Starring - Melanie Verlin (Monkey Shines), Lawrence Tierney (Tales from the Darkside, The Prowler), and John Hall (Surf Nazis Must Die, The Silence of the Lambs)
Release Date - 1982
Genre - Horror
Tagline - "Madness begins when the clock strikes twelve"
Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)
Rating (out of 5):
When it comes to horror and the modern zombie we often credit the legendary George A. Romero due to his 1968 classic film Night of the Living Dead. The original Night of the Living Dead took the idea of the zombie, which was consisting of zombies in a voodoo sense prior too, and turned them into the flesh eating undead when it was mixed with the lore of ghouls. We often credit Romero with this because he did direct the now historical film but producer and author John A. Russo should also be credited for this because he pinned the story Night of Anubis which was later retitled Night of the Living Dead. He also has other iconic films and novels credited to his name like Return of the Living Dead, The Majorettes, and 1982's exploitation horror film Midnight. I've seen a good portion of his films before now but I had never found the time to check out Midnight. I had heard good things about it before now and I've owned the DVD release for years but never made the time to watch it. When Severin announced the blu release of the film I was quick to request a copy. The Lion's Gate DVD that I had was poor quality so I was fortunate enough that my first time watch of the film was on a pristine blu. I want to thank MVD and Severin for sending this one my way.
The film follows the Barns Family who worships Satan and kills everyone they come across. Nancy (Verlin), is a young runaway who is picked up by two college students when she flees from home when her step-father, a cop, becomes drunk and tries to rape her. The three stop to camp in some nearby woods when they find themselves face to face with the Barns clan with two of them acting as local police officers. The two men are murdered and Nancy is captures before being taken back to their home to be part of their ritual at midnight. While the Barns clan is preparing for their midnight ritual, Nancy's step-father is actively searching for her and uncovers a lead when the van owned by the hitchhikers was reported in a robbery. He is able to track it down and find his step-daughter right before the ritual killing several of the Barns' before succumbing to a fatal wound himself.
Every October I'm actively part of horror binging group on Facebook with a couple hundred other genre fans and during the months a few dozen members talk about this film. Seeing so many people discuss it during a time when other movies like Carpenter's Halloween, Trick 'r Treat, and Night of the Demons are in heavy rotation only drove my interest in the film. After finally getting a chance to see it I was not disappointed. In fact, I fucking loved the film and can see it falling into heavy rotation in my home in the coming months. It's an underrated horror film that I thoroughly enjoyed. The acting in this one is solid but there is some room for improvements. The cast, especially those in the Barns family, are fully dedicated to their roles. They go all in and deliver entertaining performances. I liked the cast and the characters and without them the film would not have been as entertaining as it is. The story for this one is a little on the cliched side, even by 1982 standards, but I fucking love the look of the film mixed with the story. A family of Satan worshiping hillbillies kidnapping and killing people in a midnight ritual is exactly what every suburban mom was afraid of thanks to day-time television. With that being said, I actually like it and loved how Russo approached it. I had a lot of fun with the character and story development. Finally, the film has some bloody moments but it wasn't as bloody or gory as I was hoping for. The effects are minimal but they do have some blood but the deaths are fairly unimaginative and forgettable. Overall, Midnight is probably one of the most underrated horror films to come out of the early 80s in my humble opinion. It's a bleak backwoods horror film from a legend with a fantastic blu release from Severin. I highly recommend snagging this when you can because you will not be disappointed.
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