Open 24 Hours

Open 24 Hours follows a recently released convict named Mary, who begins a night shift at an all-night gas station after being previously imprisoned for setting her boyfriend, a serial killer, on fire. Throughout the film she suffers from PTSD and hallucinations due to the abuse she suffered at his hands before she attempted to murder him as he forced her to be an unwilling participant in his killing spree, by making her watch him murder young women.

So right from the off, I liked the premise, Vanessa Grasse who plays the lead is a good actor and Mary as a character is a very good final girl. I really wanted to give this film a six-star rating but it has a few glaring issues. One scene in particular makes very little sense and did pull me out of the film a little, not enough to ruin my experience of it at all but I would be lying if I were to say it wasn't enough for me to notice and drop it down a star.

I really like the idea of Mary having hallucinations and not knowing when she's first attacked if it is really happening or not, that's a great idea and something they could have leaned into a little more, but as it stands it worked for me.

There are a few odd coincidences that don't make much sense,  and there's a bait and switch in the film that has no real reason to be there other than to throw the audience, which it does momentarily but not enough is really done with this particular reveal to earn its place in the script. It was a great idea but not one that was very well capitalised upon. I think this is the type of film where if you're looking for entertainment and you want to turn your mind off and watch a good slasher film, this will work for you. 

It has its problems for sure but I definitely still had a good time with it and will add it to my monthly recommendations.