Nightshooters – An All Out Assault
Director: Mark Price
Writer: Mark Price (Screenplay)
Starring: Adam McNab, Nicky Evans, Rosanna Hoult, Jean-Paul Ly, Richard Sandling, Kaitlyn Riordan, Mica Proctor, Nichaolas Aaron
Plot: An action thriller about a group of filmmakers who find themselves on the run from a violent horde of criminals after witnessing a brutal gangland execution. Unable to flee the derelict building they have been shooting in, the hapless film crew must use their technical skill and cinematic knowledge to defend themselves. The stunt man is a martial arts master, the special effects guru disregards safety and sets lethal traps, and the sound department strategically lay radio mics to detect when the hoodlums are on their way. Cue lots of thrills in a cat and mouse game of survival.
Runtime: 1 Hour 40 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Nightshooters starts on the set of Dawn of the Deadly being directed by Marshall (McNab), the low budget night shooting zombie movie, the movie is having the typical problems, with a difficult actor Harper (Allen), an explosive expert Ellie (Hoult) not willing to let anyone take advantage of her, along with calm actor Donnie (Ly), and other crew members on the night shoot. The crew accidently witness mobster Tarker (Sandling) murder somebody in a revenge kill.
When Tarker’s men see the crew, they head over to the building, needing to cover up any witnesses they see, leading to a battle to survive the night for the crew, against the hordes of henchmen Tarker sends after them.
Thoughts on Nightshooters
Characters & Performances – Marshall is the director of the horror movie being shot in the abandoned building, he is trying to keep his team together as things start to fall apart. He has put the team in danger, by trying to break a few rules to make this happen, he is already starting to deal with the difficulties of making the movie, before needing to help his crew escape. Donnie is the calm actor on the set, but a man that can handle himself in a fight with his martial arts skills. He brings the best defence for crew, taking out numerous people that head the crew’s direction. Jean-Paul Ly gets to show off his skills in this film, showing we have a stuntman turned actor, who can show off their fighting choregraphing, being the strongest part of the action side of this film. Ellie is the effects expert on the film, she knows how to make weapons which can defend the crew, while also refusing to let any man take advantage of her. The crew does include the sound engineer, a washed up actor, an camerawoman along with the assistant, who tends to make mistakes, due to her inexperience. Tarker is the gangster who is using the building to get his own revenge, he is demanding in his screen presence, calming the scene down before committing the murder, he sends his men to get the job done, slowly losing the patience as the night rolls on. Richard Sandling is the most demanding character in this film, you can see he holds the power away from the chaos being created. Tarker does have a string of henchmen, with O’Hara leading the search, he falls into the one that talks too much and doesn’t have the control he thinks over the men, with the stand out of the henchmen being Chilemba, a nonsense hardman that keeps everything calm in his hunt for the film crew, waiting for the final showdown with Donnie, to give us the biggest fight scene.
Story – The story here follows a crew on a horror movie that find themselves witnesses a murder from a ruthless gangster who sends his men after the crew, as they look to survive the night. This story is kept on the simple side, by giving us a concept which will see a small group of people need to fight to survive against a large group of henchmen. Where the story does shine, is by giving the whole crew enough development to make us care about them making it out of the building alive, with one sequence feeling highly intense. The story relies on the creativity of the effects expert to help the crew survive, along with the martial arts skills to fight through. The story is kept on the level that is needed, easy to watch, keeping you on edge, never making things more complicated than they need to be.
Themes – Nightshooters is a survival action movie, showing the small film crew needing to fight back through a large group of gangster, using only the resources they have or can find in the building, this will give us some creative kills, showing the dangerous everyday equipment can be. We will also get the fight sequences which will let Jean-Paul Ly show off his skills in the film, both on and off camera being the film’s fight choreographer. The locations are also key, with two abandoned buildings next to each other about to get destroyed, putting the time frame on escaping in the film, along with the difficulties of an easy escape.
Nightshooters will be available in North America on a number of digital and cable platforms beginning November 2nd.
Final Thoughts – Nightshooters is a relentless action movie, filled with intense sequences and DIY style kills.
