Late Checkout (2013) reminds us that sometimes it’s best not to check in at all.
Although there are elements of Josh Graves’ 2023 homage to 80s slashers that show promise, it is largely yet another attempt to capture the steam from a by-gone era that owes its appeal largely to its innocence and the unintentional charm that comes from being a product of a much beloved simpler time; an attempt that, like most of it’s peers in a heavily oversaturated market ,falls flat under the weight of its own aspirations.
Don’t look for a single ounce of originality in the premise of Late Checkout, by the way. The film opens with a group of twenty-somethings making their way to a remote cabin deep in the hills for a weekend of binge drinking and badly written quips. This is groan-worthy territory here and the dialog, which should serve to strengthen our bonds with the characters, only reminds us that films so desperately tries to be, all did it much better.
The party-goers start to get dispatched quickly here and we really feel the lack of attachment to each as they go. The gore, which admittedly, there is plenty of, is a mixed bag as bad acting and a tendency for the camera to linger a little too long on a questionable effect here and there brings what could be an impactful kill down to nothing more than just one of a myriad of over-done gags. Had the bloated cast been trimmed down, we might have cared enough for any single character for the events of Late Checkout to actually matter. THAT is, unfortunately, Checkout’s worst transgression. While the film suffers from poor directing and an even worse script, there are actors here that truly deserve to be in a better film. Chaney Morrow, while definitely under-utilized, gives a solid performance worthy enough to actually have been the film’s lead, while Kamarra Cole and Bailey Harrington also do their fair share of heavy lifting. Unfortunately, we spend so little time endearing ourselves to their characters that their efforts barely matter.
Eventually, only a couple little Indians are left and the killer(s) and their intention(s) are revealed. A reveal, that quite frankly is representative of just about everything in the course of the film: pointless and meaningless. By this time the film itself feels ready to give up and roll the credits, even though the total running time of the film barely constitutes a feature, coming in under an hour; an hour padded with way too much extraneous dialogue that does nothing to move the story forward and a movie-within-a-movie only reminds the viewer that there’s not enough meat here for a full meal.
The real hero of Late Checkout is cinematographer Jaren Lewis who manages to give the film a look that proves to be way too good for the content it dresses up.
It’s obvious that the kills in Late Checkout are meant to be the showcase here, which would be fine if the script written around them had any real weight or sense of purpose. Its an exercise in reminding filmmakers that even at an hour, some films can exhaust their audience into boredom when one doesn’t care about the characters, their actions, and ultimately their fates.
Don’t bother with Late Checkout. Return your keys and opt for the staycation instead.
