WFG RATING: B+

Shout! Studios presents a Bad Grey Productions film in association with AC3 Media and Burn Laster Productions. Directed by Alan Scott Neal. Produced by Daniel Brandt, Cole Eckerlie, Dane Eckerlie, Michael Giannone, Phil Keefe, Levon Panek, Taylor Sardoni, and Sam Slater. Written by Taylor Sardoni. Cinematography by Andrey Nikolaev. Edited by Nathan Whiteside.

Stars Jessica Belkin, Taylor Kowalski, Joji Otani-Hansen, Christopher M. Lopes, Jeremy Sisto, Glen Gould, and Michael Giannone. 

A waitress’s late night shift becomes a harrowing fight for survival in this horror thriller from director Alan Scott Neal.

Nancy is already having a very bad day. She has learned she is pregnant. Her attempt to fix her mom’s car has failed and to make things worse, she has to go back to work at her father’s diner. When she is second-in-command, her day begins to get worse when she deals with a group of masked customers who are offending her. Forced to call the police, she blames the staff, including Jake, Bobby, and Petey. She fires Jake, who was supposed to cover the night shift but now, she will have to do it.

As Nancy begins her late night shift, she hears strange noises outside and is convinced that the masked customers she kicked out prior are back. However, when it turns out to be a local cop, she describes the masked people. To her shock, the cop reveals that a gruesome murder was just discovered a little while ago and the suspects match her description. The masked goons return and surround Nancy in the diner. Already having the worst day of her life, she decides enough is enough and will fight for her survival. 

This entry from Alan Scott Neal is quite intriguing as it can be described as “The Strangers” set in a diner. Having a bad day can make your life miserable and what better way to snap than going against the masked invaders trying to bust inside your place of business? The film takes quite a different approach as we sometimes see events occur from different points of view. 

Jessica Belkin gives off a highly emotional performance in the lead role of Nancy. From the moment you see her, you know this is one woman who is having a bad day from the very beginning. She finds herself miserable upon learning she is pregnant and the baby daddy wants nothing to do with her. She is trying to keep her mom’s memory alive through her car, which has broken down and finally, we see her dealing with her diner owner dad, played by Jeremy Sisto, not seeming to care about her on the personal side of things but more about business as she is set to take over the diner while he goes does his own thing. 

The film takes the “manager vs. disgruntled employee and entitled customers” riff and amps it to one hundred as it becomes a fight for survival. The film can be said to be The Purge or The Strangers set in a diner. From the moment you meet the “customers”, you know they are going to be bad news and that’s exactly what happens later as they terrorize Nancy from both outside and within the confines of the diner. What Neal and screenwriter Taylor Sardoni do is quite interesting because they take specific events of the film and see it from the points of view of both Nancy and other characters who find themselves involved.

The finale takes quite a twist and in some ways unexpected but also a bit of the predictable. Nevertheless, the overall film gives Jessica Belkin a tour de force performance and will make you want to see more of her in the genre.

Last Straw is a very good “invasion” thriller with Jessica Belkin at her A-game and could just solidify her as a future horror scream queen if she continues in the genre. Definitely recommended.