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Last Radio Call
USA 2021
produced by Isaac Rodriguez, Cynthia Bergen (executive) for No Sleep Films
directed by Isaac Rodriguez
starring Sarah Froelich, Jason Scarbrough, Ali Alkhafaji, Keekee Suki, June Griffin Garcia, Billy Necessary, Gert Lopez, Makayla Rodriguez, Isaac Rodriguez, Viktoria Jimene, Cynthia Bergen, Diana Rodriguez
written by Isaac Rodriguez, special effects makeup by Makayla Rodriguez, Diana Rodriguez
review by Mike Haberfelner
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One night about three a.m. officers David (Jason Scarbrough) and Giles
(Ali Alkhafaji) are called to the long abandoned Yorktown hospital on
possible trespassers. Now the dilapitated place is creepy at the best of
times, but much more so at the witching hour - and weird noises make the
officers think they're not alone. They part ways to cover more ground ...
and eventually David is attacked, calls for help, fires his gun - and yet
disappears without a trace, with only his bodycam left behind ... It's
one year later, and David's wife Sarah (Sarah Froelich) still hasn't
overcome his disappearance, especially since not knowing whether he's dead
or alive even doesn't give her any kind of closure, and the fact that the
police are not releasing any evidence from the case is especially painful.
So she decides to hire a cameraman to make a documentary about David's
disappearance, in the hope that this will encourage people to come forward
with information. But at first, she's only met with doors slammed into her
face. Only eventually, David's partner Giles agrees to talk to her - but
when she stops over she finds he has blown out his own brains. But with
his things she finds a telephon number of a man who has hours upon hours
of bodycam footage, including David's, that he'd like to see released. And
the footage is disturbing indeed, and it leads Sarah to a shaman (Keekee
Suki) who might be the key to the truth - but he goes mad during a
séance. Eventually Sarah figures the only way to find the truth is to pay
Yorktown hospital a visit during witching hour - but why does she
think she'd fare any better than her husband? Now I'm not the
biggest fan of found footage and mock documentary shockers (and the line
between these genres is fleeting for sure), as more likely than not, films
of this ilk seem to cover corners in almost all departments, from
cinematography to acting to writing even. But Last Radio Call is an
example to this rule (and in all fairness, there have been a few over the
years), as its story is well-structured and shows expert build-up, the
direction puts an emphasis on atmosphere, and the camerawork, while
looking rough enough to comply with genre specifications, shows purpose
and a feel for visual tension. But what really makes the movie is that it
really understands horror, to the point that sometimes showing less is
more, and that a certain degree of mystery is often worth more than
buckets of blood, and that within the confines of the horror realm, not
everything needs to be explained away to be creepy. And heck, this film is
creepy as hell ...
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