The Last Showing - Alas poor Robert, I knew him well

Like most horror fans, people will know Robert Englund best for his portrayal as spikey-fingered immortal nut-job, Freddy Kruger.  No doubt about it – he was great.  Whether he was darkly evil in the first few films, or comically evil in the franchise’s dying days, he always turned in a good performance.  Which is pretty much why I gave ‘The Last Showing’ a chance.  I wish I hadn’t.

It’s about a couple – the girl from The Inbetweeners 2 and one of the guys from Game of Thrones – who watch a midnight screening of a horror film, only to find that the projectionist (Englund) is intent on making his own – murderous – movie.  Sounds good.  And, to be fair, the PLOT is.  In fact, it could have been so much more.  As it is, the two ‘good’ leads are pretty damn awful.  Now, I’m guessing this isn’t the actors’ fault, as I’ve seen them both in the afore-mentioned shows and they’re both capable of turning in decent performances.  They just don’t here.

I cringed when they were first introduced as they wandered around the empty cinema, spouting *supposedly* knowing social commentary on the state of horror/slasher films in general.  Tip to film-makers: just because it worked well in the ‘Scream’ franchise, doesn’t mean it’ll work every time.

By the time Englund goes off the rails and starts torturing them, we’re almost on his side.  After all, he is – by far – the best performer in the movie.  And he’s the nut-job baddie.  If you’re a massive fan of Englund, you’ll probably get more than most out of it.  I did enjoy watching him, it’s just he wasn’t in it enough to really save it from being anything other than a – questionably-acted – B-movie.

5/10 a hard trek, a bit like unicycling to Mordor and back