Last Girl Standing

A clever premise is undermined by amateurish execution in filmmaker Benjamin R. Moody's debut feature, a combination of horror flick and psychological thriller. It begins where slasher movies ordinarily end: while standing amidst the bloody corpses of her friends, terrified Camryn (Akasha Villalobos) manages to kill the perpetrator of the carnage, a masked killer identified only as the Hunter. Years later she is still traumatized by the experience of being the sole survivor, although Nick (Brian Villalobos)—her co-worker at a drycleaners—befriends and introduces her to his circle of friends in hopes of helping Camryn reconnect with the larger world. But Camryn begins to believe that the Hunter has returned and is stalking her and her new acquaintances, while the latter grow increasingly concerned that Camryn's outbursts are signs of a potentially dangerous paranoia. The plot ultimately circles back to where it began, but the path there is slow and predictable, weighed down by clumsy direction, insipid dialogue, amateurish acting, and threadbare production values. Not recommended. (F. Swietek)