Movie Review: Midnighters

Midnighters *** / *****

Directed by: Julius Ramsay.

Written by: Alston Ramsay.

Starring: Alex Essoe (Lindsey), Perla Haney-Jardine (Hannah), Dylan McTee (Jeff), Ward Horton (Smith), Andrew Rothenberg (Officer Verone), Joseph Lee Anderson (Officer Campbell).

 

Midnighters is a classical style “stupid decision” thriller, in which our characters make one stupid decision after another, which leads them further and further down the road to their ultimate demise. This isn’t quite the same thing as the idiot plot, in which the movie would be over in 30 seconds if all the characters weren’t idiots, but it’s related – these characters compound all their problems by making one stupid decision after another for pretty much the whole runtime. At their best, these types of films work when they are fast paced enough that you don’t spend much time dwelling on all the stupidity on display, are tight enough that you don’t grow restless, and the protagonist is likable enough that, despite, their stupidity, you still root for them. For the most part, Midnighters gets these things right.

 

The film starts out on New Year’s Eve (apparently the reason the film is called Midnighters – since almost the entirety of the rest of the film takes place during the day time) – with married couple Lindsey (Alex Essoe) and Jeff (Dylan McTee) trapped at a work function of Lindsay’s (any company who expects their employees to spend New Year’s with their co-workers is probably not somewhere you want to work). There is already some tension in their relationship – she doesn’t like her job, but he’s currently not working, so her job is the only thing paying the mortgage, etc. When midnight strikes, she looks around for him – but he has retreated outside to smoke. It’s clear they still love each other – but you start to wonder if that’s enough. On the drive home to their fairly remote home, they’re in the middle of nowhere, when a man suddenly appears on the road in front of them – and Jeff hits him. He’s worried – not without reason – because he had a few drinks, and was distracted while he was driving. When they believe the man is dead, they decide not to report it – and bring the body back to their house. From there, things get more complicated – Lindsay’s little sister, Hannah (Perla Haney-Jardine) is staying with them, and may have some secrets – and then a mysterious Detective, Smith (Ward Horton) arrives – as does an envelope with $50,000 to make matters even more complicated.

 

It says something about the screenplay by Alston Ramsay, and direction by Julius Ramsay, that the vast majority of this movie only has four characters, and one location, and takes place during the day, and they still are able to generate tension. The primary pleasure of the movie is to watch as the plot twists and contorts itself into knots – as each character’s dumb decisions, compound the dumb decisions by everyone else. The movie is able to keep you guessing and build tension, mostly all through dialogue – it also makes you question just about every character and their motives throughout.

 

Well, perhaps most of the characters – as it’s pretty clear early on that Lindsay is going to be our most sympathetic character, and she remains so throughout (perhaps too much so – the movie doesn’t bend over backwards to make her likable – but she’s a lot more blameless than anyone else for what happens in the movie). The performance by Alex Essoe is the best in the movie, because she does retain our sympathy, but also gives the character a little bit of an edge – a little bit of the sense that she’s tired of carrying her ex-jock husband who doesn’t work, or her immature, irresponsible little sister who keeps getting into trouble.

 

No one is going to mistake Midnighters for a great movie – but it is an entertaining one – one that keeps you intrigued and guessing right up the end, and shows real skill by the two Ramsays behind the camera, and Essoe is front of it.