Night Patrol (FANTASTIC) Sinks Its Teeth into Policing
Title: Night Patrol
First Non-Festival Release: January 16, 2025 (Theatrical Release)
Director: Ryan Prows
Writer: Tim Cairo, Jake Gibson, Shaye Ogbonna
Runtime: XX Minutes
Starring: RJ Cyler, Justin Long, Jermaine Fowler, Dermot Mulroney
Where to Watch: Check out where to find it here
This film’s review was written after its screening at the Fantastic Film Festival in 2025.
Given the ongoing centuries of violence perpetrated by white people using police (and police-like entities) as a proxy force for bloodshed, it’s understandable that Black Americans have a contentious relationship with law enforcement. Draining communities of their life force through brutal practices, Night Patrol shows the dangers of letting this violence go unchecked.
Wazi (RJ Cyler) has grown up in this violence all his life. Torn between his mother’s (Nicki Micheaux) belief in Zulu mysticism, his brother Carr’s (Jermaine Fowler) decision to join the LAPD, and his ties to the gang his late father was involved with when he was alive, his life gets more complicated when he witnesses a murder. Unfortunately for Wazi, the killers are LAPD’s most notorious gang task forces: Night Patrol. With the cops hot on his trail, Wazi discovers just how deep the corruption goes in the department when he fights for his life, and the lives of his neighbors, when they pull up to his block one fateful night.
Thoroughly upsetting as it is important, Night Patrol is a systemic takedown of the roots of white supremacy in policing.
Beginning as a gritty crime thriller, Night Patrol morphs into something far more sinister when it begins breaking down the force wreaking havoc in Wazi’s community. Night Patrol shines a light on the type of corruption that runs rampant in police stations across the country. Covering up fellow officer’s crimes, profiling, surveilling, among other things, the police have used underhanded tactics to uphold institutional systems rather than seeking justice for the people they purport to serve. Personifying police violence in the form of monstering the Night Patrol, writer/director Ryan Prows makes it very clear who is responsible for the violence. The shift into pure horror territory allows the metaphor to linger.
As the tension escalates, Prows ratchets up the stakes, unraveling the mystery behind the origin of violence in overpoliced communities. With each scene, Night Patrol twists the knife further into Wazi. Focusing on Wazi’s penchant for showing up at the wrong place at the wrong time, Night Patrol puts him through the wringer. Confronting police officers, rival gang members, and his own family, Wazi realizes the demons that have followed him his whole life can be traced back to the core mission of the Night Patrol. The revelations are nauseating but for anyone aware of the abuses police inflict on marginalized communities, they aren’t surprising. Wazi’s experience may be singular in how it plays out but the ensuing violence, no matter how supernaturally influenced, is sadly familiar to overpoliced communities.
Excellent performances ground the more fantastic elements to the picture. RJ Cyler leads as Wazi, imbuing a sense of urgency and humor to the horror actioner. Playing straight against the more excitable characters, Cyler shoulders much of Night Patrol. Responsible for the film’s emotional and moral core, Cyler brings sufficient strength and presence to the role. Justin Long and Jermaine Fowler add balance to the film as the peak behind the LAPD’s curtain. Both dealing with their own moral quandaries, they serve as a foil to the Night Patrol officers while also showing how the police force can change even the most well-meaning recruits. Long and Fowler play slightly different flavors of this conflict, but both play it with enough authenticity that it makes the final confrontations all the more electric. Without the excellent cast, the impact of Night Patrol would surely be blunted.
Perhaps the biggest strength of Night Patrol comes to its consistently dark and unnerving approach to horror. Blending action, crime, and horror conventions together, Night Patrol prioritizes bigger sequences and understands how to potentiate a scene’s impact. The confrontations are sharp and succinct. Making for swift antagonists that don’t play with their food, the officers of Night Patrol peacock while making the blood of innocents flow. Vicious and resilient, there’s almost a cartoonishly evil quality to their perseverance. Because of the unrelenting nature of their condition, the force operates like a hive mind, taking on a more sinister, larger-than-life presence. In Night Patrol, the dangers of city life are magnified without minimization. Inspired, sometimes over-the-top, yet always intense, Night Patrol executes delicious indie action horror goodness with precision.
This film will likely piss off a lot of the right people for all the right reasons, which makes it special and worth seeking out for any discerning genre cinephile. Using people’s very real fear of police officers to create a new type of boogeyman, Night Patrol demonstrates the necessity of excising corrupt cops from the force and questioning the systems that allow them to live on for so long. The supernatural elements may tip the tonal tightrope too far into silliness at times, but the physical and metaphorical representation of the violence feels fresh all the same. Night Patrol is a sleek Shudder original that is perfect for a midnight movie.
Overall Score? 8/10
