Midnight (1982)

A teenage girl runs away from home, and with good reason. Her overweight, alcoholic policeman step dad tried to rape her, and he's played by Noir legend Lawrence Tierney, ten years shy from his revamp in Quentin Tarantino's RESERVOIR DOGS.She hitches a ride with two dudes in a van that eventually veers off on a back road – and like any low-budget horror film, this is a very bad mistake for the characters, but heaven to the viewer.Eventually our heroine faces a psychotic hillbilly clan ala Texas CHAINSAW MASSACRE. Plenty of violent, gory murders served up by makeup guru Tom Savini creates an eerily hellish daytime nightmare – ultimately peaking with a satanic ritual at, you got it, midnight.Despite the anemic budget; and with the exception of Tierney and horror icon John Amplas (along with his psycho siblings), there are a few meager performances, but no matter: Here's an exploitation that entertains from the bloody beginning to the bloody end.For More Reviews: http://cultfilmfreakreviews.blogspot.com/

Midnight (1982) is an adaptation of the novel that was written by the film's director John Russo. The story is about a teenage girl named Nancy who's feeling self doubt about herself and her faith in the Roman Catholicism. One day her creepy drunk stepfather (Lawrence Tierney) gets a little friendly with her. That was the final straw. She conks him over the head and runaways from home. On the road, after a nasty encounter with a driver, she hitches a ride with two college kids driving back to school in Florida. The trio travel the back roads of Pennsylvania until they run across a very twisted and murderous family. Can the three kids make to Florida? Will Nancy's faith be put to the test? How scary is this movie? To find watch Midnight!I really enjoyed this movie. It's an old school horror film that's quite enjoyable. Despite the low budget, it's a real creepy film.Recommended

"Midnight" is a decent enough if mildly unspectacular slasher.**SPOILERS**Running away from home, teenager Nancy Johnson, (Melanie Verlin) runs into friends John, (John Hall) and Hank, (Charles Jackson) on their way to Florida. As they spend more time traveling together, the more they become friends until they make a stop over in rural Georgia. When confronted with crooked police officers Cyrus, (David Marchick) and Luke, (Greg Besnak) for an innocent charge, they are captured and brought back to their house, along with their brother Abraham, (John Amplas) and Cynthia, (Robin Walsh) who turn out to be an inbred redneck family that was taught the Satanic arts by their deceased mother. When her policeman stepfather Bert Johnson, (Lawrence Tierney) becomes worried about her being gone, he gets wind of what's going on and races to get her away from the psycho clan.The Good News: While not terrible, this one does have some good points to it. The main one is that it really does something new and original with the Satanic Cult genre, and here it's mixed in nicely with the slasher genre. It puts them together into something that resembles originality, and by using the opening the way it is into a rather traditional slasher setting makes for a fun time to be had during those scene. In fact, those are the main reasons for this one to get any sort of enjoyment, as watching them partake in the ceremonies is a little chilling, and by recalling what's already been done with them beforehand, there's a little more to be had from these kinds of scenes that there normally would. The few kills in here aren't that bad, restricted to some gory gunshots, an axe in the back, knives slitting throat, a sacrificial sword stabbed in the chest and another is set on fire. Most of these occur in the grand finale, as there's a lot more excitement and action here than anywhere else in the film and it makes for some great times. The only other part that works is the relatively interesting proposal that the film offers in the middle, where it handles the heroes that have been around for most of the film in a rather smart and refreshing manner that aren't seen in most other films. It's also a great scene in the film that has some really great parts to get some really chilling moments to it. These here are the film's best parts.The Bad News: This one does have a couple of rather big flaws. The most obvious is that there's so much time spent with the three friends that it begins to wear on after a while. It takes a while to get going out on the road as it deals with family issues, which it then completely ignores later on after a conversation detailing what's going on that changes the rules around significantly, and these here just take up time and energy away from the film when it had something other to do than the really weak beginning. Even worse is that it leaves these parts to focus on the traveling misadventures of the group and their ways, and this is even duller and more boring. When the crooked cops turn up, it gets a little better, but it's still relatively dull until it gets to the last part. This one is so short on action for a film as long as it is a huge crime, and it really takes away from the film for a big problem. The only other flaw is that there's way too many scenes that are dark beyond belief. There's a real problem where it's hard to tell what's going on in the few scenes that are supposed to provide the film's excitement. Trying to pick out what's going on when you're supposed to be enjoying the scene is a wrong reaction, and it would've helped to brighten it up a tad. Otherwise, this here is somewhat decent.The Final Verdict: This here is a really tough sell, as it's not spectacular but isn't that memorably bad either, falling more in the middle. Give it a shot if it sounds interesting, or have a predilection for these kinds of films, otherwise it won't be that memorable for others.Rated R: Graphic Violence, Language, Brief Nudity and themes of incest

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.