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Midnight

Play trailer Poster for Midnight R 1982 1h 34m Horror Play Trailer Watchlist
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Tomatometer 4 Reviews 26% Popcornmeter 100+ Ratings
While hitchhiking to escape an abusive home life, a teenage girl is picked up by a couple on a camping trip. The trip turns deadly when a group of Satanists hell-bent on resurrecting their dead mother, attack the campers.

Critics Reviews

View All (4) Critics Reviews
Saffron Maeve Screen Slate It’s a horror film so mild as to inspire criticism on its own terms, but vexing enough to spook the censors all the same. Jul 2, 2022 Full Review Anthony Arrigo Dread Central Charming despite its many flaws Russo’s marginal cult hit is best recommended to fans of D.I.Y. regional horrors. Severin’s disc is a winner still, with excellent a/v quality and a handful of worthwhile interviews. Rated: 2.8/5 May 16, 2022 Full Review Matt Brunson Film Frenzy It's a dreadful picture, the type whose only worth is that it keeps open-mouth breathers off the streets for a couple of hours. Rated: 1/4 Oct 9, 2021 Full Review Scott Weinberg DVDTalk.com As an early-80s footnote to a sub-genre that spawned some truly disturbing horror movies, you could probably do worse. (Like, say, Mother's Day.) Rated: 2.5/5 Oct 16, 2005 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (10) audience reviews
N L A golden treasure, preserved for future generations to behold! Rated 5 out of 5 stars 05/14/23 Full Review brad p Charming despite its many flaws Russo's marginal cult hit is best recommended to fans of D.I.Y. regional horrors and perhaps those who also like the beginnings of George Romero's career. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review william s One of those B horror movies that you use to get at sunset at the Drive In before the main movie after.....and like this one,they all sucked. Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Not particularly good - it struggled to really engage me. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 01/12/23 Full Review Audience Member When John Russo and George Romero made Night of the Living Dead it seemed they were headed for great things but whilst Romero went on to become the darling of the US horror scene Russo ended up making low budget schlock pictures like Midnight. Based on his own book the film centres on Nancy, a 17-year-old schoolgirl who runs away from home to escape the unwanted attentions of her police sergeant stepfather and winds up on the road with a couple of college kids in their camper van. The group wind up in a redneck town where the locals don't take kindly to strangers and have to hightail it when an attempt to steal groceries from a store goes wrong. Having lost the chasing police the trio camp the night on a secluded hillside only to wake up the next morning and find themselves in a whole heap of trouble at the hands of a demented family of hill billy satanists. The film was made on a minuscule budget with a bunch of unknown actors and it shows - the script is muddled, the acting often wooden and the camera work often muddy and under lit. Despite that however (or maybe because of the washed out nature of the film stock) Russo manages to imbue the proceedings with a sense of creepy realism and an almost documentary like feel (whether by accident or by design.) The plot is generally a re-tread of the likes of Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Hills Have Eyes with a bit of satanism thrown in but the protagonists manage to bring a sleazy menace to proceedings as they seek to make an Easter sacrifice to revive their dead mother who they keep in the attic. The films main flaw is it's lack of pacing, we spend almost an hour on the initial escapades of the three youngsters and it's not until the final third that it kicks into gear and the jeopardy and violence unfolds. The gore is minimal but mostly well handled courtesy of Tom Savini and the whole thing leads to an orgy of bloodshed as Nancy battles to survive her captors. This is a film that has all but been forgotten but is worth picking up if you want to relive the halcyon days of the early video boom when this sort of thing found it's way into millions of homes via the rental store. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Low-budget indie backwoods shocker where a runaway teen girl and two young petty thieves stumble into a group of satan worshippers who practice human sacrifice. An average film, but to be fair it does ok for its budget limitations. The violence isn't particularly graphic but there are a couple of nasty moments towards the end. Laurence Tierney's character was the best thing about the movie who you loathe early-on but then goes on a mission to redeem himself and you end up cheering him on at the end. But nothing very exciting happening here overall. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/24/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Midnight

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Cast & Crew

Movie Info

Synopsis While hitchhiking to escape an abusive home life, a teenage girl is picked up by a couple on a camping trip. The trip turns deadly when a group of Satanists hell-bent on resurrecting their dead mother, attack the campers.
Director
John A. Russo
Production Co
Filmhub
Rating
R
Genre
Horror
Original Language
English
Release Date (DVD)
Sep 20, 2005
Runtime
1h 34m