haskel-72951

A film that is 69 minutes long should not feel like it drags on for an eternity, but that is exactly what Late Checkout feels like. There have been literally dozens - maybe even a hundred - of movies with a similar plot: lots of young people go to a cabin in the woods and get murdered. Very few come close to the level of ineptitude of this movie. The acting is so bad across the board that it is painful, the writing is bush league, it feels like a student film from a community college film class that got a D. A few decent practical effects keep this nonsensical mess from being a total loss but that sure isn't enough to make it recommendable.

Don Verdean has a lot going for it. It has a strong cast, many of them capable of elevating average material to a higher level. It has an very original central idea, and one would think that in the hands of Jared Hess (Napolean Dynamite, Nacho Libre) it would have been brought to life in its highest potential. That is not what happened, not by a longshot. So many jokes seem like bare concepts that were called "good enough" without ever being fully explored. There are a handful of jokes that land and are genuinely hilarious, and that is what makes it such a frustrating experience to watch this film. It had the potential for greatness but it was all too happy to settle for "meh."

This movie really gets hard to watch at times. Uncomfortable is an understatement. It takes its time getting going, it is a real slow burn for nearly an hour, but when it does it becomes something wholly unexpected. It's tough to find a found footage film that is original, but this one is. There has never been anything quite like this. It isn't perfect and it certainly is not intended to be light entertainment, but if you like found footage and aren't easily offended this really is a must watch. I found it on YouTube by accident, so it isn't readily available on streaming services but it is certainly worth finding.