Reviewed by Geno McGahee
I have seen a lot of bad horror movies lately. Actually, finding a good horror film nowadays is a rare thing, especially when it is low budget. Originality is out the window. How many bad SAW rip offs can I see before I give up my love of horror? I almost gave up folks. I almost did. With all of the torture films, bad SAW rip offs and bad SAW movies, I nearly left horror behind and began looking for a new genre to follow, but then I found MIDNIGHT MOVIE. Thankfully, I am still with the horror genre…I wasn’t driven to musicals or anything like that.
Written and Directed by Jack Messitt, MIDNIGHT MOVIE does everything right, bringing to life an interesting slasher character with a twist. There is definitely the influence of other films here, but this film is very original and very compelling.
We begin with a filmmaker in a mental asylum, Radford (Arthur Roberts). He has been locked away for years after producing a 1970’s cult horror film. There is a lot of controversy surrounding his film, mainly the rumor that everyone within the film was actually murdered during filming. Radford went mad and to help steer him in the other direction, the Doctor thinks the best method is to show him his film that seemed to be the root of his problem. Well, that opens a big can of worms and the entire crew at the mental asylum is butchered. It’s a great scene to see Dr. Wayne (Michael Swan) running down the bloody halls panicking. It’s a great way to start this film and immediately sets the mood.
The 1970’s Radford film is being featured at a small theater and a bunch of young movie goers are going to experience true horror. I don’t know if Messitt was sending a message here to the horror world that the “real” horror came from the 1970s, but it seems that way and I couldn’t agree more, and this film has a 70’s feel to it.
Bridget (Rebekah Brandes) and her boyfriend Josh (Daniel Bonjour) along with their friends Mario (Greg Cirulnick) and his gal Samantha (Mandell Maughan) are among the few viewers of the flick. Harley (Stan Ellsworth) a biker with an appropriate name and his girlfriend are also there. Now, Harley is a great character. Not only does he keep the kids quiet during the film, but he also sexually harasses all the young girls. I know it’s stereotypical, but there are bikers like Harley! Ellsworth does a very good job in this role and when he sexually harasses the girl behind the counter and then reaches over and puts his grubby mitt into the popcorn machine and grabs a handful to eat, you want to see the killer come out right there and slash him to bits. Of course, that’s part of the horror business. You need to see some jerks as well as some good people killed, and you knew Harley’s days were numbered from the start. I also liked the contrast between couples, Briget and Josh and Mario and Samantha. I liked how one couple was presented as a caring pair while the other represented the selfish and fake people that we all know. Mario and Samantha represent the selfish and empty very well, and Bridget and Josh do very well as the pure and kind. Each and every character in this flick is distinct. This film actually has character development!
Joining the two couples is the nerdy and clumsy Sully (Michael Schwartz). He sits alongside the two couples, although Mario doesn’t want him around. Sully knows the history of the film and is very eager to see the legend up close and personal. We also have Detective Barrons (Jon Briddell), who is waiting for Radford to show up. He saw the carnage and thinks that the crazy filmmaker may just be lurking and waiting for more victims. Dr. Wayne also shows up out of concern, and he has every reason to be concerned when the film rolls.
Radford’s film definitely was a TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE type of film. We have a bunch of kids in a van stumbling across a farm house and meeting up with a very neat looking killer. The killer wears a half skull mask and has his bottom jaw covered. He walks with a limp and definitely likes what he does. Now this is just a scary movie for the audience, but it gets weird. The film begins to intrude on reality and the people in the theater begin to see themselves on the screen. Sully is the first to go, killed in the bathroom by the killer and then dragged to the farmhouse. I thought it was really neat to see the people killed at the theater but then end up at the farmhouse.
As the bodies begin to pile up, the group realizes that they are dealing with something supernatural. The movie and the killer are intruding on reality and they cannot get out of the theater. I couldn’t help but to think of two films: DEMONS and LAST ACTION HERO. I am one of the few fans of LAST ACTION HERO…great concept for a film and this movie is similar in a couple of ways. There is a mesh of a few different ideas here, but this film is original with a very good killer. Horror filmmakers need to watch this movie and focus on the writing and execution of the film. I am so tired of fans of horror talking about how cool a death was. The emphasis should be on the story and the characters rather than how realistic a death is. Messitt gets it. There’s actually a lot of thought in this one and there is the potential that this could turn into something bigger and grow into a franchise under the right conditions. There are a lot of different angles this can go. Imagine if this film was shown on cable! The killer would be everywhere and that would be a great sequel…and it’s only one of the many directions this can go.
MIDNIGHT MOVIE is a big accomplishment for Messitt and a great horror film. It has the 1970’s feel, a good killer, an interesting story, and it was written very well. You can’t ask for much more than that. I highly recommend this one.
Scared Stiff Rating: 8/10. I knew I wasn’t the only fan of Last Action Hero.
