‘Terror has no curfew.’
After Midnight is a 1989 American horror anthology film written and directed by Jim and Ken Wheat (Pitch Black; The Fly II; The Silent Scream; et al). It stars Judie Aronson, Marg Helgenberger and Marc McClure.
On September 26, 2017, After Midnight is released on Blu-ray by Scream Factory. Extras are in progress and will be announced at a later date.
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Allison and Cheryl are two college students in a new class, The Psychology of Fear, taught by a strange man named Edward Derek. One of Derek’s in class experiments makes a jock wet himself in front of everyone, leading to the censuring of the class. Professor Derek invites his students to his home for a private lesson. There, he tells the students three tales centered on fear. In the meantime, the humiliated jock sneaks over to Derek’s home to take revenge…
The Old Dark House: A couple is on its way home when the car breaks down on a nightly scenic route. They seek shelter in a seemingly empty home with a murderous past…
A Night on the Town: Four high school girls go downtown one night to have some fun. They cannot get into a club and look for entertainment elsewhere. They end up at a run-down gas station run by a perverted gas attendant and his ferocious dogs…
All Night Messenger: Alex (Marg Helgenberger) is an employee at a telephone messaging service. Due to a broken leg, she returns from a ski trip early and takes a late night shift. A female client complains of a man who’s been stalking her and leaving messages…
Reviews:
“All stories are realistic thrillers. They have solid build-up, crescendo suspense but boring and predictable endings. The same can be said about the wraparound tale. So After Midnight is not the best horror anthology movie ever made, but there is far worse out there.” Steve Hutchison, Tales of Terror
“While none of the stories are anthology game changers, they are all compactly written in the old EC comics style and well made. I’d say the last story is probably the best of the bunch. In this day and age of droll anthologies that are seemingly just short films thrown together, this is a welcome revisit.” William Wilson, Video Junkie
“Dialogue and production values are well above average. The pace is deliberately slow, a bit too slow really, but the film shows some originality and it keeps the bloody special effects to a minimum.” Mike Mayo, Videohound’s Horror Show
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” …allows the Wheats to show off some impressive fire and stop-motion effects, but is ultimately ridiculous and pointless, leaving the patient viewer with a somewhat sour taste in his mouth. Anthologies were the rage in the 1980s on television and in films, but Jeff Burr’s From a Whisper to a Scream, for one, is a much better example of the genre.” Marty McKee, Johnny LaRue’s Crane Shot
“Overall, After Midnight has it’s moments but that’s about all it has. If you HAVE to watch every single 80’s horror anthology ever made, then you should probably check it out.” Mitch Lovell, The Video Vacuum
” …most of the performances in this film are reasonably tidy and it probably should be better known than it is. I only found the movie thanks to a tip on our Facebook page. It was a f*cking good one though!” The 80s Movie Club
Cast and characters:
- Ramy Zada as Professor Edward Derek
- Marg Helgenberger as Alex (Species and sequel; The Tommyknockers)
- Marc McClure as Kevin
- Jillian McWhirter as Allison (Strangeland; Progeny; The Dentist 2)
- Pamela Segall as Cheryl
- Tracy Wells as Amy
- Judie Aronson as Jennifer
- Ed Monaghan as Russ
- Alan Rosenberg as Richard
- Richard Gabai as Dave
- Loyda Ramos as Molly
- Kerry Remsen as Maggie
Filming locations:
2421 S Figueroa St, Los Angeles, California, USA
Wikipedia | IMDb | Image credits: HorrorNews.net | The 80s Movie Club
