Review of Midnight Movie (1994) by Bryan G — 11 Jul 2009

When I read the description to Jack Messitt's Midnight Movie, I was worried that this film was going to resemble the 1991 cult horror film Popcorn, where the patrons of a midnight showing of old horror films are killed in ways mirroring the events of the films on screen. Luckily, that isn't the case with this film. Instead of being a standard serial killer, Midnight Movie has the killer from the film the audience is watching come out of the screen, kill them one by one and drag them into his movie world.

The great thing about Midnight Movie is that the cast is a small one, and they never leave the location the film takes place in. A lot of awesome horror films these days are low-budget films with smaller casts, that use minimal amounts of sets. Because of this, Midnight Movie was able to craft a genuine level of terror and create some great thrills along the way.

I liked that the film doesn't try to explain the killer's ability to slip in and out of the film he exists in, or dig too deep into his past. All we know is that he once was a filmmaker (he made the film he exists in by the way), went crazy and was institutionalized and disappeared shortly after going on a killing spree on the grounds of the institution he was committed to. He is a great looking killer, and has a rather interesting weapon of choice.

The small group of people trying to get out of the theater alive were a nice collection of actors, and for the most part they are all fine in their performances. Little Justin Baric, however, wasn't so great in the film. I know that he's a kid and I shouldn't be too hard on him. But it was distracting that his emotions in the film never changed. Whether he was being chased by the killer or calmly relaxing, his face and voice stayed on the same note throughout the film.

The movie isn't perfect, and a large part of my frustrations with the film came from how stupid the people in it could be at times. But the movie is fast-paced, almost relentless and concludes on a rather bleak but effective ending that could leave itself open for a possible sequel. Not the most original horror film you are ever going to see, but one that doesn't succumb to the usual faults that ruin a lot of horror films these days.