The Last Matinee (2020)

Montevideo on a rainy night, 1993

Imagine yourself in Montevideo, Uruguay way back in 1993. Heavy rain is falling and you want nothing more than to find your way into an old, rundown theater showing a lame horror flick so that you dry off for a bit and possibly enjoy the movie. Then, without warning, a slasher begins to systematically murder everyone in the theater. Oh, and he’s locked the place up, so one of you isn’t going to make it to the end of the film. Sound interesting? Well, that’s exactly what happens in 2020’s The Last Matinee.

The film is a joint venture from production companies based in Argentina, Uruguay, and Mexico. It’s a Spanish language horror flick directed by Maximiliano Contenti and it stars Luciana Grasso, Ricardo Islas, Julieta Spinelli, and Franco Duran. Contenti wished to pay homage to American slashers and the Italian giallo genre. Since these two genres have multiple similarities, it’s easy to see how Contenti pays tribute to both of them. The film features a faceless (at least for most of the film) stalker with no real motive for selecting his victims, tons of gore and brutal deaths, amazing sound production (seriously, the sound is more painful to hear than the murders are to watch), and a limited set (in this case, a 1993 projection house theater). The film also features some amazing shots, utilizing all sorts of angles to manipulate the viewer.

The film also has a decent amount of humor despite its limited cast of characters and quick runtime. Mauricio (Pedro Duarte) provides most of the funny moments even though his role isn’t that big in the film. He’s a really neat character. The heroine of the flick, Ana (Luciana Grasso), is fairly oblivious to what is going on in the theater since she’s in the projector booth, studying for an engineering final. When she finally realizes what is happening, most of the other characters have been offed by our murderer.

Speaking of the characters, we have a young couple, three loud and obnoxious teenagers, an older gentleman who is by himself, a lone teenage girl who was stood up by her date, and a young boy who managed to sneak into the showing of Frankenstein: Day Of The Beast (more on that movie later). Then there’s the killer. While he doesn’t have a motive for selecting his victims, he does have a taste for a certain body part of each of them. I won’t ruin what body part he favors, but you’ll catch on to what it is early in the film.

This movie isn’t perfect by a long shot, but it is very fun to watch. The kills are gruesome and the killer is played by the director of the film, Frankenstein: Day Of The Beast, that’s being played in the theater. It’s supposed to take place in 1993, but Frankenstein: Day Of The Beast was actually released in 2011. It’s meant to be a joke in the film and it works once you realize that Ricardo Islas is murdering people that are watching his movie.

Be sure to check out The Last Matinee. It’s a really enjoyable slasher flick with some great nostalgic vibes. It makes me want to check out more of Contenti’s work and also check out Islas’ Frankenstein: Day Of The Beast.

Thanks for checking out my review. Be sure to watch The Last Matinee on a rainy day to have an even creepier film experience!