The Last Stop In Yuma County [Blu-Ray]

Director: Francis Galluppi

Cast: Jim Cummings, Jocelin Donahue, Faizon Love

Release Date: July 16, 2024

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Film Rating: 8/10
Disc Rating: 7/10

Synopsis:

While awaiting the next fuel truck at a middle-of-nowhere Arizona rest stop, a traveling young knife salesman is thrust into a high-stakes hostage situation by the arrival of two similarly stranded bank robbers with no qualms about using cruelty—or cold, hard steel—to protect their bloodstained, ill-begotten fortune.

‘The Last Stop in Yuma County’ accompanies a traveling knife salesman who stops for gas only to discover that the gas station is dry and the expected fuel truck is running late. Unable to make it to the next station many miles down the road, he settles in at the local diner to await the truck. As more random travelers arrive at the station seeking gas for their vehicles, they each eventually join in waiting at the diner; but when a pair of criminals fresh from a robbery are convinced that people have ascertained who they are it leads to a tense wait as the various travelers and locals must try to keep them at bay before things get violent.

Written and directed by Francis Galluppi and serving as his feature length directorial debut, Galluppi does a marvelous job at the helm of ‘The Last Stop in Yuma County’ guiding along this smart, twisty and engaging ride. The film’s cast includes Jim Cummings (The Wolf of Snow Hollow), Jocelin Donahue (Doctor Sleep), Sierra McCormick (VFW), Nicholas Logan (Samaritan), Michael Abbott Jr. (The Bikeriders), Connor Paolo (A Creature Was Stirring), Alex Essoe (The Pope’s Exorcist), Robin Bartlett (The Fabelmans), Jon Proudstar (The Year of the Dog), Sam Huntington (TV’s A Million Little Things), Ryan Masson (Proximity), Barbara Crampton (Suitable Flesh), Gene Jones (Killers of the Flower Moon), Faizon Love (Couples Retreat) and Richard Brake (3 From Hell) who each provide decent or at the very least capable performances in their respective roles.

‘The Last Stop in Yuma County’ is a smart, intriguing and largely unpredictable ride that follows a group of strangers who are each forced to wait for a delayed gas truck at an Arizona diner and the chain of events that occur when nobody is familiar with anyone else and two of the individuals waiting along with them are wanted for a robbery and willing to do whatever necessary to avoid being caught, especially when some of the others begin to piece together who they are thanks to news reports of their vehicle. The film takes its time to get moving and settles in long enough to let us become familiar with each of the characters before things explode and quickly go off the rails in the best way possible; evolving into a bloody and chaotic hostage scenario that repeatedly takes turns that you don’t expect and will keep you on edge once things really begin to take off.

Director Francis Galluppi does a fantastic job here with his feature length directorial debut, guiding along his own script with care and style, with a cast featuring many familiar faces that helps to keep it moving along smoothly every step of the way. It’s a powerful and at times downright shocking tale that keeps the viewer guessing throughout and sends things to darker territory on multiple occasions when you least expect it and the end result is one wildly enjoyable and thrilling film that is very much worth going out of your way to check out.

Overall, ‘The Last Stop in Yuma County’ delivers a wild and unpredictable good time that’s rich with twists, turns and plenty of explosive shifts that will keep you glued to the screen and guessing what might come next once things start to take off; while still offering plenty of time for us to become familiar with each of the characters before everything evolves into utter chaos in the best way imaginable. First time director Francis Galluppi (who also wrote the film) manages to craft something quite special here and it’s safe to say that he’ll definitely be a filmmaker to keep an eye on. ‘The Last Stop in Yuma County’ is highly recommended, especially for anyone that’s a fan of the cast or that appreciates an unexpectedly tense thriller that capably goes from calm and composed to wild and chaotic. This one should easily prove worthy of your time and the cost of a rental if you’re already even mildly intrigued.

VIDEO:

The Blu-ray release of ‘The Last Stop in Yuma County’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation with the film’s original 2.39:1 Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks very good as a whole and provides a sharp, clean and nicely detailed presentation from start to finish that never suffers from any notable faults or problems to be uncovered along its course. Detail is sharp and rewarding, with character specifics, the interior of the diner and the expansive Arizona landscapes all looking quite stellar throughout. Overall, this is a great high definition video presentation that holds up nicely and should please fans as well as first time viewers.

AUDIO:

The Blu-ray release features a 5.1 channel DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. This multichannel soundtrack offers a clean, crisp and at times fairly immersive audio presentation throughout. It repeatedly takes advantage of all five available channels in order to send some music, action, vehicle and nature effects along with more throughout the various speakers whenever fitting, while never resulting in any dialogue or other audio elements that might be occurring simultaneously becoming distorted or rendered problematic. Overall, this is a solid 5.1 DTS-HD MA soundtrack that may not be overly aggressive but never falters or disappoints and should easily satisfy viewers.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The Blu-ray release of ‘The Last Stop in Yuma County’ features a few solid extras including ‘3 Audio Commentary’ tracks; a ‘Director and Cast Commentary’, a ‘Director and Executive Producer Commentary’ and a ‘Director and Cinematographer Commentary’. Also included on the release is a ‘Making of’ Featurette (running approximately 8 minutes in length) which features interviews/comments with the cast and crew, plus behind the scenes footage and more. The film’s ‘Trailer’ (approximately 2 minutes) is additionally included.

*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray and resized. They will additionally suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.

–

Film Rating: 8/10
Disc Rating: 7/10

–

‘The Last Stop In Yuma County’ Arrives on Blu-ray July 16, 2024 & is Now Available on Digital from Well Go USA

–

You can purchase ‘The Last Stop In Yuma County’ on Blu-ray at Amazon HERE!

*Screen-Connections.com is an Amazon Associate that earns from qualifying purchases