Midnight Matinee, The (2017)
Starring Maggie Tehan, Justin Doescher, Juan-Pablo Viezaga
Directed by Justin Doescher
With found-footage as it’s driving force (oh no), the 46-minute anthology piece by director Justin Doescher titled The Midnight Matinee takes us back to the days of the old moviehouse horror marathons, yet without full-length features, or first person POVs, or…oh hell, you get what I’m going after here.
With a quintet of short stories jammed together in such a short frame of time, one would worry that some “oomph” might be lost in the delivery – actually quite the opposite, as this one packs a bit of a punch, especially for those not looking to get reeled into a long, drawn out plot. So, without any further ado, let’s pull up the curtain on this fast fright-fest and flesh out the skinny, shall we? The first out of the five is called “Out To Sea,” and a simple boat ride for a man and his lady turns into some rather dicey action – one of the film’s best displays, and we’re cookin’ right off the bat. Next up is “Let It Go” (no, not a Frozen reference) – this one’s about a recently single man who opts to sign up for an online dating app, and the results are disastrous.
The opportunity to dive into the views of the future are encompassed in “Premonition,” and the seer is a little girl who possesses a very special gift, but could it also be curse as well? Deceit and deception take center stage in the fourth offering, titled “Frances” – it doesn’t necessarily fit into the whole horror scope under the film’s hood, but it’s still a refreshing time out from the chills and frights. Lastly, what anthology piece would be complete without the sinister intentions of a creepy clown? In “Night Night,” a young boy believes that a painted mime is coming for him, and his suspicions are cemented when the psycho jester starts peering in his window at night – pretty eerie stuff to wrap this one up. Overall, the shorts were well put together, and aside from a few sluggish moments, each story moved quickly, and this Midnight Matinee is a presentation that Doescher should be proud of – be sure to give this one a look. It’s available on Amazon Prime for viewing, and the link is below – enjoy!
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Film
Categorized:Reviews
