The Last Call is a short and when I started this review I did not at first realize the film that landed on my desk for review was a short. That's ok, writer and director Marcus Slabine managed to fit an entire story in the seventeen minute run time. Slabin has worked on The Dark Knight Rises and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 in the past and the short was shot in a way that shows he knows his way around a film set.
The short centers around legendary prankster radio host Harry Cunningham's last night on the local FM radio before moving on to XM. Harry is played by Terry Alexander who is best known for his 1985 roll in Day of the Dead. Fun fact Lori Cardille, also from Day of the Dead makes a cameo...of sorts. While Harry is doing his last show a caller demands they play a something on air that Harry seems desperate to keep hidden from the public at all costs, even if that means the death of everyone in the studio.
The story was direct and to the point, and while not all of it aligned with how such a situation might realistically play out, what horror film does? While watching the film I was reminded of some almost forgotten film I saw where a dj talks to a serial killer on his call in show. I really hope a longer version includes the host and the caller having longer chats together! That is the really interesting part of the film. Who is this caller and what tape are they talking about? Slabine However did not take his inspiration from long forgotten 80s b films but instead got his inspiration from a mix of sources. Pontypool, his father who was a DJ and his love of prank calling people himself when he was growing up were all part of what helped create The Last Call.
The stand out actor, by far, was Geoff Lerer who played the audio engineer. He has a quirky realness that makes him perfect for character roles. His time on screen is short of course considering the length of the film, but I hope if this short is expanded Lerer's role is expanded too.
Slabin used some hard blues and reds during the more climatic scenes and I hope he continues to use this color scheme in the film version and maybe perhaps expand upon the color usage. If I had one complaint with the overall look of the film, it would be the close shots, as I am a fan of larger atmospheric shots in horror. More than likely the closer shots were meant to exude a sense of claustrophobia in the small radio station.
I asked marketing to give me a list of the awards this short has won and the list is literally to long to include here. The film has won awards for best screen play, best picture, best director, and audience choice awards! WHEW! That is a decent reference for a short. I definitely see a full length version of The Last Call on The SyFy channel in the near future.
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