Review of Open 24 Hours

I'm a sucker for a realistic (as far as horror movies go at least) horror movie set in a very creepy location almost exclusively. 'Open 24 Hours' checked those boxes. A deserted gas station on a cold, stormy night will do just nicely. That's a great place to start from, but then you have to have an interesting premise with some remotely likeable characters that I will give a damn about. The film gets pass marks on those points narrowly. The premise was a stretch, but if you buy into it it works well enough. The characters were surprisingly strong. The main character 'Mary' was supposed to have just come out of prison, and she was nowhere near hardened enough to have done that, however I think that was important because it kept her likeable enough that I cared what her fate would be. The supporting cast were serviceable too.

There are a lot of hallucination/dream scenes in the film and it can have you asking yourself exactly what type of movie you're watching. Are you watching a girl lose her mind, or is there a genuine threat? Or is it both? Until the movie clears that up it can be a little hard to settle into exactly what you're watching for a while there.

The film's finale is its biggest strength. It was a surprisingly well put together sequence. There is some very heavy violence later in the film too, so be prepared for that if you need to be. I had a better time with 'Open 24 Hours' than I expected to. I would call it a pleasant surprise and say it is worth a look.