A rookie cop is ordered to care-take the police station where her murdered father used to work, on its last night before decommissioning, all on her lonesome. But something within awaits her ...
The first shot - car outside station - looks amateur, and the first scene inside the station needed more thought. Maybe it should have had an information rich tour of the station, rather than just the grumpy captain, and added a team that has to dash off on the first emergency call. Her being left alone so quickly is one of many implausibilities that reduce the effect of the story.
But when the actress is left alone she's very impressive and contained. Add to that plenty of stylish camera work plus a long series of imaginative scares at good pace, plenty of good effects and gore, and this turns into a really interesting movie and well worth the watch.
I did wonder about the TV style lighting - the opposite of my usual complaint of things being too dark - which maybe clashed with the insane mood and I think spoiled some of the otherwise good jump scares. Also the music was a little restrained, again the opposite of my usual complaint. And of course there were several "Why don't you just leave or get help?" moments that the script handled poorly. My guess is the story wasn't thought through properly and things had to be shoehorned in. So these weaknesses prevent this from going beyond interesting.
Overall, surprising quality in a flawed story with uneven direction. Pity about that.
ps. this doesn't remind me of Precinct, but of Let Us Prey (2014) from the UK.
The first shot - car outside station - looks amateur, and the first scene inside the station needed more thought. Maybe it should have had an information rich tour of the station, rather than just the grumpy captain, and added a team that has to dash off on the first emergency call. Her being left alone so quickly is one of many implausibilities that reduce the effect of the story.
But when the actress is left alone she's very impressive and contained. Add to that plenty of stylish camera work plus a long series of imaginative scares at good pace, plenty of good effects and gore, and this turns into a really interesting movie and well worth the watch.
I did wonder about the TV style lighting - the opposite of my usual complaint of things being too dark - which maybe clashed with the insane mood and I think spoiled some of the otherwise good jump scares. Also the music was a little restrained, again the opposite of my usual complaint. And of course there were several "Why don't you just leave or get help?" moments that the script handled poorly. My guess is the story wasn't thought through properly and things had to be shoehorned in. So these weaknesses prevent this from going beyond interesting.
Overall, surprising quality in a flawed story with uneven direction. Pity about that.
ps. this doesn't remind me of Precinct, but of Let Us Prey (2014) from the UK.