Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘Last Shift’

Written by Scott Edwards

​Starting a new job can be difficult in so many ways. Getting to know your new coworkers might be the hardest thing to do, however. Not knowing what makes them tick and what you can say around them that will not offend them is always the hardest thing for me, since I like to remain open and add a little bit of off-color humor to most situations. Watching how your new work family interacts with each other can be one of the best ways to get a feel for them, but when they remain distant from you, well, you will have to jump in and make your presence known, if for no other reason, just so they know that you are there.

Jessica Loren is preparing for her first night on duty and after talking to her mother on the phone, she has been guilt tripped into feeling bad. Entering the old station, Officer Loren sees her new Sergeant fighting with something, but has no idea of what. Getting walked through the station, Loren is told that her main assignment for the night is to wait for the Hazmat team to show up and collect all of the old biomedical evidence and not to leave the station. Loren thinks this is beneath her but takes her first assignment with ease and finds ways to pass the time.

All is fine until a mysterious phone call comes in from a girl that seems to be in trouble. Not getting any information from the girl, Loren calls the new station to inform them that not all 911 calls are currently being rerouted to them. After hanging up, Loren hears strange things happening in the back of the station and goes to investigate, but with nobody else there, she thinks that she is hearing things. When she gets a knock on the front door, Loren is surprised to see a homeless man in the main entryway, relieving himself on the floor. Kicking the man out, Loren heads off to clean the mess, but the phone starts to ring again. The girl’s name is Monica, but she does not know where she is and thinks that she hears pigs outside and is fearful for her life. Passing the information on to the new station, Loren knowns that she has done the right thing and goes back to passing the time, but there is something strange happening in the station.

Talking to a young woman behind the station, Loren finds out that everything she had heard about the case that her father was killed on, was a lie. A group following John Michael Paymon who killed several young girls was not killed at their ranch but were all brought into custody and wound up hanging themselves in their cell before morning. Loren is beside herself when she hears this and although the woman was a stranger, her story made sense. Continuing her night in the station, strange events start happening more frequently and the phone continues to ring off the hook as Monica is trying to get help before her time runs out. Speaking to the dispatch officer at the new station, Loren hears the story about what happened on Paymon’s ranch and now things are starting to come together as Monica was one of the many victims. Needing to find a way to keep her sanity until the Hazmat crew shows up, Loren is forced to see faces from the past and with the only person around to help her being deceased, her sanity is running on fumes.

This movie shocked me on so many levels and it is another one that is making up my favorite’s movie list. Only following Officer Loren for a majority of the movie, you get to witness several things happening around the station and wonder if she is right thinking that her new coworkers are playing a prank on her. But the sounds, the voices and the images she witnesses are all relevant to what happened a year ago when the Paymons were brought into the station and they seem to have picked their next victim… or did they. With her father being on the force and killed when the Paymons were arrested, the story is more personal, and Officer Loren wants to do the right thing by following in her father’s footsteps. She is very strong and will not let anyone hold her back, but when it comes to the evil that is hidden inside the walls, she will be tested to the brink of insanity to follow through. I really dig this movie since it does not let up when it comes to the Paymons, much less with something as simple as a phone call from a young woman who is in trouble. Stay Scared!

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