Terror Tuesday: Open 24 Hours (2018)

It was the summer of 1978 or '79 when I remember reading a story about the future in the newspaper. One of the highlights was that we'd be in a society where everything was available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

And it is true since most fast-food restaurants are open around the clock and thankfully the same with gas stations, because you never know if you're out late at night when you'll need gas.

I'm usually envious of graveyard shift workers since they're getting ready to clock out, just as my day begins, but in this case, I don't envy Mary (Vanessa Grasse).

Mary's been released from prison, two weeks prior and needs a job, so her parole officer Tom (Daniel O'Meara) referred her to the Deer Gas Market, since his friend Ed (Glen Hobgood) has an opening on the midnight shift.

While filling out her application, she debates about if she should check the felony box and after doing so, he asks her what she did.

She tells him that she was in prison for setting her ex-boyfriend James (Cole Vigue) on fire, but he survived and is currently serving prison time since he's known as "The Rain Ripper" who would kill when it rained.

And of course, on her first night of employment, rain is predicted, and you can only imagine what Mary's first night is going to be like.

Earlier in the day, she spends some time with her best friend Debbie (Emily Tennant) and then drives her to work. She asks her if she's sure that she wants to work at the gas station since it's in the middle of nowhere, but Mary really doesn't have a choice now does she?

After Debbie checks the place out, they meet Bobby (Brendan Fletcher) and has her ring up Debbie's purchase and she leaves so that she can get home, have a beer and then come back in the morning to pick her up.

Bobby really doesn't do much in the way of training her and he heads home.

Alone in the station, Mary takes a look around the place but has a nagging feeling that she's being watched.

Her first customer is a trucker (Tomislav Stojanovic), and he flirts a little with her and when he asks if she has a boyfriend, she tells him the truth about trying to murder him. He forgets his credit card and takes off.

When the phone rings, she's startled by it and after answering the caller's question, the phone keeps ringing with the same caller bothering her. And at her breaking point, Bobby returns telling her that Ed wanted him to check up on her.

His curiosity gets the best of him, and he asks if it's true about her being in prison. She tells him about her time with James and not only was she charged with trying to kill him, she was also charged as an accomplice, since the newspapers called her "the watcher" as she would watch the murders.

Bobby gives her his phone number and leaves but, on his way home, his truck breaks down.

After he leaves, a couple (Muirenn Eann Sutherland and Connor Catchple) stop in for a few things and the girl uses the bathroom. When she returns, she tells Mary that the bathroom has flooded. Something Mary doesn't want to deal with.

Having been diagnosed with delusional paranoia, Mary has a hard time deciphering what's real and what's not as she thinks she's having a conversation with another customer and during this "episode" Tom walks in to check up on her.

She tells him about the calls and after he leaves, she sees Debbie's car with a message in blood that says, "You like to watch."

And then her night gets worse.

So much happens within the last twenty to thirty minutes that the movie ramps up suspense.

While the movie itself is really good, I couldn't help but fall in love with it since it's so beautiful when it comes to the cinematography. Everything is perfect and the colors pop out at you.

When Debbie drops Mary off at her apartment, the building is rundown, but it too has a lot of character, as does her apartment. I would love to have her apartment.

And the location scouts also get a lot of credit for the diner they found to set the lunch scene in, making me want to grab a burger from there.

This is a really good movie with a good cast and suspense.