Night Patrol
review by Bobby Blakey
I love when genres blend, especially in ways that aren’t always obvious. The latest Night Patrol brings the world of horror together with the gritty police drama in what could be a bloody good time. The film stars Jermaine Fowler, Justin Long, RJ Cyler, Freddie Gibbs, CM Punk, YG, Flying Lotus, Dermot Mulroney, Jon Oswald, and Nicki Micheaux from Lowlife and V/H/S/94 director Ryan Prows. Could this film bring something fresh to the horror genre, or will it fail to bite through to audiences?
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Night Patrol follows an LAPD officer who must put aside his differences with the area’s street gangs when he discovers a local police task force is harboring a horrific secret that endangers the residents of the housing projects, he grew up in.
I really love the idea here and the gritty tone to it all. As a fan of movies like Menace to Society, Boyz In the Hood and End of Watch, I was eager to see how all these components worked together in this bloody horror flick. It works mostly but does limp along at times and falls into some over the top elements that takes away from the good elements that make it work.
The film takes a while before we get to any of the horror blood elements as it sets up all the characters and ideals. The relationship with the cops and gangs were akin to something from the movie Colors before they flip it on its head to inject this supernatural like creature feature element. The trailer pretty much tells you what they are dealing with but to my surprise it wasn’t quite in the way you might assume. There is an interesting approach to this legacy that might not work for everyone, but I dug mostly.
The cast are fine, but the story of them all is all over the place often feeling like they are overcomplicating the story we are dealing with. I get what they were trying to do, and I still had a fun time with it, but could have been streamlined a bit. When the big reveal happens and you see the twist it ramps things up to just bloody chaos and fun, but then it does something altogether different in the final act. Attempting to bring in lore it gets a bit silly as it leans more into the supernatural in a way that I thought made it more cartoonish from what came before.
This is one of those guilty pleasure type flicks that I think whether someone likes it or not there is so much fun and gore that you can’t help but enjoy. I respect what they were trying to do and enjoyed it more than I didn’t so hope it does find that audience that I know will come to love it one way or another.
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Decide for yourself and check out Night Patrol in theaters now from RLJE Films and Shudder.