Midnight

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N L A golden treasure, preserved for future generations to behold! Rated 5/5 Stars •  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 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Not particularly good - it struggled to really engage me. Rated 2/5 Stars •  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 3.5/5 Stars •  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 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/24/23 Full Review Audience Member An Underated Exploitation Gem HALLOWEEN, FRIDAY THE 13TH and APRIL FOOL'S DAY; three great horror films all set on some of the scariest times of the year. Well, make way for MIDNIGHT - the scariest time of the day! But does the film live up to it's spooky title? Well, that depends on what you're looking for. Directed by the writer of the original NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD film, MIDNIGHT tells the story of a runaway named Nancy who ends up captured by a murderous Satanist cult, as you do. Imagine THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE with Satanists instead of cannibals and you're in the right ball park. From the start, the film's low budget is pretty obvious - and this isn't helped by the picture quality of this release - but in a way, that adds to this film's dirty, beaten charm. With gore effects from the one and only Tom Savini there's a few scenes that gore hounds may be interested in. Overall, this exploitation film has seemed to have slipped under the radar somewhat (which is surprising considering it's involvement in the notorious video nasty controversy of the '80s and it's cast and crew - Tom Savini, John Russo and John Amplas from Romero's DAY OF THE DEAD, MARTIN and CREEPSHOW). If you fancy some good ol' low budget, backwoods horror, then this film is for you. The Arrow DVD comes with a very informative booklet, reversible artwork and a few nice extras including commentary and interviews. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/22/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Midnight

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