The company Puppet Combo has been doing their best to horrify video gamers for years, making retro-style games with “a gritty VHS feel and low poly stylization.” As they say, “fans of Resident Evil, Silent Hill and Texas Chainsaw Massacre will warm right up to their games… or rather, their blood will run
cold.” Back in 2018, they brought the world a slasher video game called Night Shift, which has players tending to a desolate convenience store while a masked killer lurks somewhere in the shadows. Now, Puppet Combo is giving Night Shift the film adaptation treatment – and they’ve shot the movie on 16mm film, aiming to “stay true to Puppet Combo’s signature VHS-style aesthetic and obsessive attention to detail for a true ’80s slasher style experience.” A trailer for the movie, which is about to embark on a theatrical tour, can be seen above.
Written and directed by Puppet Combo creator Ben Cocuzza, the Night Shift movie follows a young woman named Debra as she works the overnight shift at a minimum wage gas station job. What begins as routine shelf-stocking and floor-sweeping quickly spirals into a heart-pounding descent into paranoia, dread, and blood-soaked madness.
Adrianne Knapp plays Debra and is joined in the cast by Justin West (Ghost Hunters), Phu Mau, and Donald Morgan, with cameo appearances from YouTube legends Justin Whang and John Wolfe.
A press release lets us know to “expect grainy textures, the creeping fear of being watched, and all the hallmarks of the Puppet Combo universe.” I haven’t played the video game, but this all seems very cool to me. I also love that an early reaction to the movie (from Truth or Dare? director Tim Ritter) has described it as “Clerks meets Texas Chainsaw Massacre.”
Here are the stops on the theatrical tour:
10/02 – LA – VIDÉOTHÈQUE – SOLD OUT
10/11 – Detroit – Mitch’s Prints
10/14 – LA – WHAMMY! – SOLD OUT
10/15 – Chicago – SOLD OUT
10/16 – LA – VIDÉOTHÈQUE – SOLD OUT
10/16 – Austin – We Luv Video – SOLD OUT
10/16 – Raleigh – Cannonball Music Hall
10/17 – NYC – Film Noir – SOLD OUT
10/18 – NYC – Film Noir – SOLD OUT
10/18 – El Paso
10/19 – Philly – PhilaMOCA
10/22 – Boston – Kendall Square
10/22 – Atlanta – Midtown Art Theater
10/22 – Chicago – The Glen
10/23 – South Florida – The Gateway
10/24 – Cleveland – Cedar Lee Theater
10/24 – Dallas – Spacy – SOLD OUT
10/25 – San Antonio – Slab – SOLD OUT
10/28 – Toronto – Eyesore Cinema
10/29 – UK – Straight to Video – SOLD OUT
10/29 – Denver – The Mayan
10/29 – Seattle – Central Cinema
10/30 – UK – Straight to Video – SOLD OUT
10/30 – Portland – Cinema 21
10/31 – Dothan AL – The Opera House
What did you think of the Night Shift trailer? Will you be catching a screening of this movie during its theatrical tour? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
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