Gwen (Phoebe Tonkin) lands an overnight job at the beginning of the pleasantly entertaining new thriller Night Shift. The job? She is the overnight caretaker of a remote motel called The All Tucked Inn. Clever name. But motels are never pleasant if you know the least bit about horror and thrillers. On her shift, Gwen encounters horrible customers, ghostly room calls, rats, and apparitions while dealing with a sinkhole in the pool out back and taxidermy as a key decorative aesthetic. Their favorite single-location thrillers inspire familial writer-director duo Benjamin China and Paul China and pull off an adequate thriller that shows their youth and potential. It’s nothing groundbreaking, but it is a solid work with only a few missteps.

When Gwen arrives under the pink neon glow of The All Tucked Inn, she is in desperate need of work. Owner and operator, Teddy (Lamorne Morris), effusively welcomes his new employee and gives her the “grand” tour of the grounds. In a rather expository stretch of the film, we learn about the sinkhole in the abandoned pool, the single guest, Alice (Madison Hu), who keeps to herself, and why room 13 is half-price.

Once Teddy leaves his new employee in charge the film seems to begin. Gwen kicks things off by cleaning rooms and discovering how messy humans can be. She then checks on Alice and tries to make a connection with the only other person at the motel. Then the ghostly calls from room 13 start. Those are followed by being trapped in a store room with rats and a pair of unbelievably entitled customers Warner (Patrick Fischler) and Birdie (Lauren Bowles). As Gwen juggles all this a strange car seems to prowl motel the property. A lot is happening for a remote roadside motel, but eventually, it all comes to a head and the movie begins to gel like aspic.

When Gwen takes the job, we know she is in for a rough night. The question is, what will come for her? Night Shift has its faults, to be sure, but there are some good things.  Aside from the sometimes intrusve score by Blitz//Berlin, this is a competently constructed indie production that looks phenomenal. Mac Fisken‘s elegant photography plays with a wide aspect ratio and muddled tones in darkness to great effect. Performances across the board are good with the standouts being Tonkin in the lead and Morris and the motel owner, Teddy. My one note of advice to the character Teddy, however, is that he hire an electrician for all of the faulty lights that seem to flicker and plague his property.

The influences are almost too evident in Night Shift leading to painful predictability by more seasoned horror fans. Yet, it’s still a watchable thriller. Benjamin and Paul China have been inspired and passionately love the genre. This is an admirable attempt to bring fresh ideas to the motel horror subgenre. Our advice; Check in then check out. Don’t overthink it and enjoy your stay.

6 Out of 10