No, really...it's full of killers! I saw MIDNIGHT at a film festival in Orlando and was totally blown away. It was like an 80s slasher made recently! It is brutal and original. I only learned later that it was a remake of a 'video nasty' from the 80's and written by the legendary John Russo (screenwriter of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and many other cult classics).
This version is very fast moving with a whole lot of violence. There are well timed comic relief points (such as the guy picking up hitchhiking Nancy...loved the zombie lube line) that are absolutely necessary to pressure release the tension that prevails the ominous tone of the film.
MIDNIGHT is brutal, it starts off with a group of kids tormenting a teenager caught in a steel trap. One of them hits the girl in the head with a shovel and when she wakes up, she is about to be sacrificed on an alter by the demented kids.
It's crazy, but you can't stop watching...from there, the film fast forwards a couple decades later and we learn about this same group of kids (now adults) have continued their Satanic cult and frequently look for women for their blood rituals.
Another concurrent story line deals with Nancy, the protagonist, who is forced to leave home after her stepfather tries to molest her. He's perv central, but to his redeeming credit, the stepdad does attempt to locate Nancy, not realizing how much trouble she indeed is in as she gets kidnapped by the crazy cult members while camping in the woods.
I went back and read the John Russo novel of the same name that MIDNIGHT was based on. I was shocked to find out that the novel was more bleak than the film. The film does leave you with some hope, where Nancy is left in the cage to die in the novel. At least the perv stepdad helps her in the movie...not so much in the novel, where he is trying to be sure she stays quite as to not reveal his trying to put the make on her.
A+ to the filmmakers of MIDNIGHT -- the remake. I loved it and am adding the DVD to my collection of horror flicks!
