Officer Jessica Loren (Juliana Harkavy) is a rookie assigned to babysit a precinct that is being shut down. All the phone lines have been rerouted, all the people cleared out, and all Loren has to do is try not to fall asleep until the cleanup crew arrives to dispose of the final pieces in the evidence locker. Except of course that's not all. Loren discovers that it is the one-year anniversary of the group suicide of John Michael Paymon (Joshua Mikel) and his murderous Manson wannabes in that very precinct. She starts to believe that Paymon is reaching out from beyond the grave to complete his demonic agenda.
I'm going to try not to spoil anything but I will tell you exactly what I didn't like about this movie. Loren has absolutely zero character development. She doesn't learn anything, she doesn't change, she isn't redeemed or corrupted, she stays exactly the same from the first frame to the last. Call me old-fashioned but I think horror movies work best when they have something to say. Old 80s slashers were morality plays, 50s creature features tapped into fears about the atomic age, modern horror interrogates power structures. This doesn't do anything except terrorize.
And it's such a shame because the terror is really well-done! The special effects are great, the dread and paranoia are palpable, and the tension really gets ratcheted up as the movie progresses (even if it borrows heavily from predecessors). It could have been great but it settled for good because it treated it's main character like a paper doll. Currently streaming on Tubi.
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