IT'S A MAD MAD SHIFT // "12 HOUR SHIFT" // TRIBECA 2020 FILM REVIEW
The bizarre and macabre tone that 12 HOUR SHIFT takes is immediately clear from the moment the film begins. It immediately lets you know that this isn't your average hospital drama. Angela Bettis stars as Mandy, an Arkansas nurse who's overworked and tired constantly. Mandy constantly wears a look on her face that says, "I don't want to be here." To say that she's not a "good nurse" is an understatement: she takes drugs off of patients and uses them herself and generally steals from anyone she can get away with. She also takes part in a very bloody side job - Black market organ dealing. She steals patients organs and turns them for a profit. Her ditzy cousin Regina (Chloe Farnworth) is the pick-up person at the hospital this evening, and the organs are handed off smoothly. However, Regina misplaces them and when she returns to her boss, she's missing the only thing that she was supposed to get.
Frantically, she sprints back to the hospital to get the organ (which is, of course, no longer there) and thus begins a very bloody series domino effect mayhem. Brea Grant's madcap horror comedy sets itself out to be a Quentin Tarantino level of blood and guts, but with much more insane humor. However, the jokes just aren't that good, and the staging feels amateur at best. Angela Bettis gives a solid performance and Chloe Farnworth is much funnier than the film itself, but the two of them can't save the rest of the overacting around them. David Arquette turns up in a very random small role as an annoying patient and his storyline, along with most of the others, simply don't add up to much. There's a lot of potential for a movie like 12 HOUR SHIFT, but after watching this film, you'll feel like you yourself just ended a double at work and you can't wait to turn off the TV and do absolutely anything else.
GRADE: D
WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY Brea Grant STARRING Angela Bettis, Chloe Farnworth, Nikea Gamby-Turner, Tara Perry, David Arquette. Selected as part of the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival