I didn't expect much but was really impressed with this film. Its best not to spoil anything but this was a unique experience. Some of the script could be sharper but decent acting from Anna Taylor Joy and Thomasin Mckenzie keep this engrossing throughout. Creepy in places but essentially plays more as a mystery horror. 4/5
In the present day 18yo Ellie goes to London full of longing for the 60s vibe, but she’s a troubled soul. This is a film that lures you in with its 60s enthusiasm then straps you in for a wild journey in and out of the 60s, complete with 60s soundtrack. The less you know about the plot the better, so (as usual) try to avoid the trailer and spoiler reviews such as the CP one. Directed by Edgar Wright with some terrific visual effects and choreography and with the same verve he brought to films such as Hot Fuzz.
The 60s element to Last Night in Soho are much better than the modern-day bits. The modern sections exist in a heightened film reality occupied by other big-budget British films like Bridget Jones (its recognisable as our world but it's a little bit too neat). The technical side to the film is mindblowing, seamless editing, choreography, blocking, and set design all add up to an immaculate looking film. Whilst this all counts, it needs a good story to land on, and this mystery will keep you guessing right up until the end. I was entertained and bewildered for much of the time; it's easy to follow with compelling characters. At times, some of the actors can't sell their characters to us - particularly newcomers Synnove Karlsen, and Michael Ajao who are saddled with stock-characters and bad lines - and I found this jarring. However, the lead actors were uniformly amazing and kept the intrigue levels high.
7 out of 10
Edgar Wright takes a bold step out of his usual giddy pictures of fast-paced action to deliver a far more atmospheric picture. Wright is no stranger to horror for embracing these aspects in his comedies of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. All of these films, however, comes with a wink and nudge for the genre, acting as silly love letters to various genres. Last Night in Soho, however, is Wright’s more grounded horror film. It has all the stuff that makes Wright’s direction so intoxicating but houses it within a truly terrifying tale.
Eloise (Thomasin McKenzie) is a girl with big dreams for the future. Despite having lost her mother, she hopes to make it in London as a fashion designer, attending a school for crafting dresses. She’s been warned by her grandmother, however, that London is a dangerous place. Indeed, she fears the worst when she hasn’t even gotten out of the taxi and finds herself being sexually harassed. Her time in the dorms doesn’t go that well either as the popular girls look down on such a rural girl who makes her own dresses. Eloise may be able to get over seeing the ghost of her mother in the mirror but she can’t quite adapt to a party-girl dorm.
Seeking quieter accommodations, Eloise finds an old house in the city and pays rent for a dusty old room. Eloise, having grown up with a retro allure, appreciates the older things in life. She especially digs the 1960s with all the throwback music she listens to. So she’s initially intrigued when her first night in her new room brings about a dream of the 60s. She finds herself half-embodying that of the lovely Sandie (Anya Taylor-Joy), a 60s singer and dancer. Sandie strolls on into clubs looking her sexiest and trying to get a gig on stage with the help of the suave Jack (Matt Smith). Eloise gets to experience one wild night of Sandie with dancing and drinks. What a dream.
The dream, however, turns out to be more of a haunting. The places Eloise experiences in the dream turn out to be real places in London. While she’s initially inspired by her nightly haunting to design a retro dress, darker memories haunt her soul. Sandie’s history of trying to be famous in the 1960s takes a dark turn. What starts as a desire to sing turns into a drunken haze of clubs as Jack abuses her in more ways than one. The 1960s turn out to be more of a nightmarish experience as Eloise watches helplessly as Sandie descends into a dark world devoid of empathy. All of Eloise’s fears are coming true about London and that maybe the past wasn’t all that alluring. And even then there’s still so much she has to learn when the plot turns into a murder mystery of sorts.
Compared to Wright’s previous films, Soho takes it slow. We get to know Eloise in a more leisurely manner that still feels both brisk and surreal. For instance, the intro of Sandie is one where she slowly makes her way into a club and into the view of Jack. Once they hit the dance floor, however, there’s some clever camera work as Sandie and Eloise trade off seamlessly when dancing with Jack. There are also some genuinely terrifying scenes of the ghosts of those who slept with Sandie that continue to haunt Eloise the closer she comes to finding answers.
Last Night in Soho also features that trademark of a Wright twist to keep things messy but that may also be a hindrance for those expecting a more standard supernatural thriller. The third act goes down a route so wild and visually disorienting that there are some shades of Satoshi Kon’s Perfect Blue amid the hazy end to the deadly past. The message does get a bit muddled with this surprise but the picture still holds its own by being quite the trip for Wright’s first foray into supernatural horror.