The Last Showing (2014)

Robert Englund is a horror legend, every horror fan knows that. However in addition to the likes of Freddy & The Phantom he's also been in a number of bad films, e.g Fear Clinic. Now I wouldn't call this a really bad movie but I just got bored with it & found myself rewinding several times because my mind had gone elsewhere. It can't make up it's mind whether it's a horror movie or a thriller & I found that frustrating. Englund himself gives a decent, creepy performance on the plus side.

At the start of the movie it's not clear what is going on, but everything seems creepy because of the editing, the camera work, and the music. There is little or no sound telling us what is happening, but there seems to be a party with young people, and we also see a movie theater.In England, Martin and Allie are a young couple out on a date. He gives her jewelry and then takes her to a multiplex with 12 theaters. Their plan is to watch a horror movie. What they don't know is they are about to be in one.Stuart is not at the concession stand like he is supposed to be. He is actually in a room where he can watch footage on security cameras. His boss Clive is not happy. He tells Stuart to run the concession stand, and Stuart says there is something wrong with one of the movies. Clive said Stuart is not qualified to fix it because he hasn't had the training in digital movie technology, and that is why after more than 20 years, he is also no longer the projectionist. Stuart protests that he is smart enough to continue as the projectionist, and to fix whatever needs fixing. Still, Clive is the boss. But as we see throughout the movie, Stuart is brilliant at dealing with new technology.The couple buys their popcorn. There is something wrong with the lemonade, as Allie discovers when she tries some. Stuart has actually tampered with it. And the adventure begins ...I have seen Robert Englund, but I don't recall whether I've seen him as a horror movie villain, and I certainly haven't seen his trademark role. He is outstanding here as a villain, and now I want to see him in the other role. Here, he is creepy but calm and intelligent, sometimes friendly, occasionally funny, rarely angry. I'm not saying I was rooting for him, but Stuart is the type of villain one is tempted to see succeed.Emily Berrington does a good job as well. She's pretty and adorable but slightly edgy and quite tough. We don't actually see that much of her, and much of the movie is a cat and mouse game involving Martin and Stuart. Finn Jones is capable of handling himself, but it is a challenge.Malachi Kirby is tough as a boss when he has the authority, but in a crisis he's more of a coward. That still could mean a good performance.I don't know the name of the police officer in charge, but he's really good.There is some violence, but mostly the movie is very tense. It's effective as a thriller. There are so many challenges to be met.I'm not a fan of horror, but this was really good, mainly due to Englund.

Allie, and her boyfriend Martin, go to see a midnight showing of The Hills Have Eyes 2 and find they're the only ones in the cinema screen. Stuart, is an old school projectionist, who has since been relegated to concessions, following the advent of digital projection. He slips drugs into Allie's lemonade, before her and Martin go into the movie. From there, Stuart proceeds to make his own movie, even though Allie and Martin, are less than willing to star.....For a low budget horror movie, it's surprisingly well made, and for once Englund isn't really hamming it up like he does in non Freddy horror movies. His Stuart is very mild mannered, almost Ned Flanders mild mannered, but you can understand why he is disgruntled in this digital world, his fellow colleagues and employer offer no respect, so why not take revenge by making your own movie.By the time the second act begins, you can understand why the budget was so low, it's filmed in a Vue Cinema somewhere in Chester I believe, and I think the staff just locked the doors and let them get on with it.It can get pretty tense in places, the stand off between Martin and the cinema manager is a highlight, but then it turns from a light horror film to 'Die Hard in a cinema', something that I thought would never be made.And the ending is something that I wouldn't have expected the makers or the writers to, so kudos to them for coming up with something original, rather than going down the safe path, even though you subliminally promise a sequel.But sadly, Berrington spends the majority of the film unconscious, Martin looks too much like Harry Styles from One Direction to convince as the hero, and Keith Allen pops up at the end looking for his career.It references old school horror, and there is a slight message of Old School cinema is the best, but its worth watching, even though it can get a little formulaic.

This movie sort of pokes fun at stereotypical behavior in horror movies...but not in a clever way. It puts forth a premise of what would an unsuspecting victim would do if they were placed within a horror movie scenario...with the antagonist planning their every reaction via horror movie stereotypes. But even built on that premise...the behavior and acting is just SO TERRIBLE and not in a fun way. There are very few characters involved but not once did a single one take a second to try and assess what was happening to them instead jumping immediately to hackneyed and lame conclusions. I'm sure people react without reason when something jarring occurs but when you're given ample time to think about your situation in reality many people do figure out a path to safety eventually. They'll question their situation, they'll try to process it, they'll try and survive. Well people don't do that in this movie, they panic, then panic some more, and when given a break with plenty of time to explain their situation...they break down crying and blurt out nonsense. It's just not good. There's no action in it to speak of, no gore, no clever plot twists. It's cliché packaged as intelligent...with no delivery in the intellect department. It's a completely juvenile script with no thought or depth to it and ultimately a pathetically simple film where no single person is able to rub two brain cells together to come up with a coherent thought. Basically...it was just plain lame. I wouldn't recommend it, it's just not good entertainment.