Midnighters is the latest thriller from IFC Midnight and is directed by Julius Ramsay. Ramsay got his start as an editor for documentary series such as Behind the Music. After moving into drama and genre TV, he found a place as a part of The Walking Dead, where he was allowed to direct a couple episodes.
He marks his debut feature with Midnighters — as a director and producer — which is nothing like TWD, but that show will give you some idea what to expect as far as the movie’s tension, suspense, shady characters, bursts of violence, and its twisting, but grounded, pretzel of a narrative.
Couple Jeff (Dylan McTee) and Lindsay Pittman (Alex Essoe, Starry Eyes), after an office New Year’s party, run over a stranger standing in the road on the drive home. Instead of a hospital, they opt to take him to their house and, a little later, Lindsay’s sister Hannah (Perla Haney-Jardine, Spider-Man 3, Steve Jobs, Dark Water) comes home and shoots the strange, battered guest dead during a struggle. A bloodied body to hide, automotive damage to explain, cops and unexpected callers showing up at their door, the sister in shock divulges dirty dealings she is caught up in. The Pittmans realize somebody is out to get them.
Ramsay crafts a story in the spirit of Hitchcock, film noir like Double Indemnity, and European thrillers such as Diabolique — not to mention the slews of other films influenced by that. Characters are layered and everyone appears to be keeping a secret or have an ulterior motive. All are suspect and, betrayal running amok, you never root very long for anybody caught up in the madness.
Of course, when you talk European you can’t overlook the neorealist elements that come to play. We are dropped into the lives of the Pittmans, getting glimpses of their debts and straits, but never receive the full explanation of how they got there. Young Hannah, by far, is the most interesting of them — played like a pro by the accomplished Petra Jardine — and has a fishy past, yet her inside story is only explored when sufficient for the plot. Questions linger unanswered, outside of a few lines of dialog, to the very end.
The mise-en-scene is straight out of the same art film playbook. Special attention is given to scenery periodically and indoor surroundings during quiet moments of mundane activities such as pouring cream into coffee or burning incriminating evidence on a backyard grill while the sun comes up. (Maybe that isn’t so mundane but it is a real occurrence.)
And the cinematography is pretty good at capturing all the beauty and monotony, culminating in a gorgeous shot in extreme close-up of Alex Essoe at the climax where she glimmers in natural light sans the use of crude, unconvincing CGI. Nor did she look like a lackluster Twilight castoff — smarminess of YA fanfiction need not apply.
Such artifice breaks the tension and gives Midnighters moments of artistic flourish, but it also helps pad the running time and displays an aptitude for stretching a buck. Most indies cost a couple million to make, sometimes far less, so they work within and around limitations. Here, they seemingly make the most of what they are given; the bulk of the action takes place in the same house from the first act all the way to the climax. Scenes elsewhere are very brief and expository.
There is a plot device involving a slip of paper in a statue connected to a “lodge,” more like an inn, out in the country. A subplot that plays out sparingly but has a major payoff (and not just figuratively), the inn shows up only briefly. It sports a lavish interior in a semi-gothic Victorian style. Knowing about expenses, it is a sound inference they had a finite amount of money and time to work with when either filming there or building the sets.
None of this is to say Midnighters is cheap or looks cheap — far from it, in truth. It has quite to bit to offer especially those completists of IFC’s catalog. One of those flicks that’s meant to keep you guessing, it definitely builds interest and holds it, rarely wavering. More of a cerebral affair with beats of gore and jump scares planted strategically throughout than a full-on pulse-pounder like Walking Dead, it’s a fine first outing for Julius Ramsay who no doubt will go on to bigger things, and distinguished enough to show he can do more than soap operas of the living dead. 8/10. Maybe zombies in the next one.
Midnighters will be available VOD and Digital HD on March 2, 2018. The author was provided with a copy of the film for review purposes.
Some of the coverage you find on Cultured Vultures contains affiliate links, which provide us with small commissions based on purchases made from visiting our site. We cover gaming news, movie reviews, wrestling and much more.
