Midnight Movie
One-stop chop-shop
Taking bits and pieces from other films
rarely makes a for a good watch. How many times do you hear someone
say something like “It's like 'Jaws', but with aliens!” or “It's
like a mixture of 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' with “'Lord of the
Rings'”? Most of the time, writers and producers are saying the
same thing in order for their movie to get made. Call it a lack of
originality, in search of a quick buck, or just being lazy, but it's
how a lot of entertainment is created today. Horror is a genre where
mixing different ideas could either lead to a fun watch or something
incredibly terrible.
Midnight Movie is a 2008 slasher horror
movie starring Rebekah Brandes (Grim Reaper, Slaughter Party) as
Bridget and Daniel Bonjour (Dragon Quest, Beast Beneath) as Josh. In
the 1970's, a slasher movie named The Dark Beneath was released,
directed and starring Ted Radford. The movie drove him mad and sent
him to the psych ward. Years later, a doctor thought it would be
therapeutic for him to watch the movie again, ignoring the warnings
of Dr. Dave Wayne. Rather than soothing Radford, he throws him into a
homicidal rage, killing 70 people and disappearing. Five years later,
The Dark Beneath is being show at a grindhouse movie theater. Bridget
and Josh attend with their friends Mario, Samantha, and Sully. Also
in attendance are a biker named Harley, his old lady Babe, Detective
Barrons, who worked on the original Radford case and Dr. Wayne. As
they watch the movie, it switches from a first person point of view
as the skull-masked killer murders his prey. As it turns out, Radford
is actually leaving the movie, entering the real world, and killing
people, much to the amusement of the audience who thinks it's all an
act. When Sully is killed, they finally realize that this is no
special effect and are in real danger. It's made even worse when
Bridget's little brother, Timmy, sneaks into the theater. Bullets do
not hurt Radford and he starts to kill off the audience one by one.
He uses his powers to lock them in the theater while simultaneously
shielding them from being seen by the outside world. Will Bridget and
Timmy be able to escape from this horror movie come to life and will
anyone believe their story?
No tongues!
This movie is a weird mixture of The
Ring, 70's slashers like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Friday the
13th. It's an interesting take on multiple genres, I'll
give them that. One good thing about giving your own twist on the
supernatural slasher subgenre is that you can create your own rules.
We all know that you have to shoot a zombie in the head or drive a
stake through a vampire's heart. By going off into your own,
relatively original, idea, you have the freedom to say what can or
cannot happen. The problem that Midnight Movie runs into is that by
making up their own rules, it feels like they just tossed ideas
against the wall and hoped some would stick. It's never really
explained why Radford could jump in and out of the movie, why he
couldn't be hurt, and how he was able to block the police from seeing
inside the movie theater.
The idea for Midnight Movie reminded me
a little bit of Masters of Horror: Cigarette Burns. The idea of a
movie driving someone insane and causing them to kill is somewhat
similar, though in Cigarette Burns they tease the movie throughout,
making your really want to see it, but also terrified to what you may
behold. In Midnight Movie, there's about 10 minutes of mystery,
before they show most of The Dark Beneath, and it's a pretty boring
movie. Even one of the characters in the audience points out that
it's kind of weak. It's not a big deal, but they could have put a
little more effort in the movie within a movie.
The kills throughout are pretty good.
Lots of blood and gore to keep slasher fans happy with some nice
creativity to keep things from going stale. His weapon of choice is a
big corkscrew, which is different, though not as imposing as a
machete or butcher knife. Radford has a half skull mask and some sort
of Do-rag covering the rest. Why not just give him a whole skull? The
acting is good enough to keep me from being distracted, so that's a
victory.
Skull masks - half off
Midnight Movie is a mixture of better
horror movies that you'd probably rather watch. The plot is kind of
weird and at times confusing and nonsensical. Things are never fully
explained or even partially explained. The movie-within-a-movie could
have been handled better with a little bit more effort put into
making The Dark Beneath actually scary and entertaining. The violence
is pretty good and I give them credit for trying something different.
The movie ends on a pretty big down note, which was unexpected, but
appreciated. I like when movies don't take the easy and expected way
out. Ultimately, Midnight Movie is able to entertain despite the lack
of a coherent story. It was better than expected and you won't feel
terrible for watching it.
5.5/10
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