Review by
Sue Finn
Directed by: J. Horton
Starring: Felissa Rose, Kevin Caliber, Ashley Undercuffler, Holly Rockwell, Al
Gomez
In 1998, two detectives are investigating a disturbance at a truck stop
bar in the middle of nowhere. The walls are decorated with blood splatter
and a survivor of whatever happened cowers in the corner similarly coated
in blood.
"What happened here?" one of the detectives ask, and then unfolds the
story of what happened "The Night Before."
It's a quiet night of aimless flirting and AA badge-flashing at the bar,
until there's some gunfire outside which signals the death of our first
victim (horror royalty Felissa Rose of the infamous
Sleepaway Camp briefly features here).
A dubious "family" of drug addicts infiltrates the bar claiming that they
are also victims, though they are holding guns in the faces of the
patrons, so it's hard to understand exactly what's going on.
They barricade themselves inside and then it becomes clear that there's
another group of people outside after some kind of retribution, demanding
"the killer" be given to them.
We spend time with the different factions, some more violent than others,
some more "junkie" than others, before the inevitable pace change (we have
all seen From Dusk til Dawn) and things get bloody.
With a reported budget of $100,000, writer/director
J. Horton wrings every last drop of blood from the proceedings, and
so if what you want is gore you might be in luck, as this is an exercise
in excessive bloodshed and body parts flying around the room. They must
have burned through the corn syrup!
However, the set-up didn't really work for me. I personally don't enjoy
films set in one room/one location/one night. There are notable exceptions
of course, but they are mostly comedies. This one setting goes well with
its one-dimensional characters, and even though the set design by
Kristin Soghmonyan is nicely gritty, it's tedious to watch.
There are scenes of utter absurdity - such as the lesbian couple (who
understand each other perfectly even though they never speak each other's
language) laying post coitally like a jeans commercial as one tells a
completely pointless story that does nothing for the pacing; the shot
where one character lovingly cradles another character's face but when the
camera angle changes they aren't even close enough to hold hands; or the
guy in the cowboy hat whose entire role is basically looking shocked. This
is padded out with flashbacks but in fact, the get-to-know-you backstories
do nothing but stop the action short and take you out of the main thrust
of the film, which is too convoluted and overpopulated with characters
anyway.
This is a film of pluses and minuses: the transformation scene is well
done but marred by lackluster reactions from the cast; the deaths are gory
but not particularly believable or easy to see; the bar setting is
wonderfully realised but then we rarely leave it; and why set it in 1998
if you're not going to fully embrace that era with some spot-on '90s
styling or music? It felt like a missed opportunity to me.
Some of the acting is better than expected, particularly by
Holly Rockwell, Ashley Undercuffler and Xavier Roe, but a
few decent performances are not enough to save this jumbled movie where my
favourite part was the stylised end credits - if only the rest of the
movie had had the same vibe.
It's a no from me.
Craving is on UK/ROI VOD now.
