The supernatural serial killer is nothing new. All you have to do is look at the films Shocker (1989), A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), Fallen (1998), The First Power (1990) and even the later Friday the 13th films. In the film Midnight Movie (2008) the story borrows from the Shocker mold by allowing a serial killer (who is also a film director) the ability to jump into his own films in order to kill people.
When a Killer escapes a psyche ward by becoming part of his film, he continues his murder spree when his film is given a Midnight Screening as a small town theater. When the film plays everyone in the theater becomes fodder for the Killer’s madness. The Killer has the ability to appear and disappear from the film into the real world to capture his next victim. A serial killer has to have a unique motif but this killer doesn’t but he borrows from some of the very best. The film-within-a-film (in which the Killer comes from) is very much homage to Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) while the Killer himself has a limp (like both Leatherface and Horace Pinker from Shocker) and a unique killing utensil ala in tradition of Leatherface’s chainsaw. For horror fans this will be the great draw (especially since the Killer also has a unique mask that covers his face) as will be the gore and all the death scenes on hand.
Despite the fact that there is very little of originality in the film it excels in the entertainment department and the production values are extremely high with actors that actually do a better than expected job considering the type of movie that this is. Writers Jack Messitt (who also directs) and Mark Garbett do an excellent job on delivering the goods in terms of what is expected of this type of film. They understand the genre and exactly who their audience is and they do not disappoint.
If only more low budget films understood what this film does. You don’t have to have a huge budget or the biggest named actors or even the most original idea (since there are no more new ideas just the way in which you present them). All you need is a group of dedicated individuals who come together to create something that’s honest and entertaining and uncompromising.
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