If you'd like to be surprised by the Last Night in Soho film, I don't recommend you to watch trailer 3. Also, don't watch trailer 2 beyond 1:25, because it gives away too much of the plot. It basically provides a summary of the film, up to the ending scene, it's only the very last twist that is not shown.
Last Night in Soho, movie (2021) - Watch trailer 3 on YouTube
Watch trailer 3 in German
Watch the trailer 2 on YouTube - Watch the trailer 2 in Hungarian
video © Focus Features & Perfect Universe Investment
Article updated: 2023.10.07
The Last Night in Soho (2021) is a contemporary fantasy mystery / thriller film. The movie was reviewed by Kadmon.
Product: Last Night in Soho, movie (2021)
Original title: Last Night in Soho
Series: -
Setting: contemporary fantasy Earth
Product type: Film, Genre: contemporary fantasy mystery /thriller, Style: contemporary fantasy, mystery, thriller, horror, ghosts
Release: Premiere: 2021.09.04 (Venice Film Festival), Release: 2021.10.22
Reviewer: Kadmon, Type: Male, 40s, Preferences: Immersive, logical story, consistent setting, prefers surprises to spoilers, prefers establishing elements before referencing them
Watched: very recent (2021.11), first time
Rating: Good (2+ out of 3 points), Enjoyment: Good (2+ out of 3 points)
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This is my review of Last Night in Soho, a contemporary fantasy mystery / thriller movie from 2021. It's about a girl moving into a big city, where she has to confront the darkness of the past. The Last Night in Soho film is interesting, I recommend it.
Last Night in Soho, movie (2021)
image © Focus Features & Perfect Universe Investment
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Review (spoiler-free) - Last Night in Soho, movie (2021)
I knew the movie was about to come, and I've seen the trailer, so I knew it will be some mystery / fantasy story. Luckily, I didn't remember much of that trailer. When it came out, I didn't hear people talk about it, so I assumed it's not bad, but also not especially good, so I didn't run to the cinema. However, when I had the chance, I decided to watch it, because I was interested by the story.
The Last Night in Soho movie is about a girl moving into a big city, where she has to confront the darkness of the past. As she dwells deeper into it, even her own sanity is questioned.
The story is great, and engaging. We get proper introductions and foreshadowings, and there are plenty of twists. The pacing is consistent, except for probably the very end. There are character arcs for two main characters. I didn't find any logical problems.
The cinematography is great, it is interesting visually. The scenes set in the 1960s were believable. The dream sequences were imaginative.
The main protagonist is good, well developed. The rest of the characters are more like stereotypes, but that works in this story. Their portrayal by the actors is fine. The choice of actors was good. The character of Thomasin McKenzie was very likeable, I could watch her play this role all day long.
The music (by Steven Price) is very good, a great mix of period music and original score.
Last Night in Soho is an interesting contemporary fantasy mystery / thriller, I think fans of the genre will enjoy it.
My experience
Wow, it was refreshing to see the Last Night in Soho (2021) movie, it had good writing, good actors, great execution. It was clever, had enough twists, I really enjoyed it.
Rating: Good (2+ out of 3 points). Last Night in Soho is a well-made film.
Enjoyment: Good (2+ out of 3 points). Last Night in Soho is interesting, I liked it.
Rewatchability: Probably. I think it's mostly the surprise of the story that makes you feel interested, but the style was captivating enough to make it worth to do further viewings.
Chance of watching it again: There's a chance. Now that I know the story, there's probably no need to watch it again, but I liked it enough that I might watch it in the right circumstances.
Chance of watching a sequel: High. I'd sure watch it, especially if I can see Thomasin McKenzie as the protagonist.
Last Night in Soho, movie (2021)
image © Focus Features & Perfect Universe Investment
Will you enjoy this?
If you like mystery or thriller movies, you might like Last Night in Soho.
If you like straight horror or action thriller movies, you might like the film, although there are not many action scenes or scary scenes in the Last Night in Soho movie.
If you like mystery research stories, you might like Last Night in Soho, although the focus is not really on the research and investigation.
If you like found footage style horror films, you might be interested in this.
If you like jump scare ghost movies, you might enjoy this, although it's more frightening than scary.
If you prefer visuals over story, you'll still get plenty of nice scenes.
Watching for plot points
If you are interested in mystery stories, I think it's worth watching the Last Night in Soho movie for the plot points.
Should you watch this on your own screen at home, or is it worth going to the cinema?
The visuals definitely look better if you watch it in cinema, but you'll probably get the same amount of intellectual enjoyment.
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Last Night in Soho, movie (2021)
image © Focus Features & Perfect Universe Investment
Review with spoilers - Last Night in Soho, movie (2021)
I really liked the Last Night in Soho movie.
Cover
The cover of the movie is okay, it doesn't say much, it looks interesting, but it doesn't spoil the movie.
The trailer
The trailers are basically a substitute for watching the movie. It's only the last twist that's not shown.
If you prefer spoilers, they can be great trailers for the Last Night in Soho film. If you prefer to avoid spoilers, they will ruin the movie for you.
Promise of the first scene
A girl moves to the big city, while having visions of her dead mother. I assume the mother will help him in some way, and the visions could probably become worse as she will be stressed in London.
Execution: It was the second version, the bad visions. I consider the promise fulfilled.
Plot summary / Synopsis
There's a girl (Thomasin McKenzie as Eloise "Ellie" Turner), who wants to be a fashion designer. She gets a letter, admitting her to a fashion school (London College of Fashion), requiring her to move to London. She says farewell to her grandma, and to the vision of her dead mother. Her mother was also a fashion designer, but the couldn't take the life in the big city, and after a mental breakdown, she committed suicide.
She gets to a dormitory, and meets some other girls. There's also a guy (Michael Ajao as John) who tries to be her friend. They go together out to have some fun before the first day of school. She accidentally hears that they say mean things about her, so she leaves their company. She can't sleep in her bed, because her room-mate brings a boy there, so she leaves her room, and the party over there makes her oversleep. She arrives to school slightly late.
She decides to rent a room in an old house. She likes it, even though it's a bit more expensive than usual, because some tenants just disappeared without paying. While talking about the history of the house, she tells the landlady (Diana Rigg as Alexandra Collins) that she'd wish to live in the '60s. When she goes to sleep, she finds herself in the '60s, in the body of a good looking young woman (Anya Taylor-Joy as Sandie). She doesn't control the woman, just observes what's happening.
The woman wants to be a singer in a bar, so she gets together with the manager (Matt Smith as Jack) to secure the position. The woman lives in the same room she does. When she tries to touch her, she wakes up in the present.
That day she draws images of the woman in school, and starts to design a dress like the one she were in her dream. She starts to dress and act like the woman of her dreams. There's a bruise on her neck, that she thinks is probably a love bite from last night's kissing with the bar manager. She prepares for the night to come, so she'd dream again. She takes up a bartending job, so she could get some extra money. An old man (Terence Stamp as Lindsay) tries to talk to her, but she brushes him off.
The manager takes the woman to a closed theatre. Where she auditions to the manager of the theatre. She gets a small role in a show, but she is told that she has to perform to one of the upper managers. She tries to get out of this situation, but her manager friend wants to force her, so the woman escapes. She finds the room, where the girl sleeps. A faceless man tries to force himself onto the woman, but the girl shouts at him. Then the girl wakes up, but she has a short nightmare, as if the man is still in the room.
Her dreams start to get more intrusive. The girl sees the woman forced into undesirable acts. The girl gets angry at the situation.
That day, after a drink, she sees apparitions of faceless men. She asks her friend to stay with her, as she doesn't want to sleep. Although she doesn't sleep, she still sees that the manager attack the woman, and she is convinced that she was killed by him.
The girl thinks that she has these visions because she has to avenge the murder of the woman. She goes to the police, to report the murder. They don't really take her seriously, but promise that they'll call her if they find anything. The girl goes to the library to find who was the woman, but the apparitions of faceless men chase her out. She attacks an apparitions, but it turns out she almost hurt her classmate. She sees the woman and runs after her. She tries to confront the old man, who she thinks is the killer, but he denies that, telling her that the woman is still alive. While they fight, the old man is hit by a car. It turns out that he was not the manager she thought he is, but a policeman, who inspected the area.
The girl has enough, and wants to leave the city. She asks her friend, and they go to her apartment. The landlady talks to her over a tea, admitting that it might have been an innocent girl, who died in that room - it was her innocence that died. The landlady was the woman when she was young, and it was not acting she did, but prostitution. She just tried to imagine that it's just acting she does, and tried to forget the faces of the men. Also it was not the manager who killed the woman, but the other way around - the woman stabbed the manager. Then she killed all of her clients, and hid their bodies in the house. She admits that she is telling the young girl all of this, because she has poisoned her tea. The friend rings the doorbell, and the landlady prepares to kill him. The girl is still able to move somewhat, and when she tries to get out to alert the friend, she accidentally starts a fire. The friend still gets stabbed, and the landlady is about to kill the girl, when the apparitions appear to stop her, and ask for the help of the girl. The apparitions of faceless men ask the girl to kill the landlady, but she refuses. She understands why the landlady did what she did, as she had lived through her life. As the sirens get closer, the landlady decides to cut her throat, but the girl stops her. The landlady sits down in the burning room, while the girl gets to her friend, to save him.
After all this, her collection of dresses is successful in school. Her mother appears in a mirror to her. Then the woman also appears.
The setting
The story is set in contemporary London, and also in the 1960s London.
Ghosts exist, and they can appear to those who have special senses for them.
Last Night in Soho, movie (2021)
image © Focus Features & Perfect Universe Investment
The message of the story
I'm not sure there's one. "Big cities are dangerous places"? The writer said something like "It's dangerous to romanticise the past, nostalgia can hide the darker parts."
The structure of the story
The scenes of the Last Night in Soho film are played in sequence, following the same storyline. There are visions that act as flaahbacks to the past, and there's also one real flashback at the end.
The girl, Ellie is the single viewpoint character.
It has the usual arc of the dramatic structure - introduction, action, resolution.
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Things I liked
- I like the character of Ellie, and the choice of actor.
- I liked the 1960s setting.
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How does it compare to the other works of the creators?
From the works of the writer / director (Edgar Wright), I've seen a couple of movies, that he had both written and directed. Shaun of the Dead (2004), Hot Fuzz (2007) was brilliant, I recommend them. Spaced (1999-2001) was good. I didn't like Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010), The World's End (2013). Last Night in Soho is very different from all of his previous works, although all of them have a touch of darkness lurking in the background.
From the scripwriter (Krysty Wilson-Cairns), I've seen 1917 (2019), that was very good and intense. I hope to see more of her works get made into feature films. I also hope that she'll take on acting roles, as she looks great on screen.
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Last Night in Soho, movie (2021)
image © Focus Features & Perfect Universe Investment
Analysis of the story - Last Night in Soho, movie (2021)
I really liked the story, I didn't find any problems that would have prevented me from enjoying Last Night in Soho.
Problematic elements
Unanswered questions
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Possibilities of improvement
How it could have been better?
Give a little bit more screentime for the landlady.
It would have been nice to give some role to her mother. For example, she could have been appearing in mirrors, trying to prevent her daughter to do things, but the girl didn't notice her, because she was determined to do that thing.
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Behind the scenes
Thoughts about the reviews of others
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Last Night in Soho, movie (2021)
image © Focus Features & Perfect Universe Investment
Uses for the film - Last Night in Soho, movie (2021)
Plot
- Girl moves from small town to big city.
- There's a murder, and the ghost wants revenge on the murderer.
- A character is able to feel ghostly presences, the ghosts can show the character dreams.
Scenes
- The disco chase scene and the library chase scene are great to show apparitions confronting a character.
- The murder scene can be shown to players, as a vision, and they will be just as confused as the girl was, about who is getting murdered. After the reveal, the players can be shown the full murder scene, as told by the landlady.
Scenario ideas - Role-playing game scenario ideas
- One of the characters sees a vision of a murder at the place they stay (inn, hotel, apartment house). If they don't do anything about finding the murderer and avenging the dead, more and more apparitions will come to harass the character, and the whole team. It turns out that the owner of the place tends to kill people, and hide their bodies inside the house.
Scenario ideas - Wargame scenario ideas
- Apparitions: There are semi-corporeal beings (ghosts, nanotech holograms, invincible robots gone mad) on the playing area. After setting up the playing area, put a couple of apparition models on it. (If you don't have ghosts, you can use unpainted grey models, they are perfect for this role.) When a model gets within one movement distance (10 cm) of an apparition, roll a d6. On an 5-6, the apparition gets angry, and tries to frighten the model away by charging at it. Roll a Morale test, otherwise, the model takes a step back, and the apparition gets back to its starting place. If the model stands its ground, than the apparition starts to fight it. If the apparition hits the model, nothing happens, as it cannot hurt it, but it distracts the model, so it cannot do anything on that turn. If the apparition doesn't hit the model, it loses interest, and goes back to its starting place, or just moves once in a random direction. The apparitions can't be hurt by the forces either, unless they have some special weapons (magical or energy weapons might work).
Miniatures - 1/50-1/60 (28-32mm scale)
Civilians: Human-sized (S3) modern (advanced) human female / male civilian.
1960s civilians: Human-sized modern human civilians, in 1960s period clothing.
Faceless men: Human-sized modern human civilians, in 1960s period clothing, with blurred, deformed faces.
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Similar stories - Last Night in Soho, movie (2021)
Movies
Books of Blood (2020): There's a hotel, where the owners paralyse the guests, and hide their bodies inside the house, to be kept alive. Last Night in Soho was a better story.
Sixth Sense (1999): There's a kid, who can see the ghosts of dead people. He helps them finish the things that got them stuck here.
The New Mutants (2020): There are apparitions of faceless men, who try to get Anya Taylor-Joy. It turns out they are visions of men who abused her sexually. Last Night in Soho was a better story.
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Frequently asked questions - Last Night in Soho, movie (2021)
Is the Last Night in Soho film based on a book or comics?
No, Last Night in Soho is not based on either books or comics.
Is the Last Night in Soho film a remake or reboot?
No, the Last Night in Soho film is neither a remake nor a reboot.
Is there a post credit scene in Last Night in Soho? Does Last Night in Soho have end credit scenes?
No, there's no post credit scene in Last Night in Soho. Although we see shots of London scenes during the credits.
Where can I see Last Night in Soho? Where can I watch Last Night in Soho online? Is Last Night in Soho available on Netflix? Is Last Night in Soho on Amazon?
As of 2021.11.29, Last Night in Soho is available on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Microsoft Movies, Xfinity, YouTube, and Vudu.
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Resources - Last Night in Soho, movie (2021)
Official
Last Night in Soho: Official website.
Focus Features: Last Night in Soho: Official article.
Information
IMDB: Last Night in Soho (2021): Database article.
WikiPedia: Last Night in Soho: Database article.
Letterboxd: Last Night in Soho 2021: Database article.
Rotten Tomatoes: Last Night in Soho 2021: Database article.
Creation
: Concept art article.¤
Reviews with no spoilers - Last Night in Soho film (2021)
Mike and Jay (for RedLetterMedia): Half in the Bag: 2021 Movie Catch-Up (part 1 of 2): Review video about the Last Night in Soho film with no spoilers.¤
Reviews with spoilers - Last Night in Soho film (2021)
: Review article of the Last Night in Soho movie, with spoilers. Includes a very detailed plot summary.¤
Analysis - Last Night in Soho movie (2021)
: Analysis video, explaining the finale of Last Night in Soho.¤
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Buying the product - Last Night in Soho, movie (2021)
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Have you seen the Last Night in Soho film? How do you like the movie? Would you recommend it to others? Do you know reviews or resources you'd like to add? What further thoughts do you have about it? Tell your opinion in the comments!
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