Emphasis on the “night”. Directed by Ryan Prows, Night Patrol makes for an entertaining mix of horror thrills and commentary on police.
The film stars Justin Long, Jermaine Fowler, RJ Cyler, and features star-studded appearances from rappers YG and Freddie Gibbs, producer Flying Lotus, and professional wrestler CM Punk.
A new officer Hawkins (Long) joins the LAPD, and has fun chilling out with his new partner Carr (Fowler)—but tensions already start to build between him and the gangs present in the housing projects he grew up in.
As he gets more acquainted with the force, he finds out about an initiative called “Night Patrol,” where the leader of the task force (Punk) forces Hawkins to kill an innocent woman. Following this, Hawkins delves deeper into Night Patrol, where he gets severely bloodied up and learns about the patrol’s secrets—they’re vampires, and they’re planning to destroy his neighborhood. From there, he decides to team up with Carr, as well as the gangs there, in order to protect the projects.
Brian Tallerico from RogerEbert.com reviewed the film, discussing its themes of race while comparing it to Sinners, a film with similar racial themes, “While “Sinners” is a tough bar to reach, it does feel like “Night Patrol” raises some ideas about race and law enforcement without as much to say about white culture literally sucking the blood of minorities and their cultures as Coogler’s masterpiece. Still, this is an original, ambitious piece of work that IFC should be able to turn into a buzz generator to start 2026.”
Night Patrol had its world premiere at Fantastic Fest, and premiered in the United States at Beyond Fest. It is set to release in U.S. theaters on January 16th, 2026, a year short of its originally intended 2025 release.
Watch the official trailer for Night Patrol above.
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