“A break out at a maximum security prison and the slaying of a young waitress at a roadside diner mark the beginning of a brutal killing spree, but the identity of the killer and his true motivation remain a mystery until the film’s terrifying conclusion.”

I never did do a proper review of this one… I had a singular reviewing experience in that back in 2003, I had the video tape, in a specially designed prop box, sent to me by the director of the film, Julian Richards. It had a profound effect on me.

I didn’t say anything in the original review, because I didn’t want to spoil the twist, but it’s nearly 20 years later and the entire film’s raison d’être has rather disappeared.

The film was about a serial killer who films himself murdering people. The twist was that the film keeps getting longer, because what he does is add a new killing to the tape, then leave it on a shelf in a video rental shop for the next victim to rent. He then follows them home and butchers them after they’ve finished watching the film, taping their murder and adding it to the tape.

As in the film, it suddenly dawned on me while watching the film that I had been sent it by a shady person I’d never met. The feeling that I was somehow the next victim is something that even 20 years later, is still very memorable.

The problem with the premise is that unless the film was borrowed from a video rental store, its cleverness just doesn’t work. It’s a real shame that few others will get the visceral chill I did whilst watching it…

"A break out at a maximum security prison and the slaying of a young waitress at a roadside diner mark the beginning of a brutal killing spree, but the identity of the killer and his true motivation remain a mystery until the film’s terrifying conclusion."

So states the blurb on the back of my video cassette of The Last Horror Movie, its Final Destination-style packaging promising little of interest to a connoisseur of British horror films. Firmly expecting a Long Time Dead-style Yankee-Doodle balls-up of epic proportions, I was only slipping the tape into the VCR because the director (Julian Richards) had been pleasant enough to send me a copy. So, with a heavy heart and low expectations, I sat down and pressed play.

70-odd minutes later (it's a short film) I'm sitting in front of my PC and my hands are still shaking. The Last Horror Movie is that terrifying. It's the scariest British horror film ever made, I have no doubt about that. If I get any sleep tonight, I'll be very surprised.

You might be wondering how a film you've probably never heard of is eliciting such a response from this supposedly jaded reviewer. My only response can be that you have to rent it when it appears at your local Blockbuster, watch it alone, and then tell me if I'm wrong.

Yes, I say rent it - because seeing such a film at the cinema would diminish its impact. This film requires a straight-to-video release. I'm not going to give any of the plot away, because really, everyone who watches this film should come into it completely fresh, as I did, without any preconceptions. But I'm sure that Julian will be pleased to read that I'd been happily been making notes through the film - until the counter hit one hour and six minutes. Then my pen fell to the floor, the hairs stood up on my neck, and I became very aware that not only was I alone in the house, but that the back door was unlocked. It has been a long time since a film has had that effect on me.

The Last Horror Movie is funny, brutal, clever, oh-so British and superbly 21st Century. Bloody hell, I'm still shaking.