Midnight Movie is a slasher horror film that left me pleasantly surprised. The budget is small and the cast not particularly well known, with limited resources director Jack Messitt has been able to create a really rather enjoyable slasher however, and Messitt I feel is most definitely one to watch out for in the future. Used to playing a cinematography/camera operator role, Midnight Movie was Messitt’s first foray into film directing, and if Midnight Movie is anything to go by then Jack Messitt should surely have a very exciting career ahead of him in film.
The basic plot line here is that a group of friends go out to the cinema to see the midnight showing of a cult 70s slasher flick, The Dark Beneath. It’s the film’s first cinematic showing for over 20 years, and there’s controversy surrounding the film as the director was actually locked up in a psychiatric ward after the film was made. What the friends are not aware of is that the director actually escaped five years back, and a police officer obsessed with the case is actually in attendance at the cinema this evening, hoping that the cult director will show up and be able to provide some answers about his bloody escape from the psychiatric ward five years back.
Midnight Movie is a bloody gory slasher, taking inspiration from the likes of A Nightmare on Elm Street and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but without ever being a copycat of its predecessors. Jack Messitt is able to make the film his own, building suspense well in places and providing a good few scares. The film was co-written by Jack Messitt and Mark Garbett, and both of these men obviously know their slashers as they have here put together a very impressive horror.
At 82 minutes the film is not overlong, it’s just a punchy, straight to the point slasher, and there’s no hanging about here as the killer begins picking off his prey. There’s no escape from the theatre as the windows and doors sit very firmly locked and bolted, and as you watch the film you just know that the majority, if not all, of the characters here are ultimately going to get caught by the killer.
Midnight Movie is a great leave your brain at home horror, and although a direct-to-DVD slasher, Midnight Movie is actually a lot better than the majority of slashers that I have seen reach the cinemas in recent years, and is most certainly a film for Jack Messitt to be very proud of.
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UK based film graduate with a huge passion for music, sports and video games.
