Midnight

Trailer—Midnight

MIDNIGHT the film is based upon Russo's novel, and is actually quite an improvement on it. Despite zero budget and rough acting, this movie generates some real creepiness and true suspense. I originally saw it at a drive-in, where it was retitled BACKWOODS MASSACRE, and was surprised by what a gritty and powerful movie it was. It creates the same kind of "no one can be trusted" atmosphere as ROSEMARY'S BABY, and stands head and shoulders above the early 80s horror movie competition.

After the travesty that is "Night of the Living Dead 30th Anniversary Edition", lots of horror fans will never respect John Russo again! Well, I steer them towards this little-known rural chiller, which is surprisingly effective. Probably Russo's only noteworthy directorial job, "Midnight" borrows liberally from both "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "Friday the 13th", with a dash of "Last House on the Left". That doesn't make this film a rip-off, though. The performances aren't too bad, the lead actress as the teenage runaway reminds me of a taller, more masculine Jodie Foster. Lawrence Tierney underacts his part as the incestuous-turned-good-guy drunk stepfather. While Russo will forever be on every horror fan's hate list, do not disregard this film that is in a class of its own. The opening pre-credits sequence is just wrong, painful viewing and sets the scene for the following 90 minutes. Recommended to be seen at least once to appreciate what talent Russo might have had.

After watching this "movie" I did what I usually do – I looked it up on IMDb. When I saw the rating, I had to check to make sure I was looking at the right "movie". 4.4! Come on! That's about 3.4 points too high. I have seen a lot of bad movies in my time, but Midnight certainly ranks with the very worst. As far as I'm concerned, it's not fit for human consumption. It comes off as some kind of Psycho / Texas Chainsaw Massacre wannabe but fails miserably at every level. I'm not even sure I can call Midnight a "movie". I suppose that if your definition of a "movie" is limited to a series of moving pictures, then it qualifies. But my definition of a "movie" includes such luxuries as a plot, acting, and some level of entertainment – none of which are found here. I cannot think of one kind thing to say about this "movie". In fact, I should end here as I've already given Midnight far too much of my time.

Extremely low budget, which shows and can be off putting but this film moves with confidence. Scenes may be a little dark or slower than we would like and the dialogue somewhat less than snappy but we have a terrible feeling the tale that is told may not be too far off the mark. Filmed in the backwoods northwest of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, this is bleak looking country and pretty bleak people seem to lurk. There is gleeful and brutal killing for the sake of it and then as we proceed more serious devil worship based cult killing involving the kidnap of girls and their being held in cages awaiting their sacrifice. These later scenes are particularly well done and the lighting, dialogue and performances all seem to be upped a gear as we head to the ending with Lawrence Tierney lumbering across the screen to attempt an heroic rescue after all his own misdeeds.

I first saw this in the early 90s on a vhs. Revisited it recently. The movie has lots of stupidity but it is creepy n atmospheric at times. One of the best part is that most of the movie is shot in broad daylight n the night scenes r well shot. The director of this movie John Russo is the writer of NOTLD (1968), n he incorporated the cemetary scene in this one too with almost the same atmosphere. Some really wtf moments - A stupid girl hides in the shower n can't even out run a fat slob killer. Check out the scene at 1:30:52. The guy who is shot is standing as if he is like a mannequin. Luke the big, bald guy conveniently stands on the place where kerosene has been sprinkled by the final girl.