Within the current pandemic, there is nothing one would enjoy less than working a 12 Hour Shift at a hospital. Sadly it turns out one has the same feeling when it comes to watching 12 Hour Shift.
Angela Bettis plays a drug-addicted nurse who has a side hustle in off-loading organs from deceased patients to local criminals. Working a double, she is about to have the shift from hell when she is forced to deal with her inept cousin-in-law, a missing kidney, an estranged family member overdosing AND a escaped killer on the loose.
A look at the patient’s chart reveals a multitude of symptoms that result in a prognosis that is not great.
Anti-heroes can totally work as the audience’s conduit into a story. Unfortunately Bettis’s Mandy, and the rest of the characters for that matter, have zero redeeming qualities. Thus making it difficult to care or empathise with their situation.
There is also the irony that for a film with a running time of just 88 minutes, watching it feels like you are experiencing every minute of the full twelve hours.
It isn’t until the last act that it receives a shot of adrenaline to the heart and it briefly looks like it might pull through.
There are the injection of some suitably icky and shocking moments and it starts to show signs of life as the various plot threads begin to come together and crossover. The situation is inherently ridiculous and if the film had leaned into that and the farcical nature of the plot, it might have pulled through.
It is a case of too little, too late for the movie however. 12 Hour Shift won’t have any out in the streets clapping for carers… or killers for that matter.
Rating: 
FrightFest Presents and Signature Entertainment present 12 Hour Shift on Digital Platforms 25th January
Director: Brea Grant
Stars: Angela Bettis, Chloe Farnworth, David Arquette, Mick Foley
Runtime: 88 minutes
Country: USA
