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After Midnight- Amazon |
"To understand fear, you have to experience fear."
2005-11-01
I do enjoy horror anthologies, as it allows for short stories to be presented in such a way as to appeal to their strength, that being that they're short (as a bonus, if you don't like one story, another is coming soon). Let's face it, if you tried to stretch some of these tales out to a feature length film, they just wouldn't work...keep it short and sweet, and move on...which is exactly what they do here in the film After Midnight (1989). And speaking of horror anthologies, I'm especially looking forward to the upcoming remake of the 1982 film Creepshow, along with Creepshow 3, both tentatively scheduled for a 2006 release...but back to this film...co-written and co-directed by Jim and Ken Wheat, the brothers who wrote the story for the movie Pitch Black (2000), the film features Marg Helgenberger ("China Beach", Species), Ramy Zada (The Judas Project, "Port Charles"), Jillian McWhirter (Strangeland), Marc `Jimmy Olsen' McClure (Superman, Back to the Future), Pamela Segall (Sgt. Bilko), Judie Aronson (Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, Weird Science), Nadine Van der Velde (Moving Violations, Critters), and Luis Contreras (Extreme Prejudice, Alien Avengers II), among others.
The film begins on a college campus where we see a blonde girl named Allison (McWhirter) meeting up with her friend Cheryl (Segall). It's the first day of class, and something isn't sitting well with Allison (probably her lunch)...actually, it's the course Cheryl talked her into taking, a psychology class the students have dubbed Fear 101. Here we meet Professor Edward Derek (Zada)...why he has two first names I have no idea...and we quickly see his methods are a bit out of the ordinary, along with learning his belief that to truly understand something, you must experience it...after a student complains about the Professor's unorthodox ways (there's always a whiner in the bunch), the Professor offers to hold seminars in his home, for those students truly interested in further exploring the subject matter at hand, outside of the restrictive college classroom setting. A handful of students arrive later that night as a storm begins kicking up, and the group begins passing scary stories around, the first being about a young married couple, out celebrating the mans birthday, finishing out the night by taking a midnight drive. Their car breaks down near a creepy, secluded mansion (legend has it it's a murder house) on a twisty, coastal road, and they're forced to seek help from within...a light indicates someone might have taken residence of the long vacant property, but I wonder if they'll be helpful...the second story involves four young girls out for a night of fun in the city (girls gone mild), but circumstances lead them to get lost in a very deserted warehouse district. After a run in with a greasy, crazed, knife-wielding drifter, his bitey dogs pursue the girls vigorously. The third story features Helgenberger as Alex, the lone overnight operator at an answering service who ends up taking numerous phone messages for one of her female clients from a real wack-a-doo. Obsession quickly turns to murder, and Alex soon finds out she's next on the mental defective's `kill' list. The film consists of three proper stories, tied together by a fourth, usually called the `wraparound'. The wraparound story is generally the weakest part in the horror anthology film, as its primary function is to serve as filler between the stories and pad out the running time, and here this holds true. On the surface the wraparound tale here seems kinda cool, tying itself into the other three stories, but it uses a technique, which I won't disclose as not to spoil things, that I generally abhor only because it allows for so much leeway and opens the door for the laziness exhibited here near the end of the film. Things quickly switch from interesting to just plain bizarre, to which I immediately guessed what was going on and where the story was headed, thereby putting the kibosh on any surprise intended by the writers. As far as the various stand alone stories, I thought they were pretty well done, for the most part. The first tale featuring the young couple was a fun one, complete with a spooky house, great atmosphere, and good set up, but I did manage to figure the twist out before it was revealed. The second story seemed the weakest, as it involved no twist, and I found the characters fairly annoying and ultimately victims of their own stupidity. The good thing is the character I found the most bothersome ended up becoming kibble for the dogs, the bad thing is the rest didn't...the third story, featuring Helgenberger, was the best of the bunch, despite some flaws. The antagonist character was a bit over the top, and I couldn't figure out why Helgenberger's character didn't call the police immediately after she learned the stalker was in her client's apartment (she only called her boss). Seems to me this would have been standard operating procedure, but whatever...the pacing is quick, keeping you on your toes, allowing little time to figure out what's going on before the surprise ending. The good thing about all these stories is that they're kept relatively simple, move along well, and populated by professional actors, although I didn't care much for Zada as Professor Edward Derek. He's certainly a handsome man, but his portrayal felt odd only for the sake of being odd, and not a characteristic emanating from within the character himself (his dumb antics at the school would have surely gotten him fired, and most likely arrested, deservedly so). One aspect I liked was how the directors were able to develop some worthwhile tension at a number of points in the movie, keeping my interest throughout. The bad thing is the was a sense of predictability and familiarity throughout, but the effort was there (except for at the very end), and that counts for something with me. The DVD has both the anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) and fullscreen formats, and looks very clean. The Dolby Digital mono audio comes through very well, with no complaints. There is an original theatrical trailer included, but nothing else in terms of extras. All in all, a decent film with some good moments, but I'd definitely recommend renting before buying. Cookieman108 
1.99 STARS: Interesting idea for a mini anthology, but could have been much better.
2005-10-30
Please allow me to preface this review by stating that I like "After Midnight" overall...I really do, but some of the movie was lame in my opinion. The first story about the abandoned house wasn't very good in my opinion, although it could very well have been...the setting was there for it, but I just didn't like the story...it wasn't scary and it was very predictable. If you have a scary house, go with that theme and use it to the fullest, but the way that story ended was kinda sorry.
The second story was the worst in my opinion...it starts out like it might be good with the teenaged girls in the wrong place at the wrong time, but the crazy guy they run into and the killer dogs just didn't do it for me from a horror movie fan's perspective. I just did not find the killer dog idea to be conduicive for genuine horror because it was not scary. Yeah, I am scared of killer dogs, but it is not a good idea for a horror movie and if I wanted to watch a killer dog movie, I would watch "Cujo" which is much better, but I don't find it scary either. I don't know...maybe it's because I like dogs. The third story is truly great!!! I think this story about the psychopathic killer and the the girls/operators at the answering service is a true masterpiece and would make a great movie!! What a great idea and setting for a horror movie...I am surprised this has not been picked up on and developed into an actual movie because it would work nicely. There is horror and suspense in this story because you don't know what's going to happen, but you know someone is going to be murdered. The killer is somewhat psychotic, unpredictable and is fairly convincing as a killer. The fact that the operator is alone in this building (despite the futile presence of Ray) is very scary and the story has a great ending. The third story is definitely the highlight and the reason that I like this movie overall. Finally, the plot behind the stories themselves which involves the psychology of fear class was interesting in my opinion and while I did like the idea, I thought it could have been better and executed in a more effective manner. The professor does a decent job as the crazy professor and is a little bit creepy to a certain degree in a mild kind of way, but it's not good enough to make a scary movie as it is executed poorly which makes it come off rather artificial. Perhaps, if there was more theme and character development with the psychology of fear class, the movie would have been better overall, but in this area, the movie lacked a viable atmosphere necessary for cinematic horror development. Still, "After Midnight" is mildly entertaining as is. All and all, I would have liked the third story about the serial killer and operator to have been longer and more fully developed, drop the other two sorry stories or at least change the scary mansion one for a better script, and finally, I just felt that the psycho psychology professor and class could have been developed and executed better to create an overall finer product...overall, I thought the Professor came off looking like a pu$$y. Still, "After Midnight" isn't terrible as a late night endeavor for the die-hard horror movie buff, but don't expect too much aside from the high points that I mentioned above. 
Are you afraid of the dark?
2005-09-12
One of the strangest anthology movies of the 1980s, it reminded me of the Romero-Argento collaboration TWO EVIL EYES. In fact, the weird professor who tries to scare all his students by telling them urban legends in indeed played by Ramy Zada, the exotic star of the "Valdemar" portion of TWO EVIL EYES. Zada is just a strange looking bird, though extremely handsome and charismatic, there's something doomed about him; I wonder if he's still alive or did his gravestone charisma carry him away? The movie opens up with Ramy Zada, sort of dapper in tweedy clothes like Giles on BUFFY, teaching a typical seminar about fear, and he manages to humiliate a dumb jock boy by scaring him so badly a dark patch appears staining his crotch. Everyone laughs and jeers just as they did to Carrie or Michael Myers and you can see in the frat boy's little eyes he is planning revenge not only on Professor Ramy Zada but on everyone who laughed at him. A mad killer is born right on the spot! But the movie hasn't even properly started yet. It is one of the most elaborate frame stories I know of. Then the frame continues as Professor Zada invites his students to his house for late night snacks and more horror stories.
You get the feeling that the filmmakers could have tied together all the stories, and the frame story, but it was just easier not to. It's sort of like URBAN LEGEND, but without the big budget. Nevertheless, there were some good actors in this piece, including Marg Helgenberger, who plays a telephone operator in story #3 with a broken foot in a cast, just ghastly, you know something awful is going to happen to her, and a caller who has an obsession with one of her clients that just won't quit. This story is a lot like the "Telephone" story of Mario Bava's "BLACK SABBATH," see if you agree with me when you see it. But I will say that Helgenberger gives it her all and she shouldn't be ashamed of her acting in this part-she's one of the best in the movie. And Marc McClure is in it too, whom we all loved in the Superman movies (he played Jimmy Olsen). Anyhow, the picture looks a little ripe nowadays but anyone who loves the whole horror at college genre will find something to enjoy in AFTER MIDNIGHT. Don't miss it if you possibly can, and warning, be prepared for a lot of great, cheesy outfits on the students of the GIRLS UST WANT TO HAVE FUN variety-big blouses with shoulder pads and sequins, tight little skirts, warm up clothes to die for, and anamorphic hair (bigger than the screen). 
A GREAT TRILOGY OF TERROR!!!!!!!!
2005-07-29
After Midnight is a great horror film,because its creepy and keeps you on your toes the whole time!!!!! When i saw this last was when it came out in the late 80's and i told myself that i had to get this movie!!!!! Each story in the movie is different and has its surprizes and has its scary moments too!!!!! I can't wait for this to come on dvd so i can add it to my collection!!!!!
THIS WAS A GOOD 80'S MOVIE!!!
2001-04-29
FORGET THAT REVIEW ABOVE THIS THAT PERSON OBVIOUSLY WROTE FOR THE WRONG MOVIE....BUT THIS WAS A GOOD MOVIE A LIL DATED BUT THE STORY IS SO GOOD KIND OF UNIQUE.....ONLY ONE PROBLEM, TO MAKE THESE STORIES REALLY STAND OUT IT NEEDED MORE GORE AND THATS WHATS MISSING. BUT ALL IN ALL GREAT STORY WITH GREAT POTENTIAL. ALSO I LOVE THAT CUTE LIL ACTRESS PAMELA SEGALL!!!
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