Although a comforting reinstallment of the motel horror sub-genre at first glance, Night Shift loses its charm in a series of various tropes that are strewn together with enough quick scares to deliver some momentary thrills, but just not enough to leave us feeling satiated upon its resolution. Benjamin and Paul China’s directorial feature debut has a lot going for it, but more that doesn’t stick quite as well despite its eerily welcoming atmosphere.
Night Shift operates more like a prequel if anything, as it leads the viewer slowly to its final course of events wherein aspects of the paranormal, or psychological thriller are arbitrarily discarded to reveal the slasher-heavy twist that renders each of these without true purpose. We check in at the All Tucked-Inn, where Gwen (Phoebe Tonkin) is starting as the new night manager. The owner, Teddy (Lamorne Morris) makes light of the motel’s creepiness and then disappears for a majority of the film which feels as if Morris’ comedic assets here are underused. Gwen is quickly left to manage the inn on her own, in which nothing more than a few rats are the main source of horror. She meets one of the guests, Alice (Madison Hu) and later checks in a snobbish couple (Patrick Fischler and Lauren Bowles) looking to room for the night. Gwen is visited by the ghosts of three young women who reappear to give the film a sporadic taste of the paranormal, but this is eventually disregarded as mere fluff in service of the film’s final reveal. There is another trope at play here in which a mysterious car patrols the motel throughout the night which becomes a subtle hint to Gwen’s past. Both these aspects of haunted horror and trauma are presented without any gratification, leaving the viewer waiting for closure that never fully comes to fruition.
Gwen and Alice bond as the night unfolds with more predictable ghostly jumpscares and cues from the score that scary things are indeed happening. They connect over a similar experience with maternal trauma that finally gives us an idea who these characters might be and how this might fit into the greater plot. Their relationship also provides a source of comfort and solidarity that teases at a final girls situation, however is also one of the many sources of misdirection used to prioritize the film’s main plot twist. Both Hu and Morris give Night Shift a touch of playful and intimate character moments, and introduce a genuine connection to the protagonist that is ultimately abandoned as they each come to their gory demise at the end of the film. Patrick Fischler and Lauren Bowels even appear to be perfect candidates to enhance the film’s slasher instincts, but they leave the motel unscathed and without any contribution to what might have been a fun addition to the gore that is overlooked until the sudden ending.
So much is introduced in Night Shift that makes for a confused plot that lacks the confidence to commit to a genre and the character lore for it to succeed in shocking its audience. When it is finally revealed that the All Tucked-Inn is not haunted, nor is Gwen’s traumatic past real, that this is another case of psychotic break and these have all been figments of her imagination, it rouses the viewer, but not for its intended purpose. It’s disruption of Gwen’s character might have worked had the film been more heavily committed to its black comedy aspects instead of making the big reveal essentially read as a weak sentiment that women can go a little mad sometimes too. A kitschy sequel focusing on the aftermath of her first night might prove to deliver what Night Shift attempted but is far too misguided to reach.
Photo courtesy of Quiver Distribution
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