BluRay Indie Double-Bill Bargain for B-horror Fans

By Christopher P. Jacobs
Staff Writer

Low-budget independent filmmakers often choose the horror genre, partly because the required special effects are not as elaborate, numerous, or pricey as for Hollywood epics, but largely because there always seems to be a built-in fan base for thrills and/or gruesomely bloody effects.

Two films from 2008, which follow the standard slasher formula with varying success, came out on BluRay individually last October and have just been packaged together as a bargain double-feature. Distributed by the small label Phase 4 Films, both discs boast fine HD transfers, but both unfortunately have very awkward menu interfaces. Nevertheless, horror fans will want them for sure, and others may still find them worth taking a look at.

“Midnight Movie” has an irresistible premise for old movie buffs and for anyone who has worked in a movie theatre. A writer-director-star of a 1969 cult horror film went insane shortly after its release, and decades later disappeared after a bloody massacre at the mental hospital where he was institutionalized. Now a rundown old movie house has planned a midnight show that’s the first screening of his infamous film in almost 40 years.

The tiny audience is joined by a persistent detective and a psychiatrist who both fear and hope that the missing lunatic will make an appearance. Needless to say, after the killings begin on screen, the audience members and theatre employees soon start disappearing. The innovative twist in “Midnight Movie” is that they don’t just get slaughtered by a madman in the theatre. Instead, they somehow find themselves in the movie itself, tracked and killed by the movie’s villain on the screen as their friends watch helplessly from their theatre seats.

“Midnight Movie” has reasonably believable acting, some effective thrills, and won Best Feature and Best Cinematography at the 2008 Chicago Horror Film Festival. It starts out very promisingly as it sets up the characters and situation, but as things develop, the supernatural element moves from cool and spooky to incoherent. It never is fully explained, and ultimately things start to happen that simply don’t make enough sense, even for a fantasy like this.

The film also descends for several minutes into a more extreme form of gore-porn that clashes uncomfortably with what we’ve been watching to that point.
Another strike against it that will be spotted immediately by anyone who’s seen a projection booth, is that the film-within-the film is being run from a single 20-minute reel on a portable projector instead of from multiple reels on a pair of theatre projectors or from the more likely platter system. The film used as a prop is also obviously modern film stock with digital sound plus a cyan analog soundtrack, which were not in use when it was supposedly produced. (At least it’s 35mm film!)

While “Midnight Movie” moves along briskly in only 80 minutes of running time, and has some nice character touches, it would have benefited from some additional trimming and especially from more rewrites of the last half hour.

There are several interesting behind-the scenes featurettes, deleted footage, outtakes, and trailers as bonus items, all standard definition. Though the box claims there’s a director’s commentary, there is none on the disc.

“MIDNIGHT MOVIE” on BLURAY—Movie: C+  /  Video: A   /  Audio: A   /  Extras: B-
Besides being a better film overall, the second picture in the package will have a special appeal for movie fans from this region. “Killer Movie” is supposed to be taking place in the hockey-obsessed border town of White Plains, North Dakota, and there’s even a tabloid newspaper called the “White Plains Reader!”

The geography depicted doesn’t quite mesh with what we know North Dakota to look like, and as it turns out, “Killer Movie” was actually filmed in Minnesota. Perhaps North Dakota sounded funnier than Minnesota to writer-director Jeff Fisher. This film not only has stronger acting, a larger cast, and a slicker, more polished look than “Midnight Movie,” but also a distinct tongue-in-cheek attitude that helps counteract the expected bloody murders (which are neither supernatural nor quite as over-the-top in kinky goriness as the other film).

The premise this time is that a reality TV program has been assigned to shoot video in a small and isolated town because its high school hockey team finally has a chance to make the playoffs. The Hollywood crew naturally (and amusingly) must adjust to extreme culture-shock, including no Starbuck’s and lack of cell phone performance, besides their own personality clashes. You’ll also want to freeze-frame the closeup of the “Dakotan Tribune” to read all the headlines that are throwaway gags.

The plot’s conflict begins when the new director realizes his bitchy producer is using the heartwarming hockey story as a cover to connect the sordid details of a teenager’s recent gruesome death to a recently released convict who used to be the hockey coach. He’s also assigned a temperamental tabloid-fodder starlet as his production assistant because she wants to do research for a serious film role.

The 91-minute “Killer Movie” does a good job at building up character relationships of the TV crew and the townspeople, and in developing a plausible story. While often quite funny, it doesn’t resort to playing its familiar plot for obvious laughs or farce, but rather maintains believable suspense amidst the satiric banter of the characters and dark humor of some of its situations. It also comes to a conclusion that’s more satisfying and certainly more logical than the other film. Part of its success is that it’s primarily a well-plotted murder mystery about serial killings instead of merely a clever excuse to depict gore effects on screen.

Unfortunately the only extras are a brief but interesting featurette and a trailer.

“KILLER MOVIE” on BLURAY — Movie: B+  /  Video: A   /  Audio: A   /  Extras: D+

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