A sequel shot on video from director John Russo has a psychopath, Abraham(Matthew Jason Walsh taking the place of John Amplas from the first film), the only survivor of those backwoods Satanist killers from the first film, is hunting victims across Pittsburgh luring females to their doom through the use of a camcorder and his charms(..although, the targets must be pretty desperate to fall for this guy who'd give most chicks the creeps). In the same methods used by his family in the first film, he bounds his victims to a wooden chair in a confined room(..in this film, the basement of a house he's renting), torturing them to death. Rebecca(Jo Norcia), a pal of Jane(Lori Scarlett) who we see strangled by the film's killer while having sex, decides to risk her life by baiting Abraham, so that a detective, assisting her in the disappearance case of Jane, can ensnare him. But, what Rebecca doesn't realize is that when Abraham studies a potential victim, he keeps tabs on her, and finds that she is spending free time with the detective, concocting a murderous scheme of his own.
Extremely low budget feature loses the creepy aesthetic that made the original Midnight so interesting. Perhaps it's the decision to shoot on video that does this film in because the effects used in the sequel are limited, and there's no doubt that Savini's work in the previous Midnight are unmatched in quality. Russo has his killer talking, talking, talking the audience to boredom. Instead of actually performing the torturous methods he has prepared for his victims, he embellishes through dialogue to them how he'll harm them. The film consists of a hell of a lot of footage from the previous film, perhaps in a move to pad this even to 70 or so minutes. I found it incredibly tedious as Abraham can't shut up, with Russo, as writer, having his psycho embracing his audience with the inner-workings of a wickedly sick mind, breathlessly chatting away about his "career" and the pleasures that derive from it. He also dotes on perhaps losing the urge to kill if he could find someone to love. I found lead Walsh rather unconvincing and not the least bit chilling, frightening or effective as the killer. He gave off nothing that would send shivers down my spine. Maybe it's his incessant talking for a great deal of the running time, looking at us the audience with a constant grin, that left me wanting to eject the disc to call it a day. I dunno. The acting, from local Pittsburgh theater types I guess, doesn't knock your socks off, and Rebecca's laughable attempts to escape(..where she runs to trying to either hide or get away)induces groaning. This film has been pretty obscure, a hard-to-find film many fans of the first have been seeking after. I hope it's worth the wait for you, because it left me rather underwhelmed to say the least.
Extremely low budget feature loses the creepy aesthetic that made the original Midnight so interesting. Perhaps it's the decision to shoot on video that does this film in because the effects used in the sequel are limited, and there's no doubt that Savini's work in the previous Midnight are unmatched in quality. Russo has his killer talking, talking, talking the audience to boredom. Instead of actually performing the torturous methods he has prepared for his victims, he embellishes through dialogue to them how he'll harm them. The film consists of a hell of a lot of footage from the previous film, perhaps in a move to pad this even to 70 or so minutes. I found it incredibly tedious as Abraham can't shut up, with Russo, as writer, having his psycho embracing his audience with the inner-workings of a wickedly sick mind, breathlessly chatting away about his "career" and the pleasures that derive from it. He also dotes on perhaps losing the urge to kill if he could find someone to love. I found lead Walsh rather unconvincing and not the least bit chilling, frightening or effective as the killer. He gave off nothing that would send shivers down my spine. Maybe it's his incessant talking for a great deal of the running time, looking at us the audience with a constant grin, that left me wanting to eject the disc to call it a day. I dunno. The acting, from local Pittsburgh theater types I guess, doesn't knock your socks off, and Rebecca's laughable attempts to escape(..where she runs to trying to either hide or get away)induces groaning. This film has been pretty obscure, a hard-to-find film many fans of the first have been seeking after. I hope it's worth the wait for you, because it left me rather underwhelmed to say the least.
