LAST STRAW (2023)

New streaming on Shudder!
Directed by Alan Scott Neal.
Written by Taylor Sardoni.
Check out the trailer here!!

New appointed manager Nancy (Jessica Belkin) is having a day. She just found out she’s pregnant, her car died on her, and now she has to work the night shift at the diner with the creepy chef Jake (Taylor Kowalski). After throwing a group of motorbiking kids out of the store, Nancy goes off on her staff for not helping her with the situation and ends up firing Jake for not treating her with respect. Now Nancy is alone in the diner for the night, and it looks like the creepy masked kids are back to torment her.

LAST STRAW is a decent little thriller that tries to make things interesting with a little ROSHOMON action—meaning it tells the same story from a number of different perspectives. I give this film credit for taking such a tried-and-true concept of a waitress on the night shift alone at night and trying to spice things up with the shifting POV. While some of the twists along the way are quite predictable, I do think the attempt is worth pointing out as an attempt to do something a little different.

I also think lead actress Jessica Belkin is very strong in the lead role of Nancy. She shows some very unappealing qualities in the opening moments that could have soured my attitude towards her, but the fact that she is a new manager trying to earn the respect of her co-workers was a unique problem that immediately made her sympathetic. Because she is a woman working with a bunch of guys, things are tough on Nancy. It doesn’t help that she’s the owner’s daughter, so there’s a lot of resentment towards her as she adjusts to this new position of power. While some might think it contrived for her to fire the only guy she is supposed to work with that night, it makes sense that she is quick and nervous in this new role and wasn’t thinking when she fires Jake. The best way to let your employees know you mean business is to flex a little and that’s what she does. Her refusal of help by others shows how obstinate she is and while this isn’t smart, Belkin plays these complex feelings realistically and it helps ground this story with emotional depth.

And that’s needed because there are a few gaping plot holes and just weird decisions made as LAST STRAW approaches its ending. The use of a meat vest. The fact that Nancy’s friend sees she’s in danger and just nopes out of the situation and is never seen again in the story. The way some are easily influenced to terrorize and commit crimes. All of this doesn’t really make a lot of sense. Now, I do like it that most of the decisions are being made by someone high on crack, so the randomness of the crimes makes some kind of sense, but still, there’s a lot of stuff here that happen for no reason and with no follow-up.

That said, because Belkin is so good in the lead role, I was along for the ride with LAST STRAW. The action and kills, though kind of all over the place, is quite brutal. The masks the assailants wear are quite creepy. The performances are decent, and the film looks really good, playing like THE STRANGERS in a diner. While it is a common scenario, the way the story was told and its lead save this film from its plot holes and head-slapping leaps in logic.