MIDNIGHT IN THE SWITCHGRASS **** USA 2021 Dir: Randall Emmett. 99 mins
Two FBI agents cross paths with Crawford, a Florida cop who’s investigating a string of murders that appear to be related. When an undercover sting goes horribly wrong, Crawford soon finds himself in a twisted game of cat and mouse with the killer.
The film follows FBI investigator Megan Fox and local county cop Emile Hirsch trying to hunt a serial killer who is preying on young women most of which are prostitutes and the cops ensue a chase to find him before more of his victims end up on the slab in the mortuary.
The film has a stellar cast which includes Bruce Willis, Megan Fox, Emile Hirsch, Lukas Haas, Sistine Stallone and Machine Gun Kelly to name but a few.
Lukas Haas stole the show here as the baddy, although he looks anything but menacing and looks innocent enough, he is creepy as hell and portrays an absolute psychopath with utter conviction.
I loved this dark cop thriller, I think it will get a reception like marmite the film does feel very 90’s everything about the way its executed, the plot, the cast the production and even the editing, but hey what’s not to like about the 1990’s! The 90’s brought us some great serial films such as Seven, and in the 90’s Bruce Willis was in his a game, so it’s good!
Lower budget features like this do have a hard time and find it hard to find a place on both DVD shelf and VOD especially nowadays when they are competing with top class High budget TV series of the same ilk with A list stars.
This film will really get mixed reviews but it’s very enjoyable as a by the numbers thriller and the supporting cast and their performances are amazing it’s a shame more of the supporting cast weren’t thrust up into the limelight more but they get some killer dialogue and are certainly not wasted.
The film is loosely based on the case of the real-life serial killer Robert Ben Rhoades, who was known as the Truck Stop Killer.
Definitely worth a watch for cop chasing cat and mouse and serial killer film fans.
Review by Tony Newton
MIDNIGHT IN THE SWITCHGRASS is available on Amazon