Nerdly » HorRHIFFic 2024: ‘Just One Last Thing’ Review

29th Feb2024

HorRHIFFic 2024: ‘Just One Last Thing’ Review

by Phil Wheat

Stars: Georgiana Gillespie, Rebecca Banner, Vanessa Cruickshank, Stephen Good, Sarah Somerville, Caroline Burns Cooke, Tony De Souza, Cameron Wright, Lisa Ronaghan, Paul Hughes | Written and Directed by Alexandra Gillespie

Etta (Georgiana Gillespie) takes a job managing a halfway house between life and death, where newly deceased guests have the chance to do one last thing before crossing over. When her murdered friend Olivia (Rebecca Banner) arrives in breach of all the rules, she must juggle her responsibilities to the guests, help her friend get justice and not get caught by her interfering boss.

It’s hard to believe that Just One Last Thing is the debut feature from writer/director Alexandra Gillespie. What’s even harder to believe is that Gillespie turned screenwriter after working in finance for years and then decided to get her scripts made she would also have to direct too! Why hard to believe? Because Just One Last Thing is a brilliantly accomplished film that doesn’t look or feel ANYTHING like a debut feature, let alone a film made by someone with zero experience (beyond a few shorts) in writing OR directing!

Whilst Gillespie’s film is screening at a horror festival, Just One Last Thing is less a horror and more a quirky comedy-drama, one with a supernatural element to it. Think something akin to the BBC comedy Ghosts but quainter, quirkier and more heartfelt than that show, or its US remake, ever was. Yet for all the light-heartedness of Gillespie’s script, she doesn’t shy away from focusing on the hard-hitting aspects of its story when it needs to – really ramping up the drama and the emotion in doing so.

What helps the dichotomy of the quirky, fun nature of a halfway house for the dead with solving the brutal murder of Olivia is the cast. All of whom are uniformly excellent. All of Just One Last Thing‘s cast are eminently likeable and the casting choices feel spot on – those playing the dead, who are spending time in the halfway house, manage to bring a real sense of life to the dead; playing the situation for laughs but not taking things too far into the absurd – because the situation is certainly absurd. In fact, no one plays this as anything but normal, if it wasn’t for the fact we’re told the home is a way station for the dead you’d think this was a story about a carer in an old folk’s home!

Speaking of carers, Georgiana Gillespie is – frankly – a revelation. No credits on IMDb, undoubtedly related to writer/director Alexandra Gillespie, it would seem like Georgiana has been plucked out of nowhere. But it feels like there couldn’t be anyone else more suited to the role. She exudes warmth and a kind, loving nature without even saying a word. But when she does her character becomes even more likeable. And the way Georgiana manages to bring a real sense of fun and compassion to a role (in terms of her character’s job) that should be a sad one – helping the dead cross over could be a downbeat job – but not the way Georgiana performs. She is a light throughout the film, even when her character has to deal with the trauma and pain of the death of her best friend Olivia.

A surprisingly light, yet meaningful, slice of genre fare to be screening at a horror festival, Just One Last Thing is a perfect example of just how varied the “horror” genre can be – I certainly didn’t expect a supernatural comedy (for that’s what this is, even with the darker elements of the story) to bring me to near tears at it’s conclusion, that’s for sure!

One of the best films I’ve seen so far this year, if you get a chance to catch Just One Last Thing on the festival circuit I would recommend you do so wholeheartedly. Fingers crossed, somewhere down the line, Gillespie’s film manages to find a wide mainstream release – it certainly deserves it.