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MIDNIGHT (1982)
I need to go on a diet. I only mention it because this film comes off like a diet version of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Granted, it's missing cannibalism. It's also missing a pervading sense of trepidation and that overall queasy feeling that permeated the Tobe Hooper classic. In writer/director John Russo's defense, he claims that he never saw TCM before concocting this backwoods...slasher? I guess it could be labeled as "survival horror," but then again, so could my ex-girlfriend's post-coital facial expression. After a portentous prologue, we meet Nancy. She runs away from home to circumvent her scumbag stepfather and winds up hitchhiking with a couple of petty thieves. Along the way, our merry cast of ne'er-do-wells stumbles into a Leatherface-sized moonling and a pair of crooked cops.
Let me fast-forward a bit. We find out that a Satanic cult is picking off civilians, and I don't consider that to be a spoiler. I mean, that's your basic premise. "Basic" is probably the most fitting adjective I could use to describe Midnight. This is a meat-and-potatoes kind of flick, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. To the contrary! I found the character-focused script to be refreshing. For about an hour anyway. The payoff doesn't land, although I got a kick out of Tom Savini's splatter effects. Apparently, he turned down Friday the 13th Part 2 to work on this film. There is a sequel floating around out there somewhere. I doubt that I'll be able to nab a copy. I shouldn't say that, as I've spent questionable amounts of money in the name of VHS collecting. How much is questionable? Mind your own business, partner.
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