Midnight (1982) User Reviews

Oppressive rural horror

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 28 August 2016]

John Russo is nowadays largely derided for his efforts to 'repackage' NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD – a film on which he served as editor – for a 30th anniversary audience. This involved shooting ridiculous new footage and generally attempting to change the film for the better, but what happened? He created a travesty instead. Anyway, the wannabe-director was also involved in some rural Pennysylvanian horror flicks back in the 1980s, producing the ultra-cheesy slasher THE MAJORETTES and directing this, a bleak black magic thriller that surprisingly manages to recreate some of the sleazy atmosphere of those '70s grindhouse flicks where bad things happen to young people.

Of course, MIDNIGHT is put together on a shoe-string budget, so technically it's not very accomplished. The storyline is meandering and slow in places, and there are some stupid or unbelievable moments. Still, it managed to hold my interest for the entire run time. Where the film is effective, however, is in the landscape: there's an isolated backwoods setting for this film, a setting of desolate fields, abandoned farmhouses, and small towns where the locals are either racists or out-and-out psycho killers. Imagine the same kind of creepiness you saw in the likes of DELIVERANCE and SOUTHERN COMFORT and you'll have a general idea of the 'feel' of this film.

Russo's budget meant that he could only afford one 'Hollywood' actor, legendary tough guy Lawrence Tierney. This actor plays the role of a perverted policeman with designs on his own step daughter! I admit, I've only seen Tierney in the likes of RESERVOIR DOGS, where he didn't get the chance to do much, but he shines here – a real class act. The rest of the cast are amateurish, but the central trio of Verlin, Hall, and Jackson aren't bad at all, and I actually found myself warming to these youths as they ride around in their van. Watch out for a minor appearance from John Amplas, who essayed the titular role of George Romero's MARTIN.

When the horror eventually kicks in, we're left with a film detailing yet another family of hillbilly psychos, with an added black magic element. Yes, it's been done to death countless times before, and there's even a rip-off plot strand straight out of PSYCHO – and about a dozen other similarly-themed movies made in the 1970s. The good news is that Tom Savini's on hand to supply the gore effects, although they're limited and strained here and someone expecting the inventive nastiness of MANIAC or DAWN OF THE DEAD will be disappointed. Again, lack of money is a problem. Still, MIDNIGHT held my attention, and I was left feeling quite warm towards it once it was over. It's no masterpiece, and it's far from original, but even Russo's technical shortcomings can't disguise the heavy, oppressive atmosphere running throughout this minor effort.

Hitch-hiking for Idiots Lesson One: make sure you're heading in the right direction.

[BA_Harrison · 6/10 · 22 February 2011]

When drunken cop Bert Johnson (Lawrence Tierney) makes sexual advances towards his teenage stepdaughter Nancy (the rather boyish Melanie Verlin), she packs her bags and sets off to see her sister in California, hitching a ride with Tom and Hank (John Hall and Charles Jackson), two college students on their way to Florida (!?!?). After a night camping out under the stars, the trio fall foul of a family of redneck Satanists who are ritually sacrificing young women to try and resurrect their dead mother.

With a screenplay and direction from John A. Russo, writer of seminal horror classic Night of the Living Dead, and make-up effects from genre legend Tom Savini, one might reasonably expect Midnight to deliver the goods in terms of terror and gore, but sadly it fails to deliver on both counts: Russo's script, based on his own novel, suffers from a dreadfully dull first half and the guy is clearly no Romero when calling the shots behind the camera, consistently failing to deliver the requisite chills; Savini also disappoints, his gore FX on this project being far from his best work (I can only presume that he knocked them out on the cheap as a favour to Russo).

It's not all a total loss though: the film's pace picks up considerably once Nancy and pals meet the devil-worshipping backwoods clan (a memorable group consisting of two nutters posing as cops, a demented babe, and a fat guy in dungarees who can't stop laughing), and bonus points are scored for a willingness to tackle the taboo, a few surprisingly brutal deaths, and a cool grind-house vibe achieved through cruddy picture quality and a menacing, lo-fi synthesiser score (the horribly dated theme song, on the other hand, is simply atrocious and only serves to irritate).

5.5 out of 10, rounded up to 6 for IMDb.

Excellent premise executed poorly.

[doorbomb62 · 4/10 · 27 November 2019]

The book of John Russo's 'Midnight' is a very taught, brief little thriller. The premise is an exciting one though. A young runaway, whom takes up with two college frat boys travelling cross country, runs into trouble with a satanic batch of siblings. This one line premise has all the makings of an excellent drive-in spectacular in the vain of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Race With the Devil, and The Last House on the Left. Not so surprising that it falls in line with such films as Russo was a co-writer of Night of the Living Dead, which set many genre standards in that period of time. Thus it further exemplifies the promise it does NOT add up to.

Sometimes the author has no business taking his material to a new medium, in this case novel to screen. Stephen King fared none to well with 'Maximum Overdrive' as well. 'Midnight' was probably around the time when producers were managing to get their hands back on final cut after the paramount decree, and with this film in particular, it's not hard to see why. The budget here is so non existent that it looks to have been filmed in someone's garage, and I guarantee you some of it probably, quite literally was. With more money, and some bigger producers putting some elbow grease into it, this could have worked much better. The novel wins you over right away, but here, Russo has no creative aspect to his direction. Just setting up a camera and filming. No tension to build up on, and without that, the shock moments are just as dull as the rest of the film. Also, he sets up a very poor and ineffective atmosphere. There is a total lack of vision for what the novel provides as an after school special gone to hell. This needed someone to oversee it on a more end-result basis to assure it was delivered properly and to the completed satisfaction of all parties involved.

The casting is WAY off save for Robin Walsh to rises emotionally AND physically to Cynthia as we are introduced to her in the book. Everyone else, including Romero alumni John Amplas, are simply thrown in and directed to move about as they're told, but with no clear motivation or actions driving what they're doing onscreen. The direction with them is totally uninspired and everyone looks like they'd rather be reading the original novel at the beach instead. Two or three of them (Ellie Wyler as Gwen) are downright horrendous to watch as they clearly have NO talent in this regard. I point out Ms. Wyler in specific because her character is supposed to be defiant and strong willed against the tormentors (Think Phyllis Stone in Wes Craven's 'The Last House on the Left). Here, the uncharacteristic Wyler is simply in a cage saying her lines to no distinction or direction. Very bland and embarrassingly cheap. More so obvious than anything else.

The film DOES have ONE thing going for it, the soundtrack! It features eerie organ music and a soft dark vocal Mass for the satanic rituals that fit quite properly. There is also a fun chirpy pop tune used repeatedly throughout as the theme, known as "Midnight Again". It is VERY addictive to hear and suits the novel much better than the film. Almost too good a thing to be heard here. Alas, moments with the score in tow are actually arousing and engaging enough but they are far and few in between the bad bland acting the the overall lack of proper direction.

It says, here , that a remake is in the works. It's definitely in need of one, but better yet...GO OUT AND READ THE DARN BOOK INSTEAD! The movie in your mind will far outweigh what has been provided here, and what might ever be provided again, if it is to be provided again.

Backwoods fun

[anawesomemoviefanatic · 28 June 2003]

This is one of those movies you don't hear about as much as "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" or "The Hills Have Eyes", and that's too bad, because I found this regrettably unknown little horror film from John Russo to be quite entertaining and seriously creepy. Yes, it's very, very low budget - the sound, camerawork, and acting/dialogue are all very sloppy and unpolished, but bear with it. The film takes a little while to start up, but once it does, if you're a true horror fan it will definitely hold your attention. The film's low budget at times makes it seem so realistic that I felt a creepy feeling, it's hard to describe. Even with his limited funds, you can definitely tell that John Russo was trying to make a good, creepy, hardcore horror movie, and he definitely succeeded. The plot basically centers around a girl named Nancy who runs away frome home, hitching a ride with two guys. The trio gets themselves into trouble after robbing a grocery store and find themselves hiding out in the sticks, where the locals have warned them against staying because of several murders that have been committed there lately. What follows is how the teens run afoul of a psychotic family of blood-drinking Satanists who worship their mother's corpse and kidnap and murder young girls to use their blood for a black mass. Again, bear with the somewhat slow first half - what you get in the second half of the movie is well worth the wait. It's well worth the rental or purchase if this type of gory horror is your cup of tea. By the way, the Savini makeups are good, though they do seem to be trimmed somewhat - what a surprise - but the film is still rather gory. It has its share of stabbings, slittings and gunshot wounds to keep the regular gorehound satisfied. All in all, if you're into the "backwoods horror" scene, check out "Midnight", a regular "backwoods massacre"!

Beware!

[Frameous · 1/10 · 13 October 2005]

This movie is so bad, even I didn't like it, and I like a lot of trash. I can forgive cheap sets and locations, wooden and stilted acting, even incoherent story lines. But come on, gimme something to work with here. I could have enjoyed this movie warts and all if it had at least two or three good set pieces, but no. Just a lot of shots of driving and bad disco songs written just for this movie because the budget wouldn't permit the real thing. A movie this short shouldn't waste it's first 45 minuets establishing plot. To keep thing moving fast there should have been a stronger beginning and scares coming at least every 15 minuets. No gore, unless you count watery red paint as gore. And in the end when the bodies do begin to pile up I was just happy it was over with. All in all, Avoid!

Sucks - Even For A "Bad" Movie

[Skeeter700 · 2/10 · 16 March 1999]

Go to your local video store and you will probably find the horror genre is more overrun with "bad" movies then any other section. The reason for this is that more then in any other genre "bad" horror films can still be entertaining. For example, 'Leprechaun', 'Sorority House Massacre', and 'Friday the 13th, Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan' are all bad movies. Yet, each is more or less entertaining enough to sit through for 90 min. But why then are other horror movies, which are also "bad", so hard to watch? In the case of 'Midnight' the reason is that nothing happens. In 'Leprechaun' for example there is a silly story. However, it moves quickly enough and there are sufficient plot twists to keep us laughing at its audacity (fancy word eh?). There is also bad acting - but in a playful overacting sense that is full of speaking and movement. In ‘Midnight' on the other hand, nothing happens. We watch for 2 min as characters sit and stare. We watch for 3 min. as a van drives down a road. We just watch. Never do we laugh at or playfully mock the screen because so little happens. Certainly we are never scared or shocked. For these reasons this movie is a dud - even as "bad" horror movies go.

Now for the story: A girl runs away from home after her stepfather cop tries to rape her. While hitchhiking she is picked up by 2 college students going on spring break freakout. However, they end up being captured by a family of devil worshipers loosely based on Leatherface's kin.

No nudity, extreme violence, action, funny scenes, worthwhile special effects, or Clint Howard. In a word: Boring. If you rent this for the Tom Savini credit you will be disappointed. Skeeter gives it 2 for 10.

Avoid at all cost!

[bensonmum2 · 1/10 · 14 October 2005]

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.

One of the best in the hillbilly n satanic cult genre.

[Fella_shibby · 7/10 · 27 February 2022]

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.

"Midnight" in the House of Good and Evil

[Jonny_Numb · 4/10 · 24 October 2007]

John Russo has long stood in the shadow of ex-partner George Romero, and "Midnight" is a good example of why. This tale of a devout Catholic girl (Melanie Verlin, possessing the tomboyish looks of a young Jodie Foster) fleeing her groping, drunken police-officer stepfather (Lawrence Tierney--"Reservoir Dogs") only to run afoul of a wacky family of Satan worshippers living in a backwoods shack (that auspiciously sits in the heart of suburbia) is equal parts "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "Night of the Living Dead," but with far less imagination. While Russo gets decent mileage out of his cast of unknowns and occasionally employs a nifty camera angle (a close-up of kicking feet as a man is stabbed to death, for instance), it cannot save a plodding story that is frequently interrupted by scenes of talky exposition. I realize that low-budget films are frequently forced to tell instead of show, but Romero has proved time and again that it's a matter of directorial skill in keeping the audience hooked. Even the makeup FX (credited to Tom Savini) play on a distinctly lower tier. Yet "Midnight" isn't altogether bad...I have a feeling it would be great fodder for a drunken get-together, and Russo's use of rural Pennsylvania locales lends a bit of rough-hewn realism to the otherwise absurd tale. And hey, it's a chance to see John Amplas ("Martin"; "Day of the Dead") play one of the psychotic brothers!

(Note: Lionsgate has released "Midnight" to DVD with the kind of misleading sleeve art usually reserved for a Ulli Lommel flick; the disc is full-screen and contains no extras, which might have gone a ways in redeeming the film.)

Starts slow & clunky, but improves as it goes along

[Woodyanders · 7/10 · 9 February 2006]

As other folks with their comments on this movie have stated this low-budget early 80's fright film has its fair share of flaws. First off the acting is strictly hit or miss. Melanie Verlin is merely adequate as the teen runaway heroine, John Hall and Charles Jackson are solid and engaging as the two nice young guys who give Verlin a lift, and John Amplas of George Romero's "Martin" is terrifically creepy as one of the vicious backwoods Satanists our luckless trio run afoul of. However, the actor who plays the priest is just terrible and the actress who plays the priest's daughter is likewise pretty bad. Thankfully, late, great tough guy character thesp supreme Lawrence Tierney contributes an excellent performance as Verlin's disgustingly incestuous and alcoholic cop stepfather. Moreover, the first forty-odd minutes of the feature are gruelingly slow, tedious and uneventful. The cheesy soft rock theme song is truly atrocious. The dialogue tends to be flat and stilted.

On the plus side the rough, grainy cinematography does work; it adds a certain gritty documentary-like believability to the horrific proceedings. The deranged family of bloodthirsty redneck Devil worshipers are genuinely scary, especially the crazed chortling fat guy and the eerily beautiful brunette. When the horror elements of the story finally kick in they are every bit as stark, brutal, nasty and frightening as they ought to be. The opening scene where a little girl is savagely beaten to death by the Satanists is positively bloodcurdling. A feeling of nightmarish hopelessness asserts itself in the second half and proves to be powerfully unsettling in its unsparing bleakness. The sequences where people are ritualistically sacrificed are definitely shocking and disturbing. Having the female victims locked up in cages like animals is a cool deviant touch. Tom Savini's minimal gore make-up is top-notch as usual. And the ending has a few neat touches of irony, with the best being how the initially reprehensible Tierney turns out to be the film's hero. Although it's way too imperfect and uneven to qualify as some kind of lost classic (the clunky opening half is frankly a bit of a chore to slog through), "Midnight" overall rates as a pretty solid and effective little rural shocker that gets better as it goes along.

Even Tom Savini's FX aren't enough for me to justify recommending this to you

[happyendingrocks · 3/10 · 22 June 2012]

This dull, bargain basement John Russo quickie is a relatively obscure entry on his resume, and once you immerse yourself into Midnight's clueless craftsmanship, sluggish pace, and atrocious acting, you'll quickly realize why that's the case.

The film is largely centered around the plight of Nancy, a teenage girl who runs away from home after fending off the icky advances of her drunken, lecherous stepfather. She hitches a ride with two guys and joins them on their road trip, and along the way the trio are menaced by racist hick townsfolk, trigger-happy rednecks posing as police officers, and a giggling, obese lunatic in overalls. Despite being warned about a series of unsolved local murders by a monotonous but kindly preacher they pick up during a pit-stop, the group opts to pull off the road and camp in a deserted, isolated field in the middle of the indicated killing grounds, a decision that predictably doesn't turn out well for them.

It takes more than half of the movie to guide us through this basic set-up, and by the time Russo finally clues us in to what Midnight is actually about, we're so bored that we don't really care much anymore. The first act is liberally padded with pointless conversations between ancillary characters, on-the-road antics, and the omnipresence of an impressively saccharine AM radio soft rock jam called "Midnight Again," which you'll ultimately get to hear three times in its entirety. If you opt to make it the finish line, you'll eventually discover that the mostly alluded-to murders are the work of a family of sibling Satanists, who ensnare Nancy and lock her in a dog cage with the intention of sacrificing her to their dark lord. Though these Lucifer enthusiasts slit people's throats and force-feed goblets of blood to their mother's corpse, the ritual scenes are so cheesily orchestrated that even the more ghoulish elements become inherently humorous by default.

Early FX work by Tom Savini provides a bit of curiosity value for die-hard fans, but unfortunately the maestro isn't given many opportunities to open up his toolbox, and most of the deaths on display are decidedly tame and unimaginative (one girl meets her end when the homicidal Farmer John behemoth turns on a bathtub spigot and runs the water on her face). The final act has a couple more explicit set-pieces, but there's nothing here even casual fans haven't seen Savini do better a dozen times before, and the grand total of the bloodshed in the entirety of Midnight is roughly equivalent to 30 seconds of Dawn Of The Dead.

Nancy's would-be molester is played by Lawrence Tierney, which will offer a point of meager interest for some viewers, but he seems just as disinterested in the proceedings as the rest of the amateur hour ensemble, so any hopes of a seasoned actor elevating the film are quickly quashed. The unspectacular climax, where Nancy and Tierney team up to dispatch the murderous cohort, is clumsily staged and brings this mess to the plodding finale that the rest of the movie has led you to expect, upon which Midnight ends so abruptly that we're left with the impression that Russo ran out of film.

Fans of awful cinema might find themselves mildly amused by the ineptness on display here, but most of Midnight is so insufferably tedious that even the unintentional comedy doesn't justify a peek. Discerning horror fans should just stay away completely. As for myself, I mostly just sat there scratching my head, quietly amazed that the same dude who made this had anything to do with Night Of The Living Dead.

great unknown low-budget horror film

[pudman · 9/10 · 14 June 1999]

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.

You're all alone, and midnight's at your door!

[Hey_Sweden · 7/10 · 16 February 2014]

This is actually a pretty good low budget horror film. It does bear the marks of a regional production (filmed in Pennsylvania), complete with the (mostly) amateurish acting that fans come to expect in such a thing. It does indeed start slow, so people may have a hard time sticking with it, but it's worth it in the end. The story is a familiar one, but is well realized by writer / director John A. Russo (an associate of George A. Romero who'd co-written the classic "Night of the Living Dead"), who adapted his own novel. Tom Savini supplies some typically well done splatter, but certainly the best aspect to the presentation are the very rural settings that give "Midnight" some potent atmosphere.

Melanie Verlin - in the first of only two movie roles - stars as Nancy, who has to live with a policeman stepfather (legendary tough guy and wildman Lawrence Tierney) who's a lecherous alcoholic. After he harasses her, she runs away from home, hooking up with seemingly nice young guys Tom (John Hall) and Hank (Charles Jackson). After they get her involved with their (mild) life of crime, she ends up in the backwoods where she's soon abducted by backward Satan worshipping lunatics. This lovely bunch of people force their victims into too-small cages in preparation for sacrifices to their dark lord.

One thing from this movie that people will likely remember the most is that staggeringly silly theme song that's heard a few times. Otherwise, this is pretty fun to watch. It's always a hoot to see Tierney in action, especially when his less-than-honourable character becomes an unlikely heroic figure. There's some delicious creepiness going on throughout, and Catholicism is a big theme. Nancy isn't an innocent type, but falls back on prayer when things look their bleakest. Verlin is reasonably appealing, but the standouts are obviously the antagonists: David Marchick as portly and bearded Cyrus, Greg Besnak as bald headed Luke, and John Amplas, star of Romero's "Martin", as Abraham. The electronic music score is priceless stuff.

The climactic action has its fair share of tension, but ultimately "Midnight" ends a little too abruptly. But until then it proves to be decent entertainment.

Seven out of 10.

John Russo's heavy handed themes

[edeighton · 3/10 · 11 November 2016]

Midnight was in some respects a much easier film to watch than Darkness. While Darkness utilized professional actors and better cameramen and directors, Midnight had a more coherent plot. Few could watch Darkness and then describe to somebody what happened in that movie and why it happened. Whereas, because John Russo adopted the screen play for Midnight from his own already published novel and then directed the movie himself, John Russo's story was successfully conveyed to the audience.

Russo's novel, "Midnight" told a bigger story about a national syndicate of Satanists that controlled all the political offices of the small Pennsylvania town which was the setting for the novel. Russo's novel also had a much more grim ending as nobody came to save poor Nancy. In the book, Nancy's policeman-step-father drove home after hearing that the satanists would kill Nancy on Easter night. The step father character in the novel left Nancy to die in an effort to conceal his attempted rape of her.

While Midnight the movie tells a slightly smaller story than "Midnight" the novel, Russo manages to force feed some pretty heavy themes to his audience: (1)Racial tension- Russo really places a lot of emphasis on the issue of racial disharmony. (2)The archaic and useless nature of religion- Russo devotes more time to this theme in his novel, but its hard not to notice Russo's opinion that Catholic dogma is just as archaic and useless as the satanic rituals being performed by his villains. The Catholic Priest taking Nancy's confession is portrayed as vindictive and unnecessarily ritualistic. Late in the film, the camera pans back and forth between Nancy praying for salvation while locked in a dog cage and at the same time the satanists chant their prayers hoping to resurrect their mummified mother. Russo seems to suggest that both prayers are equally outdated, ineffective and useless. (3) Men as predators- Russo does not think very highly of the fellow members of his gender. Literally every man that Russo's main character, underage Nancy, meets wants to have sex with her. Her stepfather drunkenly tries to rape her, The first driver that attempts to pick her up hitchhiking specifically states that she has to have sex with him for every 300 miles that he drives her. The two college aged boys discuss that she is jail bait and then still pick her up hitchhiking because the one boy thinks she is likely to sleep with him. The satanist brothers try and strip her naked and rape her until their satanist sister reminds them that they need a virgin sacrifice. (4) The danger of rural areas- Many of the victims of the satanist killers were either killed or kidnapped right from their own homes and backyards. This was only possible because of the rural area that these people lived in. The "dangerous" woods reached right up into the victims back door. The satanists needed only step out of the dangerous woods attack their victims and then disappear back into the woods.

Russo's story was interesting but his themes were misguided and heavy handed

Okay low-budget horror from Pittsburgh

[lor_ · 22 January 2023]

My review was written in January 1983 after a screening at Liberty theater on Manhattan's 42nd St.

"Midnight" is a 1980 Pittsburgh-made horror thriller which, while lacking the scares of its many competitors, at least varies from the rigid format of recent shockers. Horror novelist John Russo, who scripted the Pittsburgh classic "Night of the Living Dead", develops enough twist on traditional Satanism and road movie formulae to keep the fans interested.

Heroine Nancy Johnson (Melanie Verliin) runs away from home when her cop stepdad (Lawrence Tierney) tries to rape her. Diverted from her goal of joining a sister in California by two young men who pick her up hitchhiking, she becomes a captive of a local family of devil worshipers who slate her for human sacrifice on midnight, Easter Sunday.

Familiar elements herfe include the devil cultist retaining their clan matriarch in mummified form (a la "Psycho") and the usual gimmick of a backwoods family preying on unsuspecting travelers. One switch is the emphasis upon the story's racial angles, with several black victims and local prejudice surfacing against the racially mixed trio on the road.

Special makeup effects by a top artist in the field Tom Savini are effective (particularly a realistic decapitation simulation), but the picture's low budget shows in unatmospheric, routine visuals, amateurish performance in small roles and a 1960s-style music track. Though the premise has heroine and her road buddies headed south, autumn locations (belying Easter Sunday premise) all look similar, evidently filmed within shouting distance of the Pittsburgh home base.

Forties star Lawrence Tierney has fun as the heroine's stepdad, veering from initial comical villainy to a stalwart protector in the final reel. Other leads, many of whom are familiar faces from George A. Romero films, perform functionally.

Pretty poor crazy backwoods family slasher film with very little to recommend it.

[poolandrews · 3/10 · 2 June 2005]

Midnight starts with a brief sacrifice scene, enjoy it while it lasts because we don't get anymore for over an hour. After the credits have run we are introduced to a 17 year girl (yeah right sure she is!) named Nancy Johnson (Melanie Verlin) who lives with her fat ugly step Father Bert (Lawrence Tierney) a police man & her Mother Harriet (Doris Hackney). One day Bert arrives home drunk & tries to molest Nancy who obviously doesn't like his unwanted amorous paedophile advances & packs her bags intending to hitchhike her way to visit her sister in California. After standing by the side of the road for a while two guys in a van named Hank (Charles Jackson) & Tom (John Hall) offer her a lift. They say that they're going to Louisberg in Florida & that's she welcome to join them, Nancy jumps at the opportunity & they hit the open road. They stop off in a small town called Kaylor for gas & meet a priest who warns them about the area where several people have been found murdered in the woods, they ignore his warnings & decide to find a place to set up camp for the night. Little do the three realise that a crazy Satan worshipping family are stalking the area looking for suitable sacrifices & decide our trio will do nicely...

Written & directed by John A. Russo based on his own novel of the same name I personally thought Midnight was a bit of a waste of time & offered little in the way of entertainment value. The script is so dull & slow it virtually grinds to a halt on occasion. The backwoods family & sporadic horror elements aren't properly introduced until after the hour mark, what proceeds is just teenage drama & angst as Nancy runs away from home & goes on a road-trip with Tom & Hank. The script pulls out all the redneck clichés, the townspeople are aggressive, don't like strangers & all drink moonshine while the local police are depicted as heavy handed racists who don't like strangers either. The bad guys are clichéd too, a crazy backwoods family who talk & take orders from one of their dead relatives in this case their Mother, a big fat ugly guy with a beard Cyrus (David Marchick), a young teenage almost innocent looking girl Cynthia (Robin Walsh) as well as two 'comedy' Brothers Luke (Greg Besnak) & Abraham (John Amplas). There are few characters in Midnight & none are particularly likable or interesting. I also thought the climax was extremely underwhelming with the hero performing a daring rescue mostly taking place outside the crazy families front door on their porch! Russo obviously doesn't have a sense for the dramatic because a front porch is hardly the place to hold an exciting conclusion to a film, is it? The sacrificial alter is nothing more than a dark room with a cross on the wall & a white wooden throne with some burning candles on it, again very little effort seems to have gone into the design & execution of a vital make-or-break scene. It's very stupid at times too, how can a crazy fat farmer walk around in broad daylight with a dead priest over his shoulder & not be noticed? Would you spend the night in some woods where several murders have taken place? You know, I don't think I would. One of the reasons I wanted to see Midnight is because of the Tom Savini special make-up effects credit, please don't be fooled like me as there is virtually no blood or gore in Midnight at all. There's an effective bullet through the head shot & a blink & you'll miss it decapitation with a machete, that's it. In fact at one point as a character is having her throat slit Russo freezes the shot for a few seconds so not to have to show any sort of gore, it's almost as if Russo didn't want any blood in Midnight at all. What a wasted opportunity to exploit Savini's excellent skills at make-up effect's. There isn't any nudity either I'm afraid. Technically Midnight is pretty rough, very basic point & shoot photography, the film appears to have been shot in natural light which gives it a dark grimy unpleasant look throughout, it doesn't have much of a musical score instead relying heavily on some of the most awful & out-of-place sounding 'songs' you can imagine, the acting is below average but I've sat through worse & director Russo fails to create or sustain any periods of atmosphere or tension. Overall I can't really say anything good about Midnight apart from the fact that Tom Savini provided a couple of cool gore effects & the last 30 odd minutes picks up somewhat, at least it kept me from falling asleep which I was threatening to do at that point. Don't waste your time as there are much better horror films out there to be seen, when all said & done Midnight was very disappointing.

Wannabe Slasher

[acidburn-10 · 4/10 · 24 November 2007]

Plot = Nancy runs away from home after her stepfather tries to rape her. She hitch-hikes with two nice boys who are headed for Florida and they get along really well right from the start. However, Nancy will soon regret her decision to run away from home as a satanic family kidnaps her in order to sacrifice her to the devil.

Midnight is a wannabe slasher from the early 80s but with more of a 70s feel due to the poor condition of the film and plus it's just another bad "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" clone. I read some mixed reviews about this flick, but I've read mixed reviews for other slasher movies before and I was pleased with some of them, unfortunately not in this case. Don't get me wrong the storyline sounded really good but once Nancy gets kidnapped the movie slows down and we are left with an unoriginal "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" rip off. The beginning of the movie was quite interesting and I was even willing to pass the terrible acting but when Nancy's friends gets killed off that's when the movie starts to go downhill.

All in all "Midnight" is a really terrible backwoods slasher, the beginning showed potential but the last half is rushed so I wouldn't recommend this to anyone.

Lawrence Tierney lumbering across the screen

[christopher-underwood · 7/10 · 24 January 2014]

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.

Better Ideas Than Execution

[garyrogers-67484 · 5/10 · 10 September 2021]

Midnight takes the crazy yokels in the woods formula and attempts to add some social messages but it gets a little bogged down by poor pacing and some hamfisted delivery.

A teenage girl runs away from home after her drunken stepfather tries to molest her and hitchhikes with two kind thieves to go see her sister in California. In time honored horror film tradition, the trio end up driving through the wrong town and run afoul of a bunch of looney backwoods religious freaks.

Though nothing beautiful to look at, Midnight is decently shot and put together in a mostly workmanlike way. The script doesn't always have the most natural dialogue, but it's better than some other films of this type. There are a few surprises thrown in here that did take me off guard and added a nice sense of danger to the film.

Western PA is a dangerous place

[BandSAboutMovies · 7/10 · 30 October 2019]

Midnight is the movie Rob Zombie keeps trying to make. It's seriously demented and filled with so many truly unlikeable characters. Most of them make you want to take a shower just watching them.

Written and directed by John Russo, one of the creators of Night of the Living Dead, Midnight was shot on location outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and features special effects by Tom Savini. While never prosecuted, the film was seized and confiscated in the UK as a section 3 video nasty.

How can you not love a movie that starts with a girl caught in an animal trap getting killed by a bunch of children who all pray to Satan while they murder her? And hey look - one of the killers is John Amplas, Martin in the flesh.

Midnight is really about Nancy Johnson, who runs away from home after her police officer stepfather Bert (Lawrence Tierney, berserk as always) tries to assault her. She gets picked up by two guys, Hank and Tom, who also grab a Baptist preacher and his daughter.

As they stop to see the preacher's wife's grave, the older man is soon killed. To top that off, the killer delivers the body to his daughter's door and then kills her with the same machete.

After racists in the town refuse to serve Hank, the three heroes steal groceries before they're stopped by some even more racist cops. The two men are quickly gunned down and Nancy goes on the run. Of course, the house she ends up in just so happens to be the one where her friends are being cut into pieces.

The movie then descends into even more depravity, like locking our heroine in a cage to witness a Black Mass, her insane stepfather tracking her down and finally, our heroine discovering herself in time to wipe everyone out with extreme malice.

The original ending had the crazed family - who had already killed the cops and stolen their uniforms - getting away with the murders. However, the distributors demanded that the film have a more uplifting ending, which is why the one that is in here happens so quickly. It works for me - it's really shocking.

While the film was released as Backwoods Massacre, I'd compare it to more of a Western Pennsylvania Texas Chainsaw Massacre in tone.

Cheesy

[janeannafoote · 5/10 · 20 October 2020]

From one of the people involved with the original Night of the Living Dead, Midnight is an average slasher movie with a lot of regional, down home charm, but not much on interesting characters or surprising plot developments. The Tom Savini effects looks like they were edited before they could reach the screen, so maybe there's a more exciting uncut version gathering dust in a closet somewhere. There's also a theme song that plays 500 times throughout the movie on a loop that made me want to job a screwdriver into my ear.

Original Unique Exploitation Horror!

[rebel-41301 · 10/10 · 11 July 2021]

This is one of my all time favorite Drama horror Exploration movies of all it's Atmosphere is very dark The movie is mainly daytime John Russo Created a very great spooky look that lots of horror movies can't get right I love how it has different Directions it goes from a drama to runaway Exploitation to full horror! Recommend it to all true horror fans!

Nancy is having a VERY bad week.

[Nightman85 · 7/10 · 25 September 2005]

A mostly lost horror flick from John A. Russo, Midnight is an effective low-budget horror film.

Young girl flees her abusive stepfather, hitches a ride with two young thieves, and ends up at the home of a family of evil cultist.

A true B flick, that's rough around the edges, but still manages to hold together as a compelling shocker. The film starts out in a mostly campy light, but builds to some moments of truly violent horror. It's actually similar to Craven's Last House on the Left in it's raw footage appearance. The cast is only decent, John Amplas (who was the star of Romero's Martin) is shamefully under-used in his role as a crazed family member.

On the plus side though, makeup FX master Tom Savini lends his talents to make some horrifically gory moments. The raw scenery of rural Pennsylvania gives the movie a realistic feel. And there's a rather catchy (if not just cheesy and out of place) theme song.

Fans of truly low-budget horror will surely enjoy this frightening little number, while the faint of heart just needs to stay away.

*** out of ****

A runaway converges with perverse cultists in western PA

[Wuchakk · 5/10 · 9 October 2022]

A 17 year-old girl from Pennsylvania runs away to live with her sister in another state. She's picked up by two guys in a van, but they run afoul of a weirdo cult in the sticks.

Shot in 1980 but not released until 1982, "Midnight" was written & directed by the screenwriter of the hallowed "Night of the Living Dead" (1968) and likewise shot in western Pennsylvania. Costing only $75,000, it had half the budget of "Night" and way less if you factor in 13 years of inflation. As such, this is basically a meshing of "Night" and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (1974), just no where near as effective due to the limited resources. For instance, there's a lot of wooden acting.

Still, if you don't mind micro-budget deficiencies and enjoy cult flicks like "Lemora: A Child's Tale of the Supernatural" (1973) there's a lot to appreciate here (although it's not quite on the level of "Lemora"). Melanie Verlin is okay as Nancy, but the production needed a more captivating lead actress to keep the viewer's attention. The flick starts well and ends decently but is marred by a tedious mid-section.

Underneath the creepy, sometimes goofy adventure there's an interesting theme: We live in a fallen world full of broken families, addictions, abuse, lecherous males, racists, unjust hostilities, crime, religionists and deviant groups. Both the cultists and the protagonist find succor in questionable religious beliefs, but the goat-suckers choose a destructive belief system whereas Nancy opts for a flawed-but-generally-healthy theology that enables her to face the serious challenges of life and overcome.

Ginny Griedel stands out on in the feminine department as Sharon (the woman in the blue dress), as does Michelle Bowser as the adult Cynthia.

Lawrence Tierney plays Nancy's stepfather. You might remember Tierney from the 1991 Seinfeld episode "The Jacket" in which he played Elaine's intimidating father.

Russo wrote & produced a more modern version of "Midnight," released in 2020. It was directed by someone else and still very low-budget. I haven't seen it, but the trailer makes it look like an improvement over the original.

For a superior horror flick written by Russo, check out the slasher "The Majorettes" (1986), which is still very low-budget but all-around entertaining if you give it a chance.

The movie runs 1 hour, 34 minutes, and was shot in the region of Butler, Pennsylvania, which is a half-hour drive north of Pittsburgh. More specifically, the areas of Kaylor, White Oak Cemetery and Bradys Bend, which are located 7-12 northeast of Butler.

GRADE: C.