12 Hour Shift

{{Infobox film

| name = 12 Hour Shift

| image = File:12 Hour Shift (2020) poster.jpg

| alt =

| caption = Promotional release poster

| director = Brea Grant

| writer = Brea Grant

| screenplay =

| story =

| producer = Christina McLarty Arquette
David Arquette
Jordan Wayne Long
Tara Perry
Matt Glass

| starring = Angela Bettis
Chloe Farnworth
Nikea Gamby-Turner
Kit Williamson
David Arquette

| narrator =

| cinematography = Matt Glass

| editing = Amy McGrath

| music = Matt Glass

| studio = HCT Media{{cite web|url=https://deadline.com/2020/04/david-christina-arquette-production-plan-coronavirus-arkansas-1202921198/|title=Reopening Hollywood: David & Christina Arquette Lay Out Bold Plan To Open Production In Arkansas & Brave COVID-19 Shutdown|last=White|first=Peter|date=April 30, 2020|website=Deadline Hollywood|access-date=June 20, 2020}}

| distributor = Magnet Releasing

| released = {{Film date|2020|09|22|Fantasia|ref1={{cite web|url=https://fantasiafestival.com/en/film/12-hour-shift|title=12 Hour Shift|publisher=Fantasia International Film Festival|access-date=September 21, 2020|archive-date=November 6, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201106163858/https://fantasiafestival.com/en/film/12-hour-shift|url-status=dead}}}}

| runtime = 86 minutes{{cite web|url=https://tribecafilm.com/films/12-hour-shift-2020|title=12 Hour Shift {{!}} 2020 Tribeca Film Festival|publisher=Tribeca Film Festival|access-date=June 20, 2020|archive-date=September 21, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200921001304/https://tribecafilm.com/films/12-hour-shift-2020|url-status=dead}}

| country = United States

| language = English

| budget =

| gross = $6,820{{cite web |url= https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl2304082689/weekend/ |title=12 Hour Shift (2020) |website=Box Office Mojo |accessdate= October 31, 2020}}{{cite web |url= https://m.the-numbers.com/movie/12-Hour-Shift |title=12 Hour Shift (2020) |website=The Numbers |accessdate= October 31, 2020}}

}}

12 Hour Shift is a 2020 American black comedy horror film written and directed by Brea Grant and starring Angela Bettis, Kit Williamson, and David Arquette. Bettis plays Mandy, a drug-addicted nurse involved in a black market organ-trading scheme in 1999.{{cite web|url=https://www.salon.com/2020/05/06/12-hour-shift-brea-grant-tribeca/|title=In comedy-thriller "12 Hour Shift," blood and chaos reigns as a murderer terrorizes a hospital|last=Kramer|first=Gary M.|date=May 6, 2020|website=Salon|access-date=June 20, 2020}} Arquette was one of the film's producers, alongside his wife Christina Arquette, and Jordan Wayne Long, Tara Perry, and Matt Glass.{{cite web|url=https://www.avclub.com/david-arquette-clocks-in-for-a-12-hour-shift-in-this-ex-1842985775|title=David Arquette clocks in for a 12 Hour Shift in this exclusive clip from Brea Grant's new movie|last=Rife|first=Katie|date=April 22, 2020|work=The A.V. Club|access-date=June 20, 2020}}{{cite magazine|url=https://ew.com/movies/12-hour-shift-trailer-brea-grant/|title=12 Hour Shift trailer teases Brea Grant's bloody black-comedy|last=Collis|first=Clark|date=April 15, 2020|magazine=Entertainment Weekly|access-date=June 20, 2020}} The film also features music composed by Glass.

12 Hour Shift was scheduled to have its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2020 prior to the festival being postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Distribution rights were acquired by Magnet Releasing in June 2020, and it premiered at the Fantasia International Film Festival in September 2020. The film earned positive reviews from critics, who praised the cast—especially Bettis and Farnworth—and humor.

Plot

In Arkansas in 1999, Mandy is an overworked nurse with a drug addiction. In addition to stealing patient medications, she finances her drug habit by harvesting dead patients' organs. Desk nurse Karen is Mandy's partner, and Mandy has recently brought on her cousin Regina to transport the organs to trafficker Nicholas.

One night, at the start of her 12-hour shift, Mandy hands over a harvested kidney in a cooler to Regina behind the hospital. Regina accidentally leaves the cooler with the kidney, instead carrying a cooler with a soda can to Nicholas. Nicholas demands Regina get the kidney or he will take hers. Regina cannot find the kidney at the hospital. Mandy refuses to help her, so Regina dresses like a nurse and kills one of Mandy's patients by pouring bleach down his throat. Regina expects that Mandy will be able to extract the dead patient's kidney, but Mandy angrily explains that he was on dialysis, so his kidneys are unusable.

Police arrive to investigate the murdered patient. Regina attacks more people and threatens to expose the organ trafficking operation unless Mandy helps her. Mandy agrees and tells Regina to wait outside. Regina sees one of Nicholas's henchman, and in a panic kills a passing skateboarder to take his kidney, but ends up taking his bladder instead. Meanwhile, inside the hospital Mandy kills a patient with an overdose and manages to harvest his kidney. She leaves the kidney in another cooler by the vending machine, but it has disappeared by the time Regina gets to it.

Nicholas's henchman Mikey, who has entered the hospital and terrorized staff and patients, prepares to drag Regina away, but she desperately suggests that they kidnap a comatose patient so that Nicholas can take all his organs. The comatose patient is Mandy's abusive, drug-addicted half-brother. Mandy intervenes, and together she and Regina manage to overcome Mikey. The police investigation incorrectly determines that Mikey had been committing the murders around the hospital. Regina leaves. Hospital guest Mr. Kent suddenly announces that he has been finding the coolers containing kidneys all night; the exhausted Mandy leaves to take a nap in her truck. The film ends with Mandy re-entering the hospital to begin her next shift, followed shortly thereafter by Nicholas.

Cast

{{Cast list|

Angela Bettis as Mandy
David Arquette as Jefferson
Chloe Farnworth as Regina
Mick Foley as Nicholas
Kit Williamson as Officer Myers
Nikea Gamby-Turner as Karen
Tara Perry as Dorothy
Brooke Seguin as Janet
Dusty Warren as Mikey
Tom DeTrinis as Mr. Kent
Thomas Hobson as Derrick
Julianne Dowler as Cathy
Briana Lane as Cheryl Williams
Sydney Steinberg as Denise Hamford
Taylor Alden as Shawna
Missy Stahr Threadgill as Mrs. Patrick
Scott Dean as Efron
Ted Ferguson as Mr. Collins
Aaron Preusch as Andrew }}

Release

12 Hour Shift was scheduled to have its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2020,{{cite web|url=https://bloody-disgusting.com/movie/3620704/magnet-releasing-acquires-brea-grants-12-hour-shift-starring-angela-bettis-cannes/|title=Magnet Releasing Acquires Brea Grant's '12 Hour Shift' Starring Angela Bettis! [Cannes]|last=Miska|first=Brad|date=June 19, 2020|website=Bloody Disgusting|access-date=June 20, 2020}} but the festival was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In June 2020, it was reported that the film's worldwide distribution rights were acquired by Magnet Releasing.

Reception

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of {{RT data|score}} based on {{RT data|count}} reviews, with an average rating of {{RT data|average}}. The website's critics consensus reads: "Sharp, twisted, and darkly funny, 12 Hour Shift is an uncommonly clever heist caper with a refreshing female-focused twist."{{cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/12_hour_shift|title=12 Hour Shift (2020)|website=Rotten Tomatoes|publisher=Fandango|access-date={{RT data|access date}}}} On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 65 out of 100 based on 11 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.{{cite web |url= https://www.metacritic.com/movie/12-hour-shift |title=12 Hour Shift Reviews |website=Metacritic |access-date=October 1, 2020 }}

Hoai-Tran Bui of /Film praised Bettis's performance, and wrote that the film "has a sick sense of humor that makes its washed-out setting the perfect blank canvas for writer and director Grant to paint her gleefully bloody caper."{{cite web|url=https://www.slashfilm.com/12-hour-shift-review/|title='12 Hour Shift' Review: A Botched Black Market Deal Turns Into a Bloody Hospital Thriller [Tribeca]|last=Bui|first=Hoai-Tran|date=May 28, 2020|website=/Film|access-date=June 20, 2020}} Meagan Navarro of Bloody Disgusting also lauded Bettis's performance but criticized the film's characterization overall, concluding: "12 Hour Shift is far too ambitious for its own good, playing out like a blood-drenched yet unfocused comedy of frustrating errors."{{cite web|url=https://bloody-disgusting.com/reviews/3613613/tribeca-review-12-hour-shift-escalates-organ-heist-violent-yet-unfocused-comedy-errors/|title=[Review] '12 Hour Shift' Escalates Organ Heist into Violent Yet Unfocused Comedy of Errors|last=Navarro|first=Meagan|date=April 21, 2020|website=Bloody Disgusting|access-date=June 20, 2020}}