans of the creative crew, will have a lot to like here, while those turned off by those factors should heed caution.
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