ARROW FRIGHTFEST (digital): 12 Hour Shift
frightfest
Brea Grant’s second feature, 12 Hour Shift is a romp of an ensemble. Totally black, and totally not sorry for it. Featuring Angela Bettis (May / Girl Interrupted), David Arquette (Scream), and Mick Foley (WWE fame and recently Peanut Butter Falcon), it’s pretty clear Grant is channelling a very specific zeitgeist of the late 90s. The film is set in 1998, a time that can be remembered for a total shift in political correctness. Blurring the lines was the cool thing, and to cast Mick Foley, a professional wrestler from the height of WWE’s ‘attitude era’ at that time, is clearly a decision with thematic intent. Foley is one of WWE’s biggest stars, while David Arquette was famously intertwined within that wrestling world also. Interesting to note that, while neither of them feature nearly as heavily as Bettis in this film, 12 Hour Shift does seem to cross paths with the newly released You Cannot Kill David Arquette (2020) doc, in which Foley also appears.
Angela Bettis plays Mandy, a junkie nurse working a 12-hour night shift at an Arkansas hospital. After an organ-stealing scheme goes awry and her inept cousin loses the produce, chaos begins to unfold. As the redneck buyers threaten to come and collect, a new organ needs to be found quickly. It turns out Mandy’s cousin doesn’t exactly plan on waiting around. Bettis really shone here. She’s incredibly dry throughout, but that’s not with any lack of charisma or charm. Despite the insidiousness of her practices, Mandy is a character with at least minor sympathies, and they shine with the characters that surround her. How she bounces off the ineptitude of her cousin (brilliantly portrayed by Chloe Farnworth) is especially key to the depth of her character.
12 Hour Shift is by no means a masterpiece. The tag ‘rednecksploitation’ is one that will serve it well as the call back themes are not there to reminisce about how good it was in 1998. It still channels that unapologetic brand of comedy, but there’s certainly no winners either. An enjoyable sophomore picture. Brea Grant definitely shows chops here, and while it’s not particularly profound, it’s still a really great time.