The
Midnight Game (2014/Anchor Bay DVD)
Picture:
B- Sound: B- Extras: D- Film: D
A.D.
Calvo's The Midnight Game is based on an old pagan ritual and
is used mainly as punishment for those who have broken the laws of
the pagan religion in question. While it was mainly used as a scare
tactic to not disobey the gods, there is still a very existent chance
of death to those who play the Midnight Game. There is an even
higher chance of permanent mental scarring. It is highly recommended
that you DO NOT PLAY THE MIDNIGHT GAME. Pretty creepy huh? Too bad
the movie isn't very scary. Generically acted and scripted, the film
features a few occasional scares but doesn't quite succeed to the
level that it wishes.
Bubbly
blonde teenager Kaitlan (Renee Olstead) has decided to invite over a
few of her friends after she finds that her parents are leaving her
home alone for the weekend. She's planning for a small, relatively
quiet get together with her friends Jenna (Valentina de Angelis) and
Rose (Shelby Young), but Kaitlan soon finds that Rose has invited
boys to the party... uh oh. Stud muffins Shane (Guy Wilson) and Jeff
(Spencer Daniels). Not wanting to seem lame, Kaitlan allows the boys
to stay and party with them. Eventually Shane suggests that they
play The Midnight Game, where participants confess their deepest
fears while performing a pagan ritual. Anyone who performs the
ritual inaccurately runs the risk of running into the Midnight Man, a
terrifying figure that can bring the participants' fears to life. Of
course, the teens play the game and very odd things start happening.
When will they ever learn? The plot is very Evil Dead or even
Jumanji, where you play the game and bad things happen. In
other words, very by the numbers.
After
the intriguing setup, the film starts to lag after the initial night
and onto the next morning, never quite succeeding on its setup. Why
didn't the whole film take place in that one night with nonstop
action? The use of pentagrams in the movie is a little much and the
acting is just so bad its hard to look past. All in all, I wanted
the film to be more creative and not so reliant on boo scares. This
film is based on creepypasta - which is a short story that is posted
on the Internet that is designed to unnerve and shock the reader.
Sometimes true and sometimes false, if adopted to more films could
prove to be effective in pumping some original concepts into the
horror. The goal for this film and the idea was there, the execution
just wasn't good enough to make it memorable and the lack of star
power.
The
DVD presentation of the film is fine for the format. With a Standard
Definition transfer and an anamorphically enhanced widescreen
presentation of 2.35:1. The soundtrack is a lossy Dolby Digital 5.1
and English subtitles.
Special
features are non-existent and merely include your choice of English
or Spanish subtitles and a trailer for the horror release
House of Dust.
-
James Harland Lockhart V
www.vimeo.com/jamielockhart
