A stand-up comedian on the verge of breakout success must make a terrible choice when he discovers a murderer on the loose in the theater where he’s about to perform his biggest show.
Starring: Steve Vanderzee, Eric Stone, and Lowell Deo
Directed and written by: Jeremy Berg
There will be no laughing once “The Last Laugh” concludes. Many of us have heard it’s hard for comics to get their big break. Well that’s no different for Myles (Steve Vanderzee). He worked hard at his craft, but suffered a tragic event that set him back for awhile. Now he’s back doing shows, and trying to catch that big break. As it seems, this time around has been even harder than the first time.
That is until Myles gets a chance to perform probably his biggest show yet. He’s not headlining, but he’ll take what he can get. His agent as also arranged for an important talent scout to come watch the show. A lot is on the line for him, and the other performing comics. But before even getting on stage, he must battle some personal demons, and someone who is hunting the people working behind the scenes.
The first half of the movie spends a lot of time getting to know Myles. The audience sees where his life is now, and learns a few things about his past. Being a comedian, it’s surprising there aren’t many jokes told early on, or throughout. Instead of painting him as a true funny comic, he’s shown more as one that has lost his funny bone, and is trying to get it back. The reason for that is there’s something in his past that plagues him until this day, and even has him taking pills.
Things pick up a little once he gets to the theater, but not really because of Myles. Finally the audience gets what it has come for with the introduction of a killer. It’s a little odd of an introduction because there’s no mention of them before hand, but he’s there picking off people working the show. The audience does hear a story from one of workers about an incident in the past that may or may not have anything to do with this killing spree. The killer has a cool looking theater mask, but the best thing about them is how vicious they are. They don’t mess around when stabbing the hell out of someone.
As it gets closer to Myles’ moment in the spotlight, he starts losing control of himself. It doesn’t help that he finds a dead body backstage, and now is trying to get others to see what he does. His past haunts him even more, as the killer closes in on him. The movie does a decent job of building up the drama getting to performance, and drawing the killer closer and closer to him. Will he get to perform…you’ll have to see for yourself.
In the end, “The Last Laugh” gives the audience things to like, but they may want a little more of the good stuff. It presents a character to like with a mystery behind him. However, they may spend a little too much time on him, and not on the killer at hand. No, that doesn’t mean the audience needs kills every five minutes, but maybe another death or two would have been nice. Also, bringing in the killer a little earlier would have been nice. Of course that’s just the slasher fan in me wanting more! So with that said, it’s no laughing matter when I give this film 2.5 pools of blood.
HorrO
More info about this film at: http://promotehorror.com/2020/09/05/slasher-the-last-laugh-to-premiere-at-west-sound-film-festival/
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