Midnight Movie (2008)

This has been a busy weekend for me. Friday night I went out with some friend to a “haunted” graveyard. Then last night we went to a “haunted” mill. Actually, I found it is just the covered bridge that is actually haunted, but same difference. I didn’t see anything that would make me think either place is haunted, but I’m sure even ghosts don’t always show up. We went back to the mill today, just to see what the area looks like in the day time. I was going to watch the movie I picked up yesterday when we got home from the mill last night, but I was very tired. So I watched it when I woke up today. Not long after I finished it, and started to look it up on the net, did I find out we were going back to the mill. Hopefully I can sit here and write up this review with no more intruptions now. The film I picked out for my review today ended up being Midnight Movie (2008). When I returned it today, I think I found my movie for next week.

In Midnight Movie, things start off in an asylum. Ted Radford (Arthur Roberts) has been locked up there for making a horror movie. Ted produced, directed, written and stared in the film. The reason he managed to get locked up for making the film, is because he played the killer in it, and killed every cast member for real. His doctor (Christopher Page) feels that it would be good for Ted to watch his own movie, since it is all he talks about. Dr. Wayne (Michael Swan) isn’t so sure, but Ted isn’t under his care. When Dr. Wayne returns to the asylum, he discovers that everyone has been killed. Fast forward five years later, we meet Bridget (Rebekah Brandes), who is acting manager at a theater. She is in charge of the theater for the midnight showing of an unknown horror film, The Dark Beneath. Along with Rachel (Brea Grant), and Kenny (Shaun Ausmus), they open the doors to let people in. We get Harely (Stan Ellsworth), and Babe (Melissa Steach), two bikers that show up first. Then Bridget’s boyfriend, Josh (Daniel Bonjour), shows up wanting Bridget to watch the movie with him. Kenny jumps at the chance of proving himself of being charge. Bridget agrees, since it isn’t like she has to leave the theater. Her friends, Mario (Greg Cirulnick) and Samantha (Mandell Maughan), also show up. Detective Barrons (Jon Briddell), who investigated the murders at the asylum, and Dr. Wayne, also show up. Since the film being shown is the one Ted made, they feel he will show up. To round out our movie goers, we have Sully (Michael Schwartz), who Bridget and her friends seem to know, but aren’t really friends with. There is also Timmy (Justin Baric), Bridget’s little brother, who wants to see the movie, but Bridget sends him home instead. As the movie starts, filmed as something of a knock off of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, everything seems normal enough. When they start to notice that some of the scenes look like areas in the theater, and the people being killed are people that are in the theater, they start to worry about what is going on.

I decided to rent Midnight Movie, over other movies I picked up, because the story sounded interesting. It turns out it was slightly misleading, as it suggested that people were somehow showing up in the film being shown. While this is sort of true, the film changes to the killers point of view, he is actually in our reality. From what I was reading on the DVD, it was the person being killed that somehow entered into the movie reality. This wasn’t a big deal to me, just wish they would write those things a little better. Midnight Movie ends up being an okay movie, mostly because it fails to set rules for the killer. He can seemingly pass in and out of our reality whenever he wants, as long as the film is running. Even though no one really tries, it is unclear if he can even be killed. He can only kill you if you are scared. To me, that is asking the impossible. No one in their right mind wouldn’t be scared of someone trying to kill them. The characters watching the film take way to long to realize that what they are watching, some of the time anyway, is real. Even when they figure it out, they don’t take it seriously at first, going as far as kicking around left over chunks of their friend’s body. I guess I understand why they didn’t take it all that serious at first.

Speaking of chunks of bodies, the effects were a little disappointing at first. The killer has made a special weapong, that looks something like a very large cork screw. When a kill happens, we see the reaction of the people watching the film, instead of the actual kill. Midnight Movie not only improves the effects as the film goes on, the plot itself seems to get better as well. The kills do get a little boring, since the killer is always using the same weapon. He can only kill people a limited number of ways with his weapon. Still, it can get fairly gory at times. The acting could have been better in places, but over all wasn’t all that bad. I enjoyed Rebekah Brandes’ preformance, and I noticed she is in a few other horror movies, so I will have to check those out sometime. Greg Cirulnick gives us a character that we end up glad that he is killed off. You can also find Lee Main, who actually plays the killer with a very bad limp.

Midnight Movie does end up being slightly annoying because of the characters not thinking things through at times. It takes them a long time before they decide to try to stop the projector, for example. I didn’t really get why the killer went after those not watching his movie first. They were feeling fear, for different reasons, when they were killed. I know it is the same building, but still felt a little odd to me. The ending also left a lot to be desired. Midnight Movie is a low budget film, that doesn’t have that feel to it. Even though it has some flaws to it, there are also some cool scenes as well. Like a police officer that can’t see our group pounding and yelling on the other side of the glass doors. This is director/co-writer Jack Massitt’s first outing as a director. To his credit, he does give us a good slasher film. It just isn’t one of the great ones. That being said, it could be a lot worse.

3 out of 5 Why did they have to let the kid live?!?