Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Borrows its premise from Bava, but does the master one better., April 27, 2009
This at its core a supernatural slasher film. Like all slasher films it is required to have a masked killer who uses a specialised cutting implement to dispatch teens in a particular setting. Like most supernatural films it comes with specific rules and otherworldly occurances and lapses in logic to circumvent said killer. The film works in both its horror subgenres.
Now at first glance the basic premise of the film sounds like Bava's gore/monster classic DEMONS. Sure, that's partially true. It's about a group of people going to see a midnight horror film in an old theater, and then having the horrifying images on the screen come to life and effect the audience in gruesome ways. But that's where the similarities end and the innovation begins. While I love DEMONS, I have to admit beyond the monster effects, soundtrack, cinematography and basic premise, the film brings nothing new to the table that Romero hadn't already in his zombie films. The satire about how movie violence effects its audience is there, but Bava was more interested in the grue, so it gets buried. This film leaves out the satire completely but builds a serious thriller out of it.
First let me praise God, Buddha, Allah, and Jesus that I have seen a slasher film with characters that are likeable and fleshed out--for the most part. There not as in-depth as Hamlet but for this genre they seem real enough. All the characters you're supposed to like, you do. Hell, one character, the Biker, starts off as a loathesome character and then turned out to be my favorite character. The best part about this film is that it works at getting you to like the people involved, but doesn't let that influence who lives and who dies. There are some casualties in this film that will really make you wish they weren't. I was very happy to actually watch a horror film not wishing for the characters' death, but rather rooting for them to escape. Sometimes I was disappointed and sometimes I wasn't....just watch it for yourself if you want to catch my drift.
Now the movie is very violent and even has some intense gross out death scenes in it. How it lays out each murder is rather clever. Every time the horror film on the screen switches to the notorious Killer POV, made notorious by all 80's slasher films, the characters are clued into the fact that they may have to start running for their lives. On the commentary track included on the dvd the director notes how each murder represented a different film style of killing people on screen. The first are off-screen with only the aftermath shown. As the bodycount rises so does the gore level. We even get a torture-porn(on my quest to reclaiming that term still)sequence at the end that involves some toes and a lot of unpleasantness. This is a fun concept for horror movie nerds and finatics.
The ending even goes somewhere you weren't expecting. I won't ruin it, but it's fun and creepy and slips all the way into supernatural fantasy. The film runs short, just about 80 minutes. It's the perfect length for this type of film, a fluff terror piece with an original twist on an old concept. I usually yearn for more when these things run short, but this one got it all right in less than 90 minutes: likeable characters, creative kills, an original idea for a new cineamtic maniac, and surprises and twists.
I really liked this film. It's very under the radar so you might pass it by. I only heard about it because it was elected dvd of the month in Fangoria a couple of months ago. Check it out...NOW.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Original Tasty Slasher Morsel, March 12, 2009
I really enjoyed "midnight Movie"..
I'm not going to go through the plot because you can read the synopsis or long boring reviews for that.
My review is why a slasher, horror fan should buy it.
I found it to be highly original .I was interested in the story and characters on the movie screen in the theatre in midnight Movie and particularly the story being told when the killer came off the screen to terrorize the main characters "in" the theatre.
This movie has a killer with an original weapon and original look, the plot on screen was very
"Texas Chainsaw -esque",original ? no , do we love it ? yes..Some say the killer has no personality.How much personality do you have to have to be menacing and make good kills? REALLY~!!!
Do we as slasher fans really care if he prefers Coke or Pepsi? I don't think so,just keep looking freaky and slashing people.
If you are a slasher fan you will Surely like and maybe even love this film.
It has some good kills, a couple of great ones good acting and it's well paced not at all boring.
nuff said.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A MOVIE WITHIN A MOVIE WITHIN A MOVIE AND SURPRISINGLY GOOD..., April 12, 2009
....Considering most of the scare-free schlock direct to video movies out there. The movie starts when a mis-guided or just plain stupid psychiatrist thinks letting the loon who directed a cheesy horror movie from the 60's watch his film will be beneficial therapy. Big mistake. The crazed director slaughters everyone in the asylum, escapes and then the fun begins.
Two couples and their gassy friend along with a biker and his chick as well as two detectives and an interloper, the kid brother of one of the girls watch the old black and white film "The Dark Beneath" which is a typical slasher flick featuring the usual assortment of brain dead teens.
When the friend with gas problems has to make a mad dash to the toilet the movie on screen suddenly changes and they watch as their friend gets murdered by a masked maniac wielding a very sharp spiral orb which the killer uses to punch a hole in the victim and extract innards. The friends in the audience think they have been punk'd until they go to the toilet and find blood and gore on the floor.
One by one the cast is picked off and the movie gets progressively more gruesome but not as gruesome as the fake butter glopped on popcorn at the concession stand.
The movie has many twists and turns and delivers the gore and best of all doesn't insult the intelligence of the viewer. Good job, Good show.
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