Genre: Psychological Horror | Mystery | Thriller | Time-Travel Noir
Last Night in Soho is a dazzling, stylish psychological thriller that spins its audience through neon-soaked dreams and nightmarish memories of 1960s London. Directed by Edgar Wright—known for his kinetic, pop-infused filmmaking (Shaun of the Dead, Baby Driver)—this 2021 film is a love letter to Swinging London’s allure and a haunting look at the shadows lurking beneath its glamour.
The story follows Eloise Turner (Thomasin McKenzie), a shy, wide-eyed fashion student who leaves her small town to study design in the heart of London’s bustling Soho district. Obsessed with the music and style of the ’60s, Eloise feels out of place in the modern city but finds a strange refuge when she rents a shabby bedsit in an old townhouse. There, every night, she drifts into vivid, time-bending dreams that transport her back to 1966.
In these dreams, Eloise inhabits the life of Sandie (Anya Taylor-Joy), a dazzling, ambitious young woman hoping to become a singer in London’s swinging nightlife. At first, the dreams are intoxicating—Sandie is everything Eloise wishes she could be: bold, glamorous, free. In nightclub mirrors and dance floors, Eloise watches Sandie’s life unfold, living vicariously through her dazzling nights out and thrilling romance with the charming Jack (Matt Smith).
But as the nights pass, Eloise’s visions darken. The London of miniskirts and pop songs gives way to predatory men, broken promises, and sinister secrets. Sandie’s dream of stardom curdles into exploitation and violence, and Eloise begins to realize that the past she idolized is far more brutal than she ever imagined.
Wright fills Last Night in Soho with visual bravura: stunning mirror choreography, swirling dance scenes, and eerie neon dreamscapes that blur the line between past and present. His love of the era’s music pulses through every frame—Cilla Black, Petula Clark, and other classics become a haunting soundtrack to a nightmare Eloise can’t escape.
Thomasin McKenzie is heartbreaking as the fragile yet determined Eloise, while Anya Taylor-Joy radiates charisma and vulnerability as Sandie—a woman undone by the era that promised her everything. Matt Smith shifts smoothly from charming to menacing, embodying the darkness that preys on young women’s dreams.
What begins as a nostalgic fantasy slowly turns into a psychological horror story, with Wright tackling themes of exploitation, trauma, and the ghosts—literal and metaphorical—that haunt places like Soho. The film’s blend of ghost story and giallo-style thriller pays homage to British horror classics while weaving in Wright’s modern, hyper-stylized flair.
Some felt the third act becomes overly chaotic as Wright ties up his twisty narrative, but even when its plot wobbles, Last Night in Soho remains hypnotic—an unsettling reminder that the past we romanticize is often built on hidden pain.
Stylish, haunting, and deeply atmospheric, Last Night in Soho is a neon fever dream that asks us to look past the vintage vinyl and iconic fashion and see the forgotten women who paid the price for the city’s mythic glamour. It’s a beautiful nightmare—one that lingers like a haunting melody after the lights come back on.
