 The first thing to know about Last Night in Soho is that it is going to be a bit of a departure from Edgar Wright's previous works. Although many of his films have horror or thriller elements, they've been predominantly humorous. I doubt Last Night in Soho will be humorless, but with his next feature, Wright seems to be fully embracing his horror influences. In Empire Magazine he said the following, It will feel very different to my other films, but I've always liked films which have a slow burn into something else, and a lot of my movies have that feeling. Last Night starts in a more psychological realm and then starts to get increasingly intense as it goes along. And I always like to gravitate towards making a film in genre as I miss, and there's a certain type of psychological horror film that you got more in the 60s and 70s that have something of an operatic nature. I'm using that kind of visual grammar. Wright also revealed to Empire that he is taking influence from the films Don't Look Now and Repulsion. The first movie Don't Look Now is an occult thriller from 1973 starring Donald Sutherland. In terms of its tone and how it may influence Last Night in Soho, I think it is most notable for its slow burn. The movie is terrifying, not because of constant jump scares or violence, but because of an atmosphere that slowly builds dread. It ultimately leads to a horrifying conclusion that works so well because of everything that led up to it. So in keeping with Edgar Wright's quote, it's safe to assume Last Night in Soho will be more of a slow burn than a nonstop thrill ride. Before diving into Wright's other influence, Repulsion, let's take a look at what Last Night in Soho is actually about. According to Deadline, the London set psychological thriller follows a young girl who is passionate about fashion design, who mysteriously enters the 1960s where she encounters her idol, a dazzling wannabe singer. But 1960s London is not what it seems, and time seems to fall apart with shady consequences. The young, time-traveling girl is named Eloise and is played by Thomas and Harcourt Mackenzie, who you may recognize from Jojo Rabbit. The dazzling wannabe singer she idolizes is named Sandy and is played by Anya Taylor Joy, who you may recognize from Emma or the New Mutants, assuming that movie is eventually released. In his Empire interview, Edgar Wright also mentioned that Eloise has a mysterious connection with Sandy, which is what allows for the time-travel. And by the way, we should put time-traveling quotes because it sounds like it may not be exactly what we think. Edgar Wright adds, Based on this quote, it sounds to me like this film is not too interested in the time-travel itself and instead focuses on the implications for our character Eloise. It sounds like it will be a cautionary tale where her rose-colored glasses are removed and she learns that nostalgia tends to hide the darker side of things. Now being a sci-fi nerd especially interested in time-travel, I need to spend at least a second speculating on that aspect of the movie. Wright gives us two clues. First, he mentions that a mysterious connection between Eloise and Sandy enables the time-travel. Second, he says that Eloise gets to time-travel in a sort of abstract way. That second clue makes it sound as though Eloise will not literally be traveling through time. Thirdly, this brings to mind films like Midnight in Paris, where character experiences another time or place but the exact mechanic of their travel is not explicit. In that movie, Gill, played by Owen Wilson, stumbles into 1920s Paris and meets icons of art and literature. The time-travel in this film is never portrayed as anything more than fantasy and ultimately serves as a mechanism for exploring themes and character. I think last night in SoHo will use time-travel similarly. I would not be surprised at all if by the end of the film it'll be up for debate whether the time-travel was real or just a fantasy of some kind. As an aside, I swear I didn't bring up Midnight in Paris just because the main character shares my name, though Gill's are definitely underrepresented in cinema. Anyway, spending another moment on the time-travel mechanic just for fun I'm going to speculate that Eloise will use a phone booth as her quote-unquote time machine. After Edgar Wright tweeted that the film was delayed, Anya Taylor-Joy tweeted the same but added the line, once upon a time in a 60s telephone booth. Hearing this in the context of a time-travel film, it is impossible for me not to think of Doctor Who or Bill and Ted where phone booths are used as a means of time-travel. But if this is all in Eloise's head, wouldn't her mind draw from popular British culture in manifesting a method for time-travel? Going back to Wright's first point regarding the connection between Eloise and Sandy brings to my mind Roman Polanski's film Repulsion, one of the movie's Wright mentioned as an influence for this film. That movie focuses on a woman named Carol who suffers from angiophobia, a fear of interacting with men. Throughout the film, she slowly descends into madness and experiences terrifying hallucinations. I have a feeling last night in Soho will similarly chronicle Eloise's deteriorating mental state. In Deadline's plot description, they mentioned time seems to fall apart with shady consequences. Perhaps this is truly a description of what is happening to Eloise's mind and in her hallucinations that manifests as something happening to time itself. Further, this makes me wonder if the mysterious connection between Eloise and Sandy will remain mysterious throughout the film. Perhaps Eloise, idolizing Sandy and 60s London, fantasizes that she has some connection with her idol. However, fantasy crosses into obsession which, similar to Carol in the film Repulsion, leads her down a path of madness where she experiences another reality. One where she arrives in 60s London and attempts to discover this mysterious connection only to find that it constantly eludes her. She'll also find that Sandy's life, under the plastic surface shown in magazines and movies, is seedy and unpleasant. This photo from last night in Soho's official Instagram seems to be saying so explicitly. I read this as a message from Sandy that she is not who Eloise or anyone else would expect if they only know her public persona. This photo of Eloise from the same page also looks to me like someone who is perhaps mentally unwell. Speaking of seedy, by the way, in the 60s, Soho was considered London's red light district. Of the 100 strip clubs and adult shops in London, 60 could be found in Soho. Sex workers also operated out of so-called Soho walk-ups, flats with red lit doorbells or other indicators signaling the services offered within. The many photos on last night in Soho's Instagram flooded with red light definitely give the vibe that we're going to be spending time in the city's seedy underbelly. This is a good time to bring up the look of this film, one of the aspects I'm most excited about. Edgar Wright's films always have great visual flair so I assume this will be no exception. However, we can put any doubts to rest because he's brought on Chung Chung Hoon as a cinematographer. He is best known for his collaborations with Park Chan-Wook, including Old Boy, one of the most visually striking movies I've ever seen. So the idea of Chung Chung Hoon teaming up with Edgar Wright is an extremely exciting prospect. Wright is also working with Paul Mackless, his editor from Baby Driver, The World's End, and Scott Pilgrim vs The World. So there is no shortage of talent ensuring last night in Soho will look incredible. Let's look at who else is involved in the production. Edgar Wright is of course directing, but he is joined by Christie Wilson-Karrens who co-wrote the film. Her only feature film credit prior to this one is as co-writer for Sam Mendes' 1917. She was also a staff writer on Penny Dreadful's third season, so she should have no trouble bringing some creepy to the table. As far as the cast goes, we've already mentioned the two main characters, Thomas and Harcourt Mackenzie as Eloise and Anya Taylor-Joy as Sandy. The movie also stars Matt Smith, who, according to Collider, plays Sandy's manager. Also from this official photo, they may also have a personal relationship of sorts. I should also mention that Matt Smith played an iteration of Doctor Who. Are there evidence of a phone booth time machine? Maybe. A couple of other notable cast members are Diana Rigg and Terrence Stamp. No details have been released on either character, but Diana Rigg is credited as Miss Collins. Before diving into one more theory I have on this film, we should touch on the song which shares this movie's title. Last night in Soho was released in 1968. According to an interview with Esquire Magazine, Quentin Tarantino pointed him to this song. I already had the idea for the film and in fact I was going to call it something else. The band Dave D, Dozy Beaky, Mick and Tick have a song in Death Proof. And through that I heard this song Last Night in Soho by them and he put me on to that. And then way way later, years later, I said, you know what the new film is called? And he's like, yeah, Last Night in Soho. I assume Edgar Wright chose this song for more than just its title. So perhaps its lyrics can tell us something about the movie. One of the song's themes is trying to let go of a troubled past and make a new start. In some ways this sounds like Eloise's journey, trying to find a new beginning in 60's London. However, if her idol Sandy is also not who people think she is, perhaps she has a sorted past which she tries to move on from. Something which will come back to haunt her and Eloise. This is actually something Edgar Wright hinted at directly in his tweet announcing the film's delay. Haunted by someone else's past, but we'll see you in the future. It's true, Last Night in Soho is not quite finished yet due to COVID-19. The first part of that tweet, haunted by someone else's past, feels like very choice words. My thought is that in the midst of Eloise's madness there will be real confusion over identity. The line between Eloise and Sandy will blur where perhaps one will become the other. The refrain of the song feels appropriate here. For Last Night in Soho, I let my life go. Perhaps Eloise will literally let her life go in favor of Sandy's only to find once it's too late that she regrets this decision. Anyway, we're getting pretty deep into speculation mode so I think we can wrap it up there. I will mention that there are set photos floating around which I did not get into here. However, I'll include a couple of links in the description for those that are curious. I didn't find them to be overly spoilery. The main takeaway for me was that the production is doing a great job at recreating 60s London. Lastly, for those of you that, like me, are itching for a trailer, I would not be surprised if we have to wait a few more months for that. Edgar Wright announced in August last year that main unit photography was complete, meaning they should have plenty of footage for a trailer. But for smaller movies like this, trailers typically drop about 3-4 months prior to the film's release. So with an April 2021 release, I'm sadly not expecting a trailer until next year. Unless Wright and the studio want to give us a nice Halloween present this year. In the meantime, I'll entertain myself by rewatching Shaun of the Dead for the 100th time. While I do that, let me know in the comments how excited you are for last night in Soho, do you have any of your own theories or speculation, put it in the comments and we'll keep the conversation going. 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