12 Hour Shift, an American black comedy thriller film, premiered on 2nd October 2020 on Video On Demand. The film is written and directed by Brea Grant and stars Angela Bettis, Kit Williamson, Chloe Farnworth, Mick Foley, and David Arquette alongside other cast members.
Organ Trafficking
12 Hour Shift is set back in 1999 in a hospital in Arkansas over a 12-hour long double shift (night-long) and how one thing leads to another causing people to die for the sole purpose of extracting their organs. The screenplay revolves around Mandy’s (Angela Bettis) shift, who is on prohibition due to drug issues and who usually kills patients on the verge of death with healthy organs for organ trafficking. It’s all safe and money-making till the time Regina (Chloe Farnworth), her cousin, loses a kidney on her way to the customer and hell is unleashed.
Regina, in order to stay alive, has to arrange for a kidney and only Mandy can make this happen. However, the question is how she can arrange for a kidney within an hour. What follows is Regina’s reckless attempt at killing people as the night slowly turns into mayhem!
12 Hour Shift, as a dark comedy, brings justice to its genre and brings forward the inhumane sides of humans and how killing someone for their organs is something so small and easy! The crisis seems to see no end in this night-long shift for Mandy and you have no idea what will happen next. To my surprise, no matter how dumb of a character Regina might look, man, she is stubborn and has no plans to leave without a kidney! She is the troublemaker here.
The film isn’t exactly embellished with witty lines or something completely different but as soon as you start watching the 86-minutes-long film, you’ll find yourself tangled in their crisis. The female anti-hero angle works well for the film and, inspite of being limited to the hospital, it doesn’t fail its viewers both in terms of its screenplay or direction. The amorality of the characters and the wickedness they encapsulate within themselves is what makes this movie a worth watching flick.
While it may sound like the film has nothing more than blood and gore, you see Mandy’s conscience playing a part in between where she denies killing healthy patients. The film will not exactly send shivers down your spine but will make you question a lot of things, especially when you actually visit a hospital. 12 Hour Shift doesn’t shed light on the gruesome organ-trafficking black market but manages to put forth the dark side.
Director Brea Grant sought inspiration for this film from real-life events that took place back in the 1990s when a nurse was reportedly killing patients using bleach as the main element. Grant said, “It’s hard to remember what was fact and fiction at the time. I was a teenager in a small town and the actual news story stays mixed up in memories with urban legends of organ selling, drugs, and that one story about a woman ending up in a bathtub full of ice after her kidneys were stolen.” Through her work, Grant tries to bring forth the negligence in small towns and the dark side of people which is bloody, greedy, and heartless.
Stream It or Skip It
STREAM IT! 12 Hour Shift is a worth-watching movie with a cast that delivers strong performances and will keep you engaged till the very end. In a set that is limited to a hospital and that too the same floor, the film conveys what it aims at successfully without being boring or a misfit in the genre.
12 Hour Shift is now streaming here.
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