REVIEW: Night Patrol [2026]

Rating: R | Runtime: 104 minutes
Release Date: January 16th, 2026 (USA)
Studio: RLJE Films / Shudder
Director(s): Ryan Prows
Writer(s): Shaye Ogbonna, Ryan Prows, Tim Cairo & Jake Gibson

Something like that.

As a fan of the bonkers Lowlife from 2017, I was sold on Night Patrol the moment I saw director Ryan Prows’ name. That he brought back three of four co-writers on the former to craft the equally bonkers latter only helps the cause when dropping us into a Los Angeles gang war. It’s not the Crips versus the Bloods, though … even if we meet one of each via a Shakespearean romance at the start. No, the moment RJ Cyler’s Wazi’s Romeo is forced to watch Zuri Reed’s Primo’s Juliet get murdered by a cop, we know who the real bad guys are.

While the city’s Black population is being oppressed by a white supremacist police force, Prows and company quickly inject a more supernatural flavor to the whole courtesy of demon talk and weird coincidences. We’re initially supposed to laugh off the conspiracies—especially upon hearing the Bloods (Freddie Gibbs’ Bornelius, Flying Lotus’ Three Deuce, and YG’s Tripp) earnestly talking about lizard people. We’re supposed to think everyone is way too quick to embrace the most insane explanation for plain old LAPD abuses of power.

But then you see one of the task force members led by CM Punk’s Deputy stick his finger inside the wound of a defenseless victim before sucking the blood off with relish. Couple that with a Zulu ring Wazi stole from his witchcraft-devotee mother (Nicki Micheaux’s Ayanda) somehow warding off a Night Patrol pursuer who had him dead to rights and you start realizing the jokes were so outlandish by necessity. When the truth is crazy, the crazy must be rendered absurd. That’s the only way the former is accepted as being grounded.

It helps that Wazi is a skeptic who demands the sort of proof we as audience members do too. The same goes for keeping top-billed stars Carr (Jermaine Fowler) and Hawkins (Justin Long) in the dark, although that duo’s ignorance is less about us than the plot. They are the pawns Prows and company utilize to make their convoluted mythology work. LAPD partners who both seek a promotion into the Night Patrol for personal reasons aligned to their respective pasts. One and a reformed Black Crip. The other a “good” white cop.

What I really enjoyed beyond the over-the-top gore and humor is the way in which this character complexity is handled. Carr and Hawkins each seek to play both sides and bridge the gap between race, culture, and the societal divide. The truth of the matter is, however, that they chose a third side to do so and law enforcement has zero legs to stand on—especially today with ICE and DHS dissolving any trust we might have had in local departments. Regardless of intentions, the badge inherently makes Carr a traitor and Hawkins a murderer.

Prows can lean into this fact because those two characters aren’t the leads insofar as the script’s message is concerned. Night Patrol starts at the end with Wazi before rewinding to the beginning with him too. He’s the protagonist. The one truly caught between worlds when it comes to trusting anyone. His mom won’t stop with the Zulu stuff. His brother (Carr) won’t stop spouting copaganda. And the one person he can trust is from a rival gang and believes in aliens. Wazi is correct in wanting to just leave LA behind.

It’s a wild ride watching Wazi try to save his own skin. Carr wants to scoop him up to testify about a murder and the Night Patrol want to kill him for witnessing it. Hawkins is trying to infiltrate the latter by helping them but doesn’t want to betray the former in the process—he doesn’t really have a choice. So, it’s up to Wazi to make up his own mind. To see the impossible things he sees and choose whether Bornelius’ guns or Ayanda’s magic will protect him more. Watching a vampire stand-up after getting his head blown off is the push he needs.

The special effects are great. The Bloods are hilarious and made more so by Cyler constantly growing frustrated with their idiocy. And I really liked Long as an empathetic hard-ass haunted by demons. His serious roles usually end up devolving into comedy, so this one staying pretty consistent is nice (even if the plot’s unraveling turns him into a robotic runner that made me laugh anyway). That’s the benefit of a script going off the rails instead. Real people caught in deranged situations are inherently deranged by proximity already.