Writers: Ashley James Louis, Naveen A. Chathapuram and Doc Justin
Director: Naveen A. Chathapuram
The Last Victim is billed as a neo-noir, neo-western crime thriller. There are twelve minutes of moody visuals and slow, sinister action before the opening credits when the score bursts into the distinctive whip-cracking and whistles of a typical Western. The film leans heavily on cinematographic gestures of the genre – low shots of a man’s legs as he gets out of his truck, a near-empty diner where Manny, a weak young man, eats alone. This is Negation, New Mexico, population 209. It’s soon population 206, as sinister, smiling Jake takes revenge. His motivation is sketchy. Jake (British actor, Ralph Ineson) doesn’t care that Manny had a relationship with Donna – “she’s my ex-wife now” – but there’s something else about Manny’s shooting his “goddamn mouth off.” Soon there are three dead bodies. Jake instructs his side-kicks to stuff them into his truck, drive it somewhere remote and burn it. Continuity obsessives will notice that no one has turned off the fiercely bubbling chip fryer – the cook is dead alongside Manny and an old guy who turns up in his wellies and pyjamas. The more obvious solution for Jake would surely be to just let the place burn down.
Then we’re in an upscale motel in Colera, New Mexico (population 364) with glossy couple, Susan and Richard. Susan (Ali Larter) solemnly crosses out items on her day’s to-do list which reads: ‘5am wake up/Take out Waldo/Shower/Morning yoga/After yoga shower/Make coffee’. Husband Richard gets up, without having to consult a list, and the pair set off on their long cross-country journey to California where Susan is due to take up a university post as an anthropology professor. Meanwhile we meet elderly Sheriff Hickey (Ron Perlman) and his perky side-kick, Gaboon.
Throughout the film, there are a series of ponderous observations delivered by Perlman in gravelly voice over. Folks, he tells us, are “aching for answers.” Jake has his own line of more questionable platitudes about revenge. We’re being told, rather than shown, what are the supposed moral parameters of this strangely underpopulated world. Soon we’re in Ganga, New Mexico (population 17) where the outlaws hang out in trailers. They all seem terrified of Jake, so what exactly is in this killing spree for them? And just how hard is it going to be to track them down? The sheriff may think sat-nav new-fangled, but Gaboon has a functioning mobile.
Finally we’re out in a nature preserve with “some Indian name,” according to one of the characters – the only reference to non-whites in the film. The couple are just enjoying a picnic in the autumn sun when the bad guys spring out. Soon it’s just Susan on her own, trying to hide from them. We find out about the dog later. Night falls. There are some appealingly moody shots of cowboy-hatted Jake smoking against the night sky. Susan survives this first ordeal, her organisational skills intact. With a charred stick, she writes: ‘1) Find key 2) Survive.’
But she then shows unexpected mettle and reduces the population still further. The slow, moody action suddenly heats up with a series of wildly improbable plot twists. Western turns to horror movie. Tacked on is a sentimental ending in which we are led to believe the cycle of violence finally ends.
Signature Entertainment presents The Last Victim on Digital Platforms 10th October.
