After a year of waiting, Stephen Hall’s Night Shift is seeing release via Sony Home Pictures Entertainment on December 4, 2018. After tackling thirteen successful short films, Hall wrote, directed, and produced Night Shift. A combination of Groundhog Day and The Shining, the film follows Amy, a receptionist on her first shift in a hotel with a sinister past. She witnesses terrifying events, often resulting in macabre murders, only to experience the same event over and over again – trapped in a mysterious loop. Amy must find a way to escape the loop, and the the obsessed killer stalking the hotel, if she hopes to save her soul and the lives of everyone in the building. Ashleigh Dorrell, Matthew O’Brien, Angel Hannigan, Nigel Mercier, David Collins and Martin MacGuire star in a film also produced by Paul Thompstone.
A collaboration between Greenflash Pictures, Grump Films and Blue Shadow Films, Night Shift has so much more to offer than a young woman stuck in a never-ending time loop of death. It starts with an insanely effective opening sequence, and it’s going to keep the audience on their toes by throwing in equally as insane plot devices to spruce things up. There isn’t a single dull moment in this movie. It’s a Hitchcockian thriller and an onslaught of terror thanks to the creepy killer, ghosts, and inherent psychological torture intricately woven into the story. Night Shift is one of those movies that truly has something for every kind of horror fan, and it’s a movie you need you see for yourself on December 4, 2018. Obviously, I watch a lot of scary movies, and there was a scene in Night Shift that even made me say, “nope.”
Mood is an essential aspect of crafting an effective scary movie. That’s something that writer/director Stephen Hall truly understands because Night Shift is an unwaveringly daunting and an absolutely brutal. It’s perfectly scored and paced, contains very little camera error, and realistic special effects. When you add in star quality performances, Night Shift is easily a film that could have been sent to theaters. It’s more than just a horror film. It’s a true piece of cinema and a clever, fast-paced gorefest that you’re going to love. Props to cinematographer Niall Coley, editor Stephen Hall, and production designers Frank Boland and Kieran Boland for their parts in making this movie such a sleeper hit. Palpable mystery and suspense, Hollywood quality production, emotive actors and a script that tapped into every aspect of horror, Night Shift is nothing short of amazing. Don’t let this one go by unnoticed! Highly recommended! Final Score: 9 out of 10.
