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The Last Stop
USA 2023
produced by J.D. Hawk, Mario Carneiro (executive) for Hawk Studios
directed by Joseph McGee
starring Martin Monasterski, Kayla Kohla, Abigail Friend, Jeffrey M. Rossman, Mario Carneiro, Mark Wither, Joe Larsen, William Gannon, Ryan Drago, Rod Norwood, Ginger O'Toole, Rose Beloin, Hunter Compton, Alex Klebous, Fatima Williams, Edward Dirgo, Mauricio Viteri
written by Joseph McGee, music by Jeffrey Weeks Harrison
featurette
review by Mike Haberfelner
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En route to their holiday home, family man Jake (Martin Monasterski) stops
at a nondescript gas station for his wife (Kayla Kohla) and daughter
(Abigail Friend) to go to the toilet, and while waiting for them Jake
dozes off for a couple of minutes - to find them still not back when he
comes to. And when he checks the toilets they're not there, and nobody at
the gas station can give him any info on where they might have gone ... or
even remembers them for that reason. Jake calls the policem who arrive
quickly enough, but can't find any clue of the wife and daughter either -
and when looking at the security camera footage, they find the two have
never even exited the car ... heck, they've never even been in the
car to begin with. Rinaldi (Mario Carneiro), the detective who handles the
investigation, does a background check on Jake and finds a note to call
his psychiatrist Dr. Shepard (Jeffrey M. Rossman) - who just happens to be
in the neighbourhood and arrives at the gas station rather quickly to
inform Rinaldi that Jake's wife and daughter have actually died four years
ago, and since then Jake has lived in a world of his own fed by illusions
that they're still alive. He has been institutionalized ever since but has
recently left treatment - and since he's not a danger to anyone that
wasn't a big deal ... until today. But fortunately the good doctor is
quick to take his patient back and - case closed!
That is, not quite, as back at his desk, Rinaldi finds no report that
Jake's wife and daughter have actually died, and he also finds out that
Dr. Shepard is not a psychiatrist at all but a brain surgeon. And why did
he manage to arrive at the gas station quite so quickly? And there are
several other details about this open-and-shut case that suddenly don't
make any sense anymore ...
Now The Last Stop has quite obviously been made on a
rather modest budget, so certain allowances have to be made in regards to
technical execution. But whatever the film lacks on the technical side it
more than makes up when it comes to storytelling, as in its mere 40 minute
running time (including end credits), this film manages to twist and turn
more than many full-blown features while never (literally) losing its plot
along the way while surprising the viewer again and again. And a solid
cast playing well fleshed-out characters soon help bring this to life,
making this a very worthwhile piece of thriller entertainment.
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