george.schmidt Review of Midnight Son

Midnight Son (2011)

One of the best, scariest and most 'human' vampire films I've seen in years ; seek this one out!

[1 November 2011]

MIDNIGHT SON (2011) ***1/2 Zak Kilberg, Maya Parish, Larry Cedar, Jo D. Jonz, Tracey Walter, Arlen Escarpeta. Newcomer filmmaker Scott Leberecht has skillfully concocted one of the best, scariest and most 'human' vampire films I've seen in years (since "LET ME IN", the American remake of "LET THE RIGHT ONE IN" with its clever and original premise : an introverted young man (nicely and conflictingly portrayed by the handsome Kilberg who has a slight resemblance to Jude Law), an overnite security guard in LA whose sudden health issues unleashes an unearthly hunger that cannot be appeased until his desire to slake this sudden onset craving for blood (!) To add insult to injury he meets a beautiful club girl (the ethereally sexy Parish who has some serious acting chops on display here!) whose cocaine habit also adds peril to their budding relationship as the two strangers. What will finally divide them – her addiction, or his (!) – is what the stakes raised in this beautifully tragic romantic thriller that wisely avoids the "TWILIGHT"-ization bastardization of the genre and sharply gets under the skin with its all-too real/surreal look at what makes a person come into their own: fear, acceptance and the thread of connecting with another. Case in point on the latter : the sequence when Parish and Kilberg bond over her noticing his artistic talent with some very vividly haunting paintings sold this movie to me as being REAL and investing myself in their pain and loneliness ; truly some master acting. Leberecht weaves a finely attuned tapestry of humor, heartbreak and horror with élan and the cast as a whole works wonders (i.e. Jonz' as a sinister and unlikely aide-de-camp to Kilberg's scoring of human blood : a disgruntled hospital attendee with some dark, brooding undercurrents and the film's true kudo to casting veteran character actor Walter as Kilberg's janitor co-worker who truly sums up the film in his metaphor of the doomed young man's 'transformation' ala the butterfly from chrysalis!) Echoes of Romero's "MARTIN" and Cronenberg (the tenderhooks romance of "THE FLY" ; seriously Parish has hypnotized me with her gentle-yet-tough exterior turn that rivals Geena Davis). A must see(k) for horror film aficionados and just plain film lovers in general! One of the year's best!