It’s encouraging to see low-budget early-career film-making with ambition.

Last Straw is as much about the journey as it is the destination, and there’s a genuine feeling of delight as protagonist Nancy’s night from hell takes us to places its otherwise seemingly generic set-up might not prepare us for.

The siege horror is effective, and Neal’s assured grasp on the tricky narrative framing makes for an engaging debut.

Neal prepares us for another redux of “The Strangers,” with killers with funny masks circling the diner, only to make things more intimate and personal.