Even after 30 years of violent rivalry, Los Angeles still has a rampant gang epidemic between the infamous Crips vs Bloods. Thus, the LAPD has developed a special unit to transform the crime-ridden streets in South Central which they call…Night Patrol.  

Managed with an intense, cult-like mentality, Night Patrol is a coveted group of strong-armed officers (i.e. Mike Ferguson’s presence in uniform says it all!), who parade through the low-income downtown areas with guns blazing and the fear of God emulating from their fierce demeanor. They are bad-ass, unflinching and harboring a deep dark secret which we will be privy to see soon enough.  

Justin Long portrays determined daytime beat cop Hawkins, with a longtime desire to infiltrate the Night Patrol and uncover the hidden corruption that links this bullish group of men to the untimely death of LAPD’s Chief of Police (a welcome back to Dermot Mulroney’s classy stature!), also known as Hawkins’ dad. As with any pledging process comes the “hell week” or night, where Hawkins is forced to proceed with horrific use of force to evoke and intimidate the community alongside his new band of brothers.  

Subsequently, Night Patrol is divided into 3 parts due to the range and plot tangents we need to keep up with:

“Part I: LAPD” takes us through a day in the life of Hawkins and his partner, Zack whose younger brother, Wazzy, happens to be a Crips member as they sweep the streets after Night Patrol has unknowingly taken their fix upon Wazzy and his girlfriend, a member of the Bloods. As the story unfolds into beyond “wrong place, wrong time”, both officers scramble to cover their asses while solving the gruesome crime scene of an appallingly dismembered/half eaten body scattered around a hidden street.

Is this the work of wild coyotes? Mountain lions? Something…. unearthly?

Choosing door number three, I have surrendered to the soon-to-come pandemonium of another life form, savagely released into neighborhoods after dark who may (or may not?) be associated with the night patrol team.  

“Part II: Night Patrol” becomes more engaging as we get a firsthand look from the menacing police force gang’s approach to fighting crime in the suburbs. In a nutshell, no holds bar. Once Zack and Wazzy’s mystical-yielding mom is filled in to the destructive terror that is coming for them, she leads a Zulu group of her own to fight back the supernatural powers taking over their territory.  

“Part III: The Courts” is the battlefield of complete annihilation as creatures appear in full throttle, indiscriminate brutality is blasted to the forefront and all hell breaks loose, to put it mildly. As Hawkins fights newly formed internal urges to comply with his colleagues, his morality struggles against his bloodlust and wavers throughout the vicious warzone. It’s crazy, it’s manic and it’s grisly…in other words, it’s a cool horror film with several layers of complexity that I didn’t see coming. One of these items NOT being the outcome of Justin Long’s character, as he has proven many times over…Long never lasts. Those who have watched Tusk, Barbarian and Jeepers Creepers know what I’m talking about. Nevertheless, there’s always an intriguing ending to his heroic/villainess characters.