Last the Night (2022)

Directed by Nick Leisure [Other horror films: N/A]

From the lukewarm reaction I’ve seen in regards to Last the Night, I was sort of surprised by the fact it came out alright. No, I don’t think Last the Night’s a good movie, but I don’t think it’s that bad, either. Middling, with a few interesting ideas within, Last the Night might be a good time to some.

My prime interest with this movie came from the plot – during the COVID lockdowns, a teacher struggling with his mental health breaks down and plans to kill a group of his students. Naturally, this is a movie that benefits greatly from the COVID-19 backdrop, and I think it does give the film extra flavor.

Before I hit more on this, though, let’s talk about my COVID experiences. In Indiana, we never took COVID that seriously – it’s true that we were on lockdown for a bit (which is one of the reasons, on a side-note, that Libertarian Donald Rainwater got 11.4% in the 2020 Indiana gubernatorial election), but Indiana’s a conservative state, and as we know, COVID-19 doesn’t impact conservatives because Jesus.

Okay, admittedly I’m getting side-tracked. My point is, I was never on lockdown. At the time, I worked at a supermarket, which made me an “essential worker.” While others were encouraged to stay inside their homes, I went to work and made an extra dollar an hour – not nearly as impressive as it sounds when you figure in the taxes.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that while I heard so many stories of extreme isolation during COVID due to the lockdowns, I never experienced that. Watching Bo Burnham’s Inside was eye-opening to what that type of situation would be like to one’s mental health. I never had to deal with lockdown, and I can imagine that plenty of people, especially students who had to try to get used to E-learning and teachers who had to try and teach on Zoom, had a really hard time.

Brian Austin Green’s character is an interesting one. He’s been a history teacher for a long time, and is just tired. His personal life is in shambles (his wife left him), and being forced to stay indoors all day just isn’t working for him. He’s also somewhat conservative – seems a supporter of the Second Amendment, not interested in mask mandates, and professed his favorite president as Theodore Roosevelt (which is at least a better option than Ronald Reagan). And when he hears some students making fun of him on a zoom call, he just snaps.

There’s not too many horror films that focus on teachers going after students, but I did once see a 2015 movie called The Lesson, which has a similar idea. That movie had more going for – while both The Lesson and Last the Night have quite a bit of set-up before we get to the action, I think it worked far better in the former. Even so, I appreciated that this movie went with a plot that was timely to the situation we found ourselves in, even if it didn’t turn out an amazing movie.

A lot of credit should go to Brian Austin Green (Chromeskull: Laid to Rest 2, Don’t Blink), as he really gives his character his all. Toward the end, he was a bit much at times, but overall, his performance was solid. As far as the four teens go – Acoryé White, Makena Taylor, Julia Quang, and David Valdes – I’d say that Taylor did the best, though all four do decent. It did seem that Quang’s character felt like she needed to be fleshed out more – at one point in the film, she’s adamant about not leaving without her phone, and I was hoping there was a reason for that, which we never got – but overall, the performances were good.

Like I said earlier, there’s about 45 minutes or so of build-up before we get to the action, and when we do get to the action, it’s pretty much four teens being chased down by a guy with a gun. Certainly still horror, but there’s a strong thriller/suspense feel to this movie as well, and that might also play a part in some of the lukewarm reaction I’ve seen from this. It doesn’t feel like a typical horror film a lot of the time, and while I don’t think that’s a bad thing, it is noticeable.

There are some good scenes, though, of shotgun carnage. We don’t see much in the way of blood, but there’s a quick scene in which someone gets shot in the back, leading to blood splatter on a window. A couple of more emotional scenes are here too, along with a couple of awkward ones, which allows the tension to ratchet up.

Honestly, I didn’t have a problem with most of Last the Night. I didn’t think it was good, but I was engaged throughout, and like I said, I found the plot somewhat interesting. The execution could have been improved a bit, and I do think the movie’s a little below average, but I definitely think that, if the movie sounds like your type of thing, you shouldn’t be dissuaded by the more negative comments.

6/10