The Last Victim’s poster promises bloodshed and violence

What happens when a set of modern-day outlaws get trapped in a cycle of retribution and violence? That’s exactly the question The Last Victim will answer. The directorial debut of Naveen Chathapuram, this neo-western thriller film is set to entrance audiences in the fall of 2021. OTTPlay is bringing to you an exclusive look into the film by sharing the poster!

The poster promises two things to the audience - there’s going to be bloodshed and violence.

The plot of The Last Victim follows these modern-day outlaws who are coping with the aftermath of a crime gone wrong. Set in the harsh landscape of the American Southwest, a chase ensues when an aging local sheriff decides to solve a twisted case. Starring Ali Larter, Ralph Ineson and Ron Perlman, the film becomes doubly interesting when an anthropologist and her husband face the gang, beginning a chain of vengeance and struggling to survive.

Drawing inspiration from his experience of watching the thrillers of 70’s and 80’s, Chathapuram has tied together four plotlines into a fun watch in The Last Victim. In a conversation with OTTPlay, the director divulged details on the origins of the film.

“The original idea came from an anthropologist friend of mine. His name is Dr Neal Justin (Doc Justin) and he came up to me with this idea and he said it takes place in a small town in Arizona and has tropes of the 70’s-80’s thrillers but we’re trying to give it a twist. The original script was written in 2002 when I had just completed my first production and I was just supposed to be the writer-producer for this film originally. So Doc and I spent two months writing the script in Arizona,” he said.

Adding to the tale of how the story came about, Chathapuram said: “Our location burned down due to a forest fire and we had to shelf the project in 2002. I was really disappointed at the time but looking back, I could not have had a better outcome. Fast forward 16 years later, when I decided to direct a film: I wanted something challenging, something fun. And then I thought, ‘why not The Last Victim?’ I then picked up the script that I hadn’t read for 16 years and realized there are some great elements there. I reached out to my colleague, Ashley James Lewis, and said ‘Ash, take a look at this. Can we create a modern version of this script?’ Things had changed in 16 years and the script wasn’t as relevant anymore. Ash provided a draft for the script after that.”

Chathapuram, who grew up in Chicago, was astonished at the isolation that the Arizonians lived in. “When I went to Arizona, we’d go to these border towns with miles and miles of no civilization, and suddenly you would come across a small town with a population of thirty people. There are people living in 100 acre ranches and farms, and sometimes it's just the husband and wife and a dog. Because of this, they live a very isolated life. Some of them don’t have television or cell phones even. It almost felt like travelling back in time. I also realised that though we lived in the same country at the same time, their beliefs, thought process and lifestyle was from a completely different era. This was really intriguing for me and we tried to bring a lot of this into the script,” observed Chathapuram.

Aiming for a late summer/early fall release in 2021, The Last Victim is sure to take the audience by storm.