After Midnight genuinely surprised me. Having read many lukewarm reviews for the movie, I was surprised at how good the stories were and indeed the cast.
Standing out as one of the best horror anthologies ever, After Midnight deals with a class studying the psychology of fear. After a prank that goes wrong the teacher is told to change his drastic teaching methods but instead opts to hold a seminar at his house on campus.
A group of students gather and begin to frighten each other by telling scary stories, the first about a couple who break down in the country, the second about a group of girls persued in the warehouse district by a psycho with rabid dogs and the third about a phone operator who is being stalked by a psycho.
All of the stories were very good and featured performances from the likes of Marg Helgenberger (C.S.I.), Marc McClure (Superman) , Nadine Van der Velde (Critters), Penelope Sudrow (A Nightmare on Elm Street 3), Judie Aronson (Friday the 13th Part 4) and many more familiar faces.
Granted there is the occasional moment of cheesy dialogue, or spot the stunt person/dummy which makes you laugh, but the film is intended to be a bit of fun for teens to watch on a Friday night, one of the characters even suggests that they should ‘go home and rent a tape’.
Fast moving and well thought out, the film has the right mix of chills and laughs to ensure that viewers will be entertained throughout and it is all wrapped up in the usual twisted fashion.
Fans of ‘Campfire Tales’ and ‘Creepshow’ will undoubtedly be impressed with this.
OVERALL SUMMARY
Having seen the dull ‘Campfire Stories’ a few weeks before this, I was praying that this would deliver and it didn’t disappoint. The film is now extremely hard to find but if you ever manage to get your hands on a copy I’m sure that you will find it enjoyable and even a little bit scary in places.
