Last Straw review: A captivating nightmare that'll keep you invested until the end

Last Straw follows a young woman named Nancy Osborne, played by Jessica Belkin (Hunt Club, Death Link, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol), as she is put on the night shift managing her father's diner. Right off the bat, the film's atmosphere radiates off the screen.

The desolate, old-timey diner makes for a fun and retro setting and sets up the perfect environment for this kind of film. The movie even spends the first 20 minutes or so settling us into the atmosphere. It was directed by Alan Scott Neal and written by Taylor Sardoni, both of which helm this as their respective feature debuts.

We spend the majority of the horror film with Belkin as she faces the horrors trying to reach her inside the diner, and she gives it her all for every scene. She is a force of nature, sprinting through various stages of nervousness to full-on panic without ever missing a beat. She plays her character differently from your average horror final girl, and I think audiences will really resonate with her performance.

Belkins' co-star Taylor Kowalski (MaXXXine, Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever) delivers a powerhouse of a performance too, playing a good opposite to Belkin and bringing an emotional depth to the Jake character that makes him one of the strongest pieces of the film.

However, the movie's strong suit lies in its pacing. While it has a slow start, the film goes from 0 to 100 at a neck-breaking pace. The quiet and eerie diner is catapulted into a tense game of cat and mouse between Nancy and the masked menaces tormenting her. It's a tonal 180 shift, yet it flows so naturally.

Sardoni toes the line perfectly between a quiet survival thriller and unhinged adrenaline through his writing. The film not only takes tonal sharp turns but also takes a big swing by switching perspectives around halfway through the film to that of the antagonist, making the movie's latter half a twisty spin on the subgenre of home invasion esc horror.

Overall, Neal and Sardoni have crafted an unhinged and mean-spirited siege horror flick. While the film doesn't reinvent the wheel and has its fair share of issues, it delivers enough twists and turns to keep eyes on the screen. If the movie's bleakly harsh narrative and plot doesn't win you over, Jessica Belkin in her leading lady fierceness certainly will. Last Straw is especially impressive as a first-time feature from the writer/director duo and one I hope to see become a big indie darling for audiences.

What did you think of Last Straw? Let us know in the comments, and be sure to share this article to spread the word.

Last Straw is now showing in select theaters and on VOD.

To stay up to date on all things horror and 1428 Elm, follow our Facebook page and Twitter account!