Shift

CINEQUEST FILM FESTIVAL 2024 REVIEW! Shift is the first film from writer/director Max Neace. This hard-boiled suspense thriller concerns the night time endeavors of Tom (Connor McGill). He’s a sad sack of a man who just wants a cushy job. Night shift security at a rental storage locker facility should be just that. For many nights, the humdrum, lazy rhythm of the storage facility agrees with him. After all, such a job would allow the creative juices to run wild. This includes endowing his squeaky armchair with a name and personality for Tom. As an homage to Hitchcockian suspense classics, he christened his chair “Grace” after Grace Kelly, of course.

Things are going along swimmingly until September 1998, when Scarlet Jones (Allison McAttee) brings a gentleman into her storage locker, and seemingly the gentleman does not leave. This arouses Tom’s suspicion. Before long, Tom is shifting the facility’s cameras to track the movements of Mrs. Jones and her gentlemen callers. In addition, Tom has taken to occasionally phoning into a late-night detective talk show.

Events come to a head when Tom decides to investigate further the disappearances of men in Mrs. Jones’ locker. Contacting a former employee, Tom is granted a potential lead. However, will Tom be able to explore this mystery? Or will he be terminated before he digs in any further? For answers to these questions and more, gentle reader, you will have to watch Shift for yourself.

“…Tom decides to investigate further the disappearances of men in Mrs. Jones’ locker.”

Neace has made a wonderfully suspenseful potboiler. In the fine tradition of Hitchcockian suspense, it poses all the elements of a femme fatale, a bored and intensely curious observer, and a jealous husband. At one point in the narrative, Tom is confronted by Mr. Jones (Eli Franks), who confides in Tom that he’s aware of what transpires in his storage locker. This admission intensifies the tension experienced between Tom and Grace.

Speaking of Grace, all her dialog is expressed in title cards. Title cards that people who work at the storage facility can clearly hear. Both Hal (Sean O’Bryan) and Tom hold a conversation with Grace. Grace is a deeply poetic soul and clearly has a penchant for detective fiction. Grace is quite possibly the most interesting character.

As first films go, Shift is a solid introduction to the genre work Max Neace is most intrigued by: stories of suspense mired in the mundane. Is there anything more pedestrian than a storage space warehouse? Here in this humdrum locale terrible and magnificent drama of the most violent nature unfolds. In a way, this is much like a great and secret show. The sort of thing you never expect to see. Such is the way with the good suspense films.

I must admit, while there are some less-than-smooth spots, and the film might possibly run a little longer than it needs to; Shift is still a rewarding experience. If you enjoy the films of Alfred Hitchcock or even the Sam Spade adventures, Shift is the film for you.

Shift screened at the 2024 Cinequest Film Festival.