The Last Inn (2021) – Film Review
The Last Inn is an American horror film about a university student named Laura (Emily Hall) who has a car accident, loses her memory, and finds herself stranded on a desert highway. With no other option, Laura begins to walk and eventually finds herself at the Lawst Inn, where the hosts are creepy and she has some unnerving ghostly encounters.
Tbe Last Inn initially appears to be an inappropriate title choice, with The Lawst Inn (the working title of the film) seeming to be a better fit. However, once you understand what’s really going on, The Last Inn may be a better match for the context of the story.
The first thing to know about The Last Inn is it’s a remake of The Supernatural Events on Campus (2013), a Chinese horror film that is superior in every way. If are happy to watch films with subtitles, I suggest you ditch the American remake and watch the original film instead. Don’t let the name confuse you, it’s set in a spooky inn as well, not a high school campus. [My Review of the Supernatural Events on Campus]
The Lawst Inn is owned and run by Mrs and Mrs Lawst (Scott Talbot and Lauren Peterson). Mr Lawst tells Laura the Inn is Full and when she points out all the keys hanging behind the reception desk suggest otherwise, Mr Lawst asks her to leave. However, his wife appears on the stairs and says they still have a room available.
Unfortunately, there has recently been a flood that has caused landslides so the telephone is not working so Laura, whose mobile was broken in the accident, is unable to phone to call a garage. Nor will she be able to leave for a few days because, due to the landslide, the roads are still closed.
Floods and landslides are not a common problem in the desert, but The Lawst Inn is surrounded by trees and countryside so the initial scene on the desert highway doesn’t make sense and you have to ask yourself how far Laura has supposedly walked.
The only other guests at the inn are Steven (Walker Barnes), who is a photography student, the reclusive Britney (Zarema Akmalove) and her young son Charlie (Louis Limantour), and Nicole (Tristan Cunningham) and Peter (Jamel King), who came to the area to visit the nearby town which is allegedly haunted.
Nicole tells Laura the town remains abandoned because everyone was killed overnight by a devil’s curse. Quick to lighten the tone, Peter tells Laura it’s just a rumour on the internet and the truth is everyone died due to an epidemic. Peter also explains how they got lost after the flood and, without a phone signal, would have still been lost in the woods if it wasn’t for Steven coming along to save them.
During the following days, Laura’s relationship with Steven flourishes and, although he seems strangely familiar to her, Steven dodges the question when Laura asks if they have met before.
While Laura waits for the roads to clear and concentrates on trying to get her memory back, she experiences many strange occurrences at the inn including a ghost girl in the hallway and a woman in a red dress who appears in her room and then disappears.
Nicole and Peter also believe there is something strange about the inn and start to experience strange phenomena as well but Steven seems unusually keen to provide logical explanations.
Although the basic premise is good, The Last Inn is a disastrous attempt to recreate The Supernatural Events on Campus for an English-speaking audience.
One of the worst things about the film is the dialogue. For reasons I cannot speculate on, the voices appears to have been dubbed from English to English and it’s very poorly done. Especially in one of the later scenes where the voices are not properly in sync with the actor’s lips and sound so unnatural it hurts.
Another problem with The Last Inn is it tries too hard to impress. It appears the producers have tried to throw in everything they consider a key ingredient for an American horror film. Some of the floors of the inn are riddled with cobwebs. It’s seriously over the top, appearing as if someone on the special effects team got a new cobweb gun for their birthday and couldn’t wait to try it out. They’ve got just as carried away in some of the rooms too. This type of cobweb overload is more typical of pre-1980s haunted house films and looks out of place. It may work if The Last Inn were a horror comedy. As it’s not, the cobweb effects detract from instead of adding value to the viewing experience.
One of the nice things about the original movie is the lack of blood and gore or any attempts to provide cheap thrills. The driving force is the story, which focuses on the burgeoning romance between the two students.
Instead of shocking viewers, the original film also focuses on trying to run shivers down their spines. It’s an old-school style idea that filmmakers soften ignore or push to the back seat but, given a chance, can still work very well to this day.
In an effort to meet the perceived tastes of their audience, the producers have placed less focus on romance and added many elements that clash with the original concept including spirit boards, bathtubs full of blood, stabbings, bloody axes, chopped-up body parts, and Satanic sacrifices. They’ve also added a scene that’s obviously heavily inspired by The Others (2001). Like all the cobwebs, the scene adds nothing worthwhile.
In the interests of fairness, I feel obliged to point out some of the film’s redeeming features. Unfortunately, none come to mind. The Last Inn is a disaster from beginning to end. It may provide you with a way to kill some time if you have nothing better to do, but isn’t worth paying for if you are unable to stream it free of charge.