Talk about burying the lead ... (Open 24 Hours, 2018)

Open 24 Hours, 2018, directed by Padraig Reynolds, streamed on Prime Video, 2.5 stars.

This was a 1-star movie for about 45 minutes. A young parolee convicted for setting her serial-killing boyfriend on fire is forced to take an overnight job at a remote 24-hour gas station. Serial-killing boyfriend escapes prison and turns up seeking revenge at said gas station on parolee's first night on the job.

It took 45 minutes for writer-director Padraig Reynolds to set up that story with the convoluted maguffin that young parolee is paranoid delusional and takes medications to suppress hallucinations and yadayadayada. And, of course, we know all along that she will start seeing real things but think they're not real things and yadayadayada.

And then, once we finally get to the point 45 minutes in when we know what she's seeing is really real, we get a thrilling, great-looking, action-packed slasher set piece to ride for close to an hour. 

Had those first 45 minutes been left on the cutting-room floor, this movie could have been a thrilling 4-star indie horror flick.

As it sits, though, I'm giving Open 24 Hours a marginal thumbs-down because that first half is such a ridiculous, lame slog of a film. 

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