Night Patrol (2026) Horror Movie Review | Blood Splattered Vlog

[00:00:00]Greetings fellow gorehounds and welcome back to a blood splattered vlog. I'm the horror guru.

[00:00:04]>> Oh yeah, Jack here.

[00:00:05]>> And he's Cal Jacula. And today we're going to talk about Night Patrol, a new Shudder original from director Ryan Pros about two brothers. One a ex [ __ ] and current cop. The other a current [ __ ] and teenager dealing with the titular night patrol, a division of the police that may or may not be demons.

[00:00:32]>> Yeah.

[00:00:33]>> According to the main characters.

[00:00:35]>> According to the main characters. Yep.

[00:00:37]>> Yeah. Okay. So, this is a hard movie to talk about for multiple reasons. Number one, the main selling point of the movie is kind of a spoiler.

[00:00:43]>> Yeah. It's not really revealed until later in the movie, but you are going into the movie kind of under the belief that there is something supernatural happening with this night patrol, a team of exclusively white cops. Yeah. Who behave like gang members uh who have initiation rituals which include having to kill somebody in order to join them.

[00:01:05]>> Mhm.

[00:01:05]>> This happens pretty early on in the movie. So, I'm safe to say it's not much of a spoiler.

[00:01:09]>> Not much of a spoiler. You get to watch Justin Long shoot somebody in the [ __ ] head >> cuz he's trying to join Night Patrol and he is Xavier, one of the brothers uh partners.

[00:01:19]>> Yep.

[00:01:20]>> This is actually loosely based on a real thing that existed. There was an actual division of the LAPD that was designed to operate like a gang. They weren't supernaturally powered. They were just corrupt [ __ ] who >> They were corrupt [ __ ] who did kill people.

[00:01:35]>> Killed people, extorted people for money and whatnot. Did drugs.

[00:01:39]>> Yep. They did the whole nine yards. So, this movie is a fictionalized version of that real life gang. And in this fictionalized version of the story, the crips and the bloods go up against them in supernatural warfare. [laughter] >> Yeah, that's about as far as you can get before you get into spoilers.

[00:01:58]>> Yes. Because so much of the best parts of this movie are in the second half of the movie when it's revealed more.

[00:02:06]>> Yeah. Yeah. When more is revealed. Cuz a huge chunk of this movie is the characters trying to figure out what the [ __ ] is going on. Even the main character, Wazy, the teenager and current [ __ ] who witnesses one of the night patrol cops shooting someone as part of the initiation ritual at the beginning of the movie. He has no idea about the supernatural element of the night patrol.

[00:02:28]>> Yeah. Yeah. So, all he knows that he watched the cops do a crime, now they want to kill.

[00:02:32]>> Yeah. He has other characters implying that to him, including his own mom, who is apparently the leader of the [ __ ] crips.

[00:02:40]>> Yeah, this is like the local crypt lead.

[00:02:42]He's like the the cry leader of that neighborhood.

[00:02:44]>> And she's fully in on them being demons.

[00:02:47]And she's totally into like Zulu magic and [ __ ] Yeah. Like literal Zulu.

[00:02:52][laughter] >> Yeah. So, the metaphor of this movie is actually pretty clear. This is a movie about racialized police violence. All cops are demons. All cops are demons.

[00:03:03]We'll get into that.

[00:03:04]>> All cops are monsters. A cam.

[00:03:06]>> A cam.

[00:03:06]>> I'll tell you what the actual letter is when we get to the spoiler section cuz that is a uh that is a spoiler. This movie is great.

[00:03:15]>> I didn't know what we were getting into when we turned it on. I wasn't sure where it was going when it started, but man, did I love where it went.

[00:03:23]>> Yes. Yeah. It's a great movie. It keeps you guessing pretty well into it. Yeah.

[00:03:29]Not necessarily as far as what the cops actually are, but definitely in terms of like, okay, what the [ __ ] is going to happen next?

[00:03:37]>> Yeah. And the other thing that the movie is really [ __ ] good at is this is a really good worldbuing movie.

[00:03:43]>> Oh, yeah. Definitely.

[00:03:44]>> Cuz the movie kind of gives you little breadcrumbs as it goes on.

[00:03:49]>> Yeah.

[00:03:49]>> But as it goes on, it like paints this whole world underneath the world we're familiar with. There's a great scene in which a character someone tells him to scan his aura.

[00:04:00]>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:04:01]>> And they use like a metal detector on him and then someone opens up the metal detector cuz it seems to be on the fritz and inside are like these like chakra crystals.

[00:04:08]>> Yeah. [laughter] And and and the whole idea is that the particular like chapter of the bloods that they're dealing with are really into conspiracy theories.

[00:04:17]>> Yes. Yes.

[00:04:18]>> Like they believe in like chemtrails and lizard people and like all that [ __ ] And at least one or two of them are played by actual rappers, including Flying Flying Lotus. Flying Lotus.

[00:04:30]>> Um, another chunk of this movie is centered around Justin Long, who is the white partner to Xavier, the former [ __ ] And he has an entire [ __ ] backstory that's also kind of spoilers about why he's trying to join Night Patrol, but it's not just because he wants to be like a bloodthirsty murderer like them.

[00:04:48]>> He has his own reasons. Uh, I really like his plot because his plot is kind of an example of why we say AAB.

[00:04:56]>> Oh, yeah. Definitely.

[00:04:58]>> Because even though he's the good cop, he still killed someone to join this [ __ ] group, right?

[00:05:04]>> Exactly. Yeah.

[00:05:05]>> To not get into the spoilery stuff later.

[00:05:07]>> Yeah.

[00:05:07]>> And I feel bad that I'm stressing so much the political point of the movie because taking that aside, this movie is also just really fun.

[00:05:17]>> Yeah. It's got funny dialogue. It's very cleverly written. It's got a lot of intrigue in it because you're like trying to figure out like, okay, are they are they demons? Are they werewolves? Are they what are the what the [ __ ] are the [ __ ] night patrol?

[00:05:29]Because there's something about them that's wrong. And they definitely leave people as mangled messes when they're done with them. So, they're eating something. They're either drinking blood or they're [ __ ] eating flesh. I don't know what it is. and watching the world that's being built in this when you're introduced to the bloods and they're [ __ ] using like the chakra [ __ ] uh >> aura thing or when we're introduced to um uh Xavier and um Zaz's mom >> or Waz's mom >> and her whole thing with the Zulu magic and [ __ ] It's just it's just so wonderful. I I thoroughly enjoyed the journey this movie took me on.

[00:06:05]>> Yeah. Yeah. It's it's very very cool.

[00:06:08]And then once you get into the third act, it just becomes a straight up like [ __ ] action horror movie, you know?

[00:06:14]It's bloody, it's gory, it's action-packed, and it's fun.

[00:06:17]>> Can't stress that enough. It's a very fun movie.

[00:06:19]>> I know. Cuz sometimes we like we think about like an AAB movie and you think of something like Training Day >> and there is elements of something like Training Day.

[00:06:26]>> Yeah. Oh, it's totally elements of Training Day.

[00:06:28]>> Especially when you get into like Justin Long's plot and Xavier's plot, but it's way more fun than that.

[00:06:34]>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. [gasps] without ever watering down the message the movie has.

[00:06:40]>> This is another movie that doesn't really believe in subtlety, nor should it.

[00:06:43]>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Subtleties for cowards as far as this movie's concerned.

[00:06:47][laughter] >> But yeah, I thoroughly enjoyed Night Patrol. I think this is a sleeper movie that more people need to check out. I guess what I'm trying to say is a lot of people are sleeping on it and I think they should check it out. It's currently on Shudder, so go check it out on Shudder if you want to watch it for free. And um let's move on to the spoilers because Jesus Christ, there's so much of this movie we haven't talked about yet. So, here we go.

[00:07:12][music] >> Really love the scene when they're arguing about what it is and [snorts] W's character, who is just now finally interacted with them once, is just like they're obviously vampires, [laughter] >> you know, >> and that's what they are. They're 100% vampires, but they're also vampires who obviously have some some sort of like demonic pact because the ritual to join them feels more than just becoming a vampire.

[00:07:37]>> It's more than it's it's more than even like say joining the Lost Boys. Like there's like a whole [ __ ] like >> Yeah, there is definitely something behind them.

[00:07:45]>> But there is an element of Lost Boys in it in that there is a father vampire who's kind of at the center of all of it that you're not really introduced to until later. And it turns out that it's Justin Long's father.

[00:07:57]>> Yes. Cuz Justin Long's character, and this is one of the big spoilers of the movie, he joins the Night Patrol because he believes the Night Patrol killed his father. [snorts] >> Yeah. And it turns out his father is still alive and is the leader.

[00:08:09]>> He's the leader. He's the head vampire of the Night Patrol. In fact, he's probably the one that turned him into vampires in the first place.

[00:08:14]>> Yep. As the head vampire, he also has the extra added ability that he can literally take over any of the other vampires. Yep.

[00:08:21]>> And speak through them like a [ __ ] like the devil, you know? He's the head vampire, but for all intents and purposes, he's the devil. He's the white devil.

[00:08:28]>> Yeah.

[00:08:29]>> In this story. [laughter] >> Yep. And they invade the [ __ ] this one [ __ ] project. Yep. And >> the Crips and Bloods have to team up together to fight them.

[00:08:37]>> To fight them.

[00:08:38]>> Put their differences aside. It's a movie about unity. About uh community.

[00:08:43]>> Beauty and unity. Yeah.

[00:08:44]>> 100%.

[00:08:45]>> And uh yeah, their whole the the the plan is not very subtle. The plan is to go in under the pretext of putting down gang warfare, but what they're really doing is gathering up as many people as possible and draining their blood.

[00:08:57]>> Yeah. They use every single one of their raids as an excuse to drain people of blood. These big [ __ ] like industrialsized [ __ ] like jugs that they fill with [ __ ] people's blood.

[00:09:09]Yeah. Throughout the movie, people are wondering why Wazi was able to survive an encounter with the night patrol at the beginning of the movie. Yeah. Um, and it's because he was wearing a ring.

[00:09:20]Uh, when the [ __ ] night patrol member saw it, ran away scared, like, "What the [ __ ] is that?" And you're wondering, "What the [ __ ] is up with this ring?"

[00:09:27]And you find out later in the movie, the ring is his mom's.

[00:09:29]>> Yeah.

[00:09:30]>> And it's part of her collection of Zulu artifacts.

[00:09:34]>> Yep.

[00:09:34]>> And it turns out that the Zulu magic, the Zulu artifacts, they actually can hurt the vampires and nothing else will.

[00:09:42]None of the other vampire, >> none of the other vampire [ __ ] works.

[00:09:45]These vampires, if you shoot them in the head, their head will just regrow.

[00:09:48]>> Yeah, you can't stake them. Nope.

[00:09:50]>> Well, I mean, you can, but it doesn't stop them. Um, it Yeah, it will temporarily disable them and then they'll get back up like 5 minutes later.

[00:09:58]>> Yeah, that's all it will do. Um, so the only thing you could use is the Zulu [ __ ] magic because the white vampires, their one weakness is the main character's blackness.

[00:10:10]>> Yes, they can't stand blackness.

[00:10:13][laughter] And the Zulu magic, the black magic, literal black magic.

[00:10:17]>> Literal black magic.

[00:10:18]>> Black magic.

[00:10:18]>> That's the only thing that can counter the white vampires. This movie has never heard of the word subtlety. Nor should it.

[00:10:26]>> No. Like cuz by the end, like the dude comes out in like Zulu [ __ ] armor >> and [ __ ] fights them with magic.

[00:10:33]Okay. The effects get a little goofy at this point in the movie.

[00:10:36]>> Yeah. Yeah. But at that point, but at this point, like you're either in or you're out.

[00:10:39]>> But I'm totally in at this point. And he's [ __ ] like magic fighting them like it's a [ __ ] anime with [ __ ] [laughter] >> And you get that badass ending at the end when you find out that all the police force is aware of the night patrol and they're all protecting them.

[00:10:51]>> Yeah.

[00:10:51]>> Uh and and he ends up getting put into that [ __ ] uh um that [ __ ] uh cage with them. And >> yeah, he ends up getting put in a cage.

[00:10:58]It turns into a like, "No, I'm not in here with you. You're in here with me."

[00:11:01]>> And that's when the movie like [ __ ] ends. [laughter] >> It's [ __ ] great. It's a movie where almost every single main character dies by the end of it, but man does it still feel like a triumphant ending despite that.

[00:11:13]>> Well, yeah. Especially because like in in the beginning of the movie, you're kind of you're you're convinced Wazy is going to become an ancillary character pretty quickly and he does not.

[00:11:22]>> He's basically our protagonist cuz he's the one we start off with and he's the one we end with.

[00:11:27]>> Yeah. Yeah. But the movie does this thing where we're like, "Oh, is Justin Long going to be the real main character?"

[00:11:31]>> Yeah. We follow him for a little while until he gets vampireized and then he becomes an antagonist.

[00:11:37]>> Yeah.

[00:11:38]>> But like a a reluctant antagonist, but still an antagonist.

[00:11:41]>> He's still trying to hold on to the idea that he's a good cop.

[00:11:44]>> Yes.

[00:11:45]>> And near near the end when he's when he's actually fighting Wazy, W's like, "Fuck you. You [ __ ] killed my girlfriend in front of me."

[00:11:54]>> Yep. Yep.

[00:11:55]>> Like you're a good cop. Kiss my ass.

[00:11:57]You're just like them.

[00:11:59]>> [ __ ] you.

[00:12:00]>> [ __ ] you.

[00:12:01]Like it doesn't matter how good you say you are, you still killed someone to try to join the night patrol. Yeah. Which is going to paint over anything you do for the rest of this movie. And then you ended up [ __ ] letting them turn you into a vampire. And so now you're one of them anyway. They control you no matter what. You are the good apple that got spoiled by the rest.

[00:12:17]>> But yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You're you're a good apple that got spoiled by the rest of the spoiled bunch. And even then, the good part of that, the good part of that is in question because hearing hearing about your past in the military and hearing about your, you know, the way you're operating now in the police force, are you really a good apple?

[00:12:33]>> Yeah. No, of course not. You just think because you have some sort of sense of like honor compared to some of these other guys that you're the good apple, but you still do terrible things.

[00:12:42]>> Yeah.

[00:12:42]>> And you still cover up terrible things that other people do.

[00:12:45]>> Yep. Yeah. So, what's the point?

[00:12:46]>> What's the point? What's the So, AAV, >> including [ __ ] uh Xavier, the brother is also just completely irredeemable by the end of the story.

[00:12:54]>> Oh, dude. Yeah. When that guy when he finally dies, you're just sort of like, "Yeah, you kind of deserve that, man."

[00:13:01]>> And that's actually something I really love about this movie. This movie does not sugarcoat, nor does it ever try to water down its message.

[00:13:07]>> No. And it manages to have that message that A cops are bad. B they're racist. C the struggle against them is a losing struggle, but we got to fight anyway.

[00:13:17]>> Fight anyway. Yeah.

[00:13:18]>> And I love that it managed to keep that [ __ ] message throughout the entire movie while still coming across as triumphant. Again, it's a movie where almost every main character is dead by the end of it, but you still feel like a triumph was made.

[00:13:29]>> Yes.

[00:13:30]>> It's kind of wild. It definitely belongs in the pantheon of recent horror movies where they used vampires as metaphors for white people.

[00:13:39]>> For white [laughter] people or metaphors for the way white people have specifically oppressed black people.

[00:13:45]>> Yes.

[00:13:46]>> Um there's vampires versus the Bronx.

[00:13:48]>> Yeah.

[00:13:49]>> Uh which is very much vampires as gentrification. Uh we have sinners as cultural appropriation.

[00:13:57]>> Yeah. 100%. Now we have this one.

[00:13:59]>> Yeah. [laughter] vampires as cops as the enforcers of whiteness.

[00:14:03]>> 100%. But man, I I'm I'm I'm enjoying this trend. [music] >> Yes, me too. And this is a great movie.

[00:14:10]You should go check it out. You all know me. I'm the horror guru. You can find me at the horror guru on various social media platforms, but these days I primarily use Blue Sky, so follow me on there. Be sure to like, comment, and subscribe. And don't forget to ring the notification bell so you're notified of my videos immediately upon their upload.

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[00:14:43][music] Pull up a chair deep in the crib from a [music] blood red. You must take a sip.

[00:14:58]>> [music]