Noc Shift (2025) (USA)

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Ass-numbing opening credits eventually come to a close and as we get an aerial shot of some California suburb, the BASED ON A TRUE STORY text pops up in the corner of the screen. A nightmare concerning parental abuse introduces us to our hero and awkward acting introduces us to his concerned wife. Andrew Holloway’s security job has placed him on an overnight shift at an abandoned building where he’s to ensure that nobody gets on the property. The derelict house sits far away from the city, surrounded by darkness, desert and highway. Andrew slowly walks around the claustrophobic yet somehow vast building and admits to his wife over the phone that the whole thing has a strange vibe. A shadowy figure has him doing his job, even if he’s convinced the mystery person was wearing a guard uniform. With the growing spookiness beginning to upset Andrew, he’s also going to be forced into dealing with his childhood trauma on top of whatever the hell is calling the vacant space a home. It works its way into his head, widening the fractures already obvious thanks to a real piece of shit father. A strange woman is found at the job site but wanders off and vanishes, freaking Andrew out even more. It’s the same woman he assumed was another security guard when he arrived the first night. He also insists on saying that it’s a male for some reason (although another shadowy form seems to be a man in a hat). There’s talk of the house’s manipulation with other people who have worked there and these occurrences have ended in suicide and, in some cases, murder. Not a good sign for the already unstable man and his family. A moody, simple score works well with the deliberate pace and the eerie quiet of the setting enhances the mood showing what you can do with a simple premise and restraint. Performances are shaky but that never really bothers me and I’m way more forgiving when it comes to anything on the lower side of the budget scale. You do your best and show that you give a fuck… I’ll always respect it and I respect this bad boy even if some of the story beats and drama may be a bit beyond the team’s capabilities.