""Colors" meets "Sinners" in Ryan Prows' intense "Night Patrol," one of the most buzzed Fantastic Fest premieres of 2025, like it or not. Love it or hate it, and I heard from people in both camps, this brutal genre flick had people here talking about it, and that's sometimes all that really matters when your audience is seeing five movies a day."
"Police officers approach the vehicle, demand that she gets out of the car, and then one whose clearly in charge (played by wrestler C.M. Punk) instructs the new guy named Hawkins ( Justin Long) to shoot her in the head. He complies, setting a dark tone for a film that is willing to go there in terms of violence, language, and racial commentary."
Fantastic Fest pairs familiar titles with risky premieres, producing a mix of expected draws and unpredictable discoveries. Ryan Prows' Night Patrol imagines an LAPD task force of corrupt officers who are literal vampires preying on the community they swore to protect. The film opens with a shockingly violent encounter that sets a brutal tone and foregrounds racial commentary. Central characters include Wazi (RJ Cyler), Hawkins (Justin Long), and Carr (Jermaine Fowler), with a mother figure invoking Zulu imagery and totems to protect residents of the Courts. The film provoked polarized reactions and significant festival buzz.
Read at Roger Ebert
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