When a violent '70s horror film is screened at a midnight showing in a small-town movie theatre, a group of friends decide to give the classic cult film a shot. Unfortunately for them, something sinister is afoot when it seems the movie's killer escapes from the celluloid and into their world, looking to make them the stars of the very film they were just watching!
While the plot may have been pulled directly out of the Are You Afraid of the Dark? episode "The Tale of the Midnight Madness" with a overalled murderer swapped for Nosferatu, it still seemed like an inventive and interesting idea that could easily make for an entertaining modern slasher. I suppose all three of those traits (inventive/interesting/entertaining) are true. But, it still wasn't a great film. For some strange reason, and this rarely happens, but I just kept bursting into laughter throughout the movie, especially within the first twenty minutes or so. I think it was a strange reaction to the bad acting, cheesy dialogue, and that ticket-taker kid that would not stop smiling every time he was on screen. Sadly, however, those are the kinds of a laughs a filmmaker does NOT want for his film. They're the ones that are laughing at, not with. Anyway, as far as the rest of the film goes, it's all pretty subpar. Visually, it's nothing to compliment. The direction & cinematography are all pretty basic, taking no risks whatsoever. The editing is terrible, using tricks like that annoying "MTV-style" editing just to add some style. The acting, as I hinted at, was pretty bad for the most part, but it was watchable. The writing was probably the worst part. Not only was the dialogue extremely silly at times, but the story often made no sense and had plot holes you could drive a bus through (for example, how could two people (the cop & the doctor) who are obsessed with a movie and its director not notice that there are new 'scenes' spliced in with locations & actors that they've never seen before?). There are little-to-no scares or suspense. . . but, the gore is good for the most part, even though the kills are overly repetitive. The killer is, well, somewhat cool, somewhat lame. The Keyser Söze limp is never explained or mentioned to have any significance to the film, but he does have a cool weapon and mask. My only problem with him. . . the dude's like 5'5", 130 lbs. While it does help with the mystery to keep him small, it doesn't help with the scares. In the end, Midnight Movie comes in just under average in quality, but makes up for it in entertainment. It's just far too stupid to really consider anything very good. If all you want is a bit of gore with no real redeeming technical qualities, you can do worse.
Obligatory Horror Elements:
Final verdict: 4/10. Pass on this one, unless a little bit of watchability is your only goal.
-AP3-
While the plot may have been pulled directly out of the Are You Afraid of the Dark? episode "The Tale of the Midnight Madness" with a overalled murderer swapped for Nosferatu, it still seemed like an inventive and interesting idea that could easily make for an entertaining modern slasher. I suppose all three of those traits (inventive/interesting/entertaining) are true. But, it still wasn't a great film. For some strange reason, and this rarely happens, but I just kept bursting into laughter throughout the movie, especially within the first twenty minutes or so. I think it was a strange reaction to the bad acting, cheesy dialogue, and that ticket-taker kid that would not stop smiling every time he was on screen. Sadly, however, those are the kinds of a laughs a filmmaker does NOT want for his film. They're the ones that are laughing at, not with. Anyway, as far as the rest of the film goes, it's all pretty subpar. Visually, it's nothing to compliment. The direction & cinematography are all pretty basic, taking no risks whatsoever. The editing is terrible, using tricks like that annoying "MTV-style" editing just to add some style. The acting, as I hinted at, was pretty bad for the most part, but it was watchable. The writing was probably the worst part. Not only was the dialogue extremely silly at times, but the story often made no sense and had plot holes you could drive a bus through (for example, how could two people (the cop & the doctor) who are obsessed with a movie and its director not notice that there are new 'scenes' spliced in with locations & actors that they've never seen before?). There are little-to-no scares or suspense. . . but, the gore is good for the most part, even though the kills are overly repetitive. The killer is, well, somewhat cool, somewhat lame. The Keyser Söze limp is never explained or mentioned to have any significance to the film, but he does have a cool weapon and mask. My only problem with him. . . the dude's like 5'5", 130 lbs. While it does help with the mystery to keep him small, it doesn't help with the scares. In the end, Midnight Movie comes in just under average in quality, but makes up for it in entertainment. It's just far too stupid to really consider anything very good. If all you want is a bit of gore with no real redeeming technical qualities, you can do worse.
Obligatory Horror Elements:
- Subgenre: Slasher
- Violence/Gore: It starts out rather tame with most of the gore & violence off-screen; but, as the film progresses, it does get a bit bloody with some rather cool kills.
- Sex/Nudity: No sex and only a brief topless shower scene. Unfortunate, as there are some very cute girls in it.
- Scares/Suspense: Like most slashers of this type, the goal was entertainment and jump scares. It did have a few of the latter, so I suppose it was a success there.
- Mystery: It tried and threw in a couple red herrings, but I didn't really care enough to wonder.
- - -
Final verdict: 4/10. Pass on this one, unless a little bit of watchability is your only goal.
-AP3-