Jump to content

The Midnight Hour: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Content deleted Content added
 
(147 intermediate revisions by 79 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{short description|1985 American comedy horror film}}
{{Infobox Film
{{about|the comedy film|the Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Adrian Younge album|The Midnight Hour (album)|the Jamie Principle album|The Midnite Hour}}
| name = The Midnight Hour
{{Infobox television
| image = The Midnight Hour DVD.jpg
| caption = ''The Midnight Hour'' DVD cover
| image = The Midnight Hour DVD.jpg
| director = [[Jack Bender]]
| image_size = 230
| producer = Ervin Zavada
| image_alt =
| writer = Bill Bleich
| caption = Original advertisement
| genre = [[Comedy horror]]<ref name=sbs/>
| starring = [[Shari Belafonte|Shari Belafonte-Harper]]<br>[[LeVar Burton]] <br>[[Lee Montgomery]]<br>[[Peter DeLuise]]<br>[[Dedee Pfeiffer]]<br>[[Cindy Morgan]]<br>[[Jonna Lee (actress)|Jonna Lee]]<br>[[Kevin McCarthy (actor)|Kevin McCarthy]]<br>[[Dick Van Patten]]
| music = [[Brad Fiedel]]
| creator =
| based_on =
| cinematography = Rexford L. Metz
| editing = David A. Simmons
| writer = Bill Bleich
| screenplay =
| distributor = [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] (TV)<br>[[Starz Home Entertainment|Anchor Bay Entertainment]] (DVD)
| story =
| released = October 27, [[1985 in television|1985]] (TV)<br>July 20, [[1999]] (VHS)<br>September 19, [[2000 in film|2000]] (DVD)
| runtime = 94 minutes
| director = [[Jack Bender]]
| starring = {{plainlist|[[Shari Belafonte|Shari Belafonte-Harper]]
| country = {{Film US}}
*[[LeVar Burton]]
| awards =
*[[Lee Montgomery]]
| language = English
*[[Peter DeLuise]]
| budget =
*[[Dedee Pfeiffer]]
*[[Jonna Lee (actress)|Jonna Lee]]
*[[Dick Van Patten]]
*[[Kurtwood Smith]]
}}
| narrated =
| theme_music_composer = [[Brad Fiedel]]
| country = United States
| language = English
| num_episodes =
| executive_producer = Sharon L. Sawyer
| producer = Ervin Zavada<br />Jill Mullikin-Bates
| location = [[California|California, USA]]
| editor = David A. Simmons
| cinematography = Rexford L. Metz
| runtime = 94 minutes
| company = {{plainlist|[[ABC Studios|ABC Circle Films]]<ref name=bfi>{{cite web|work=[[British Film Institute]]|url=http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b74431593|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171206141254/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b74431593|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 6, 2017|title=The Midnight Hour (1985)|access-date=December 23, 2017}}</ref>
*[[Capital Cities Communications|Capital Cities]]
}}
| budget =
| network = [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]
| released = {{start date|1985|11|01}}{{sfn|Sherman|2009|p=123}}
}}
}}


'''''The Midnight Hour''''' (also known as ''In the Midnight Hour'') is a [[1985 in film|1985]] [[comedy]]/[[horror film|horror]] [[television movie]] which aired on [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] on October 27, 1985, and stars [[Shari Belafonte|Shari Belafonte-Harper]], [[LeVar Burton]], [[Peter DeLuise]], and [[Dedee Pfeiffer]].
'''''The Midnight Hour''''' is a 1985 American [[television film|made-for-television]] [[comedy horror|comedy horror film]] directed by [[Jack Bender]] and starring [[Shari Belafonte|Shari Belafonte-Harper]], [[LeVar Burton]], [[Peter DeLuise]], and [[Dedee Pfeiffer]]. Its plot focuses on a small New England town that becomes overrun with zombies, witches, vampires, and all the other demons of hell after a group of teenagers unlocks a centuries-old curse on Halloween.

The film aired on [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] on Friday, November 1, 1985, at 9:00-11:00 pm EST. In addition to an original musical number, "Get Dead", the film's soundtrack features songs by Wilson Pickett, [[Creedence Clearwater Revival]], [[Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs]], [[Three Dog Night]], and [[The Smiths]].<ref>{{cite AV media | people = | year =2000 | title =The Midnight Hour | asin= 6305971714 | medium =DVD | orig-year=1985 | publisher =[[Anchor Bay Entertainment]]}}</ref> The film marks [[Macaulay Culkin]]'s first screen role as an uncredited trick-or-treater.


== Plot ==
== Plot ==
It is [[Halloween]] in the small town of Pitchford Cove located somewhere in New England, and five high school friends, Phil ([[Lee Montgomery]]), Mary ([[Dedee Pfeiffer]]), Mitch ([[Peter DeLuise]]), Vinnie ([[LeVar Burton]]), and Melissa ([[Shari Belafonte-Harper]]), plan on making it a night they will never forget. They steal outfits from the town's historic museum and come upon other old artifacts, including an old trunk encasing a paper scroll which contains an ancient curse. When Melissa recites the curse at the local cemetery, things take a turn for the worse.
It is [[Halloween]] in the small town of Pitchford Cove, Massachusetts, and five high school friends, Phil ([[Lee Montgomery]]), Mary (Pfeiffer), Mitch (DeLuise), Vinnie (Burton), and Melissa (Belafonte-Harper), plan on making it a night they will never forget. They steal outfits from the town's historic museum and come upon other old artifacts, including an old trunk encasing a paper scroll which contains an ancient curse. When the latent [[Sorcery (goetia)|sorceress]] Melissa recites the curse at the local cemetery, things take a turn for the worse.


The town's dead, led by Melissa's great-grandmother Lucinda Cavender ([[Jonelle Allen]]), a witch who was put to death 300 years earlier, rise up from their graves and roam the town. As Melissa, Vinnie, Mitch, and Mary enjoy themselves at their annual Halloween costume party, Phil encounters a mysterious girl, named Sandra "Sandy" Matthews ([[Jonna Lee]]), dressed in a vintage 1950's cheerleader outfit, who warns him that the whole town is in danger.
The town's dead, led by Melissa's great-great-great-great-grandmother Lucinda Cavender ([[Jonelle Allen]]), a witch who was put to death 300 years earlier, rise up from their graves and roam the town. As Melissa, Vinnie, Mitch, and Mary enjoy themselves at their annual Halloween costume party, Phil encounters a mysterious girl, named Sandra "Sandy" Matthews ([[Jonna Lee (actress)|Jonna Lee]]), dressed in a vintage 1950s cheerleader outfit, who warns him that the whole town is in danger.


Meanwhile, Lucinda and the various undead ghouls rise from the grave and crash the costume party. At first, nobody pays much attention to them since everyone is in costume. However, Lucinda begins turning the party guests into vampires, starting with Melissa, then Vinnie, and so on.
Meanwhile, Lucinda and the various undead crash the costume party. At first, nobody pays much attention to them since everyone is in costume. However, Lucinda begins turning the party guests into vampires, starting with her great-great-great-great-granddaughter Melissa.


When Sandy discovers that Phil and his friends recited the ancient spell in the cemetery, they realize that the whole town is being overrun by the living dead and decide to team up to break the [[curse]]. The only way to do so is to find the Greenville Spirit Ring inside the grave of witch-hunter Nathaniel Greenville - who, coincidentally, was Phil's great-grandfather and slave owner of Lucinda Cavender's [[arch-nemesis]] - and use it to undo the curse. It's up to Phil and "good ghost" Sandy to restore the town to normal by midnight before it is too late and the curse becomes permanent.
When Sandy discovers that Phil and his friends recited the ancient spell in the cemetery, they realize that the whole town is being overrun by the living dead and decide to team up to break the [[curse]]. The only way to do so is to find the Grenville Spirit Ring inside the grave of a witch-hunter Nathaniel Grenville - who, coincidentally, was Phil's great-great-great-great-grandfather and slave owner of Lucinda Cavender, her [[arch-nemesis]] - and use it to undo the curse. Phil and "good ghost" Sandy must restore the town to normal by midnight before it is too late and the curse becomes permanent.

When the local police do not take Phil and Sandy's warning seriously, Phil manages to get his father's hunting rifle to make silver bullets from his father's silver coin collection so they can use the silver bullets which appears to be effective against the undead. When the couple ventures to the Halloween party, they discover everyone turned into zombies, vampires, witches or other evil creatures. Phil manages to get the Grenville Spirit Ring from Zombie Mitch, after which he and Sandy drive to the town's cemetery. They break into Grenville's crypt and take his bones-and-dust remains to use to seal the scroll, just as Lucinda and the horde of undead attack. Cornered in Phil's car, he and Sandy manage to use candle wax to seal the parchment scroll. After Sandy tells Phil she loves him, every creature resurrected on that night vanishes, the wounds that Phil sustains disappear, and the damage to his car is undone—as if the entire event had never happened.

Phil finds Sandy's grave and finally understands that she had been one of the undead too. As the clock strikes midnight, Phil begins to drive back to town, and as he is pulling out of the cemetery, he hears a music dedication on his car radio from 'Sandy,' implying that she will always be looking after him even from beyond the grave.


== Cast ==
== Cast ==
{{Cast listing|
* [[Lee Montgomery]] as Phil Grenville
* [[Shari Belafonte]] as Melissa Cavender
* [[Peter DeLuise]] as Mitch Crandall
* [[LeVar Burton]] as Vinnie Davis
* [[Dedee Pfeiffer]] as Mary Masterson
* [[Jonna Lee (actress)|Jonna Lee]] as Sandy Matthews
* [[Jonelle Allen]] as Lucinda Cavender
* [[Cindy Morgan]] as Vicky Jensen
* [[Kurtwood Smith]] as Captain Warren Jensen
* [[Dick Van Patten]] as Martin Grenville
* [[Sheila Larken]] as Janet Grenville
* [[Wolfman Jack]] as the radio DJ
* [[Kevin McCarthy (actor)|Kevin McCarthy]] as Judge Crandall
* [[Macaulay Culkin]] as a Halloween kid<ref>{{cite web|url=https://dreadcentral.com/b-sides/27966/b-sides-a-thriller-rip-off-that-ll-make-you-want-to-get-dead/|title=B-Sides: A Thriller Rip-Off That'll Make You Want to Get Dead|last=Foy|first=Scott|work=[[Dread Central]]|date=October 22, 2011|access-date=February 4, 2015}}</ref>
}}


==Release==
*[[Lee Montgomery]] as Phil Greenville
''The Midnight Hour'' had its world premiere on [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] on Friday, November 1, 1985, at 9:00-11:00 pm [[Eastern Time Zone|EST]].<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=Democrat and Chronicle|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/137140312/|title=Today's Television|page=14|via=Newspapers.com|location=Rochester, New York}}</ref> The film later aired on occasion during the Halloween season, with an 8 pm airing on the [[Lifetime (TV network)|Lifetime]] network on Wednesday, October 31, 1990.<ref name=tennesseean/> Lifetime continued to air the film on numerous occasions during afternoon time slots, including showings on December 27, 1990,<ref>{{cite news|title=Movies|page=145|work=Reno Gazette Journal|location=Reno, Nevada|via=Newspapers.com|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/151459848/|date=December 23, 1990}}</ref> June 19, 1992,<ref>{{cite news|title=Movies|page=155|work=Reno Gazette Journal|location=Reno, Nevada|via=Newspapers.com|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/152925036/|date=June 14, 1992}}</ref> and October 31, 1992.<ref>{{cite news|work=The Palm Beach Post|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/133756025/|via=Newspapers.com|page=105|title=Prime Time and Late Night|date=October 31, 1992}}</ref>
*[[Shari Belafonte]] as Melissa Cavender
*[[Peter DeLuise]] as Mitch Crandall
*[[LeVar Burton]] as Vinnie Davis
*[[Dedee Pfeiffer]] as Mary Masterson
*[[Jonna Lee (actress)|Jonna Lee]] as Sandy Matthews
*[[Jonelle Allen]] as Lucinda Cavender
*[[Cindy Morgan]] as Vicky Jensen
*[[Kurtwood Smith]] as Captain Warren Jensen
*[[Dick Van Patten]] as Martin Grenville
*[[Sheila Larken]] as Janet Greenville
*[[Wolfman Jack]] as the radio DJ
*[[Kevin McCarthy]] as Judge Crandall
*Mark Blankfield as The Ghoul
*Hank Garrett as Sgt. Thompson
*Dennis Redfield as Lester Mitchell
*Mickey Morton as Vernon Nestor
*Vachik Mangassarian as Opera singer
*Joe Gieb as The Elf
*Bill DeLand as Man in Police Station
*Laura Owens as Mother
*Adam Myman as Son
*Jennifer Shockey as Tammy
*[[Macaulay Culkin]] as a Halloween kid (uncredited)


==DVD release==
===Critical response===
====Contemporaneous====
[[Starz Home Entertainment|Anchor Bay Entertainment]] released ''The Midnight Hour'' on [[Region 1]] DVD on September 19, [[2000]].<ref>[http://www.amazon.com/Midnight-Hour-Jonelle-Allen/dp/6305971714 Amazon.com, ''The Midnight Hour'' DVD release info]</ref> The movie was previously released on VHS by Anchor Bay Entertainment on July 20, 1999.
Rick Sherwood of the ''[[San Bernardino Sun]]'' deemed the film a "less-than-satisfying teenage monster movie," adding: "The two-hour made-for-TV movie is billed as a humorous horror romp, but ''The Midnight Hour'' is really a campy monster bash in which revived corpses break into song and dance. Expect neither tricks nor treats, just lots of rock music, fake-looking special effects, and slow-moving scenes."<ref name=sbs>{{cite news|work=[[San Bernardino Sun]]|date=November 1, 1985|page=45|title=Don't expect tricks|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SBS19851101.1.45|via=California Digital Newspaper Collection|author=Sherwood, Rick}} {{free access}}</ref> A review published in ''[[The Des Moines Register]]'' noted: "The plot is contrived and simple, but the special effects, makeup, and costumes (done by the same person who staged [[Michael Jackson]]'s "[[Thriller (song)|Thriller]]" video) may be worth the watch,"<ref>{{cite news|work=[[The Des Moines Register]]|title=MOVIE: 'The Midnight Hour'|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/129434243/|via=Newspapers.com|page=18|date=November 1, 1985}}</ref> while a review in ''[[The Tennessean]]'' described the film as "a sophomoric concoction about a bunch of teenagers who conjure up a gang of goblins."<ref name=tennesseean>{{cite news|newspaper=[[The Tennessean]]|title=Today's highlights|page=30|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/112836735/|via=Newspapers.com|date=October 31, 1990}}</ref> [[Leonard Maltin]] wrote in his 1987 film guide that ''The Midnight Hour'' was "below average...[a] bland concoction of teen comedies, music videos, horror spoofs, and monster mashes."{{sfn|Maltin|1987|p=631}}

====Retrospective====
Of retrospective assessments on the film, Gary Militzer of [[DVD Verdict]] called it "a mediocre made-for-TV horror/comedy" unworthy of a DVD release,<ref name=dvd/> while the 2004 ''DVD and Video Guide'' deemed it an "enjoyable cross between ''[[Night of the Living Dead]]'' and ''[[An American Werewolf in London]]'', helped along by humor and a lively cast."{{sfn|Martin|Porter|2003|p=719}} [[AllMovie]]'s Robert Firsching wrote: "Cultists and completists may find it worth a look for camp value alone, but most will want to give it a wide berth."<ref>{{cite web|work=[[AllMovie]]|title=The Midnight Hour|author=Firsching, Robert|access-date=29 March 2018|url=https://www.allmovie.com/movie/v32565}}</ref>

In ''Zombie Movies: The Ultimate Guide'' (2012), Glenn Kay called the film "lavishly produced, but not particularly thrilling," adding that it "has a sickening cuteness to it."{{sfn|Kay|2012|p=174}} Vampire fiction scholar John L. Flynn referred to the film as "a hodgepodge of horror film cliches."{{sfn|Flynn|1992|p=229}} John Stanley wrote in ''Creature Features'' (2000) that the film was a "violent TV-movie vacillating between [[Gallows humor|graveyard humor]] and shock thrills."{{sfn|Stanley|2000|p=267}} Academic [[Peter Dendle]] noted in ''The Zombie Movie Encyclopedia'': "Even zombie movie completists will have a hard time stomaching this lame made-for-TV drivel," also comparing elements of the film's dance sequence to that of the Jackson "Thriller" video, and likening other elements of the film to those of ''[[Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things]]'' (1972) and ''[[Grease (film)|Grease]]'' (1978).{{sfn|Dendle|2001|p=110}} Similarly in ''Cyborgs, Santa Claus and Satan: Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Films Made for Television'' (2009), media scholar Fraser S. Sherman wrote: "This pointless film spends far too much time with teens partying and dancing, and pays much more attention to visuals than to plot."{{sfn|Sherman|2009|pages=123–24}}

===Home media===
[[Vidmark]] released ''The Midnight Hour'' on VHS in May 1989.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1345&dat=19890512&id=k1hYAAAAIBAJ&pg=5711,2402915|title=Vampires, Canseco Top Weeks' Releases|work=Spokane-Review|date=May 12, 1985|location=Spokane, Washington|page=18}}</ref> [[Starz Home Entertainment|Anchor Bay Entertainment]] re-released it on VHS on July 20, 1999 with a [[DVD region code#1|Region 1]] DVD following on September 19, 2000.<ref>[https://www.amazon.com/Midnight-Hour-Jonelle-Allen/dp/6305971714 Amazon.com, ''The Midnight Hour'' DVD release info]</ref><ref name=dvd>{{cite web|url=https://dvdverdict.com/reviews/midnighthour.php|work=DVD Verdict|title=The Midnight Hour|date=October 9, 2000|access-date=August 22, 2014|author=Militzer, Gary|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031013134107/http://dvdverdict.com/reviews/midnighthour.php|archive-date=October 13, 2003}}</ref> Both releases of the film are [[out of print]].<ref>{{cite web|work=The Scope|title=Blogoween: The Midnight Hour (1985)|url=http://thescope.ca/blogoween/blogoween-the-midnight-hour-1985|date=October 20, 2010|access-date=August 22, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.coffeeaddictedwriter.com/2012/10/13-days-of-halloween-retrospective.html|work=Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer|title=13 Days of Halloween: Retrospective: The Midnight Hour|date=October 31, 2012|access-date=August 23, 2014|author=B., Billy}}</ref>

==Soundtrack==
The film features these songs, as adapted from the film credits:
{{Col-begin}}
{{Col-2}}
*"[[In the Midnight Hour]]" by [[Wilson Pickett]]
*"[[Bad Moon Rising (song)|Bad Moon Rising]]" by [[Creedence Clearwater Revival]]
*"[[Li'l Red Riding Hood]]" by [[Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs]]
*"[[Baby I'm Yours (Barbara Lewis song)|Baby I'm Yours]]" by [[Barbara Lewis]]
*"[[Mama Told Me Not To Come]]" by [[Three Dog Night]]
*"[[Devil or Angel]]" by [[Bobby Vee]]
{{col-2}}
*"[[How Soon Is Now?]]" by [[The Smiths]]
*"[[Sea of Love (Phil Phillips song)|Sea of Love]]" by [[Del Shannon]]
*"Get Dead" by [[Shari Belafonte|Shari Belafonte-Harper]]
*"[[Clap for the Wolfman]]" by [[The Guess Who]]
*"[[Sea of Love (Phil Phillips song)|Sea of Love]]" by [[Phil Phillips]]
{{col-end}}

==See also==
* [[List of films set around Halloween]]


==References==
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
*{{cite book|last=Dendle|first=Peter|title=The Zombie Movie Encyclopedia|authorlink=Peter Dendle|publisher=McFarland|year=2001|isbn=978-0-7864-9288-6}}
*{{cite book|last=Flynn|first=John L.|year=1992|title=Cinematic Vampires: The Living Dead on Film and Television, from The Devil's Castle (1896) to Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-899-50659-3}}
*{{cite book|last=Kay|first=Glenn|year=2012|title=Zombie Movies: The Ultimate Guide|publisher=Chicago Review Press|isbn=978-1-613-74425-3}}
*{{cite book|last=Maltin|first=Leonard|author-link=Leonard Maltin|year=1987|title=Leonard Maltin's TV Movies and Video Guide|publisher=New American Library|isbn=978-0-452-25994-2}}
*{{cite book|last1=Martin|first1=Mick|last2=Porter|first2=Marsha|year=2003|title=DVD and Video Guide 2004|publisher=Ballantine Books|isbn=978-0-345-44994-8}}
*{{cite book|last=Sherman|first=Fraser S.|year=2009|title=Cyborgs, Santa Claus and Satan: Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films Made for Television|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-1-476-61101-3}}
*{{cite book|last=Stanley|first=John|year=2000|title=Creature Features: The Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Movie Guide|publisher=Berkley Boulevard Books|isbn=978-0-425-17517-0}}


==External links==
==External links==
*{{imdb title|id=0089593|name=The Midnight Hour}}
*{{IMDb title|id=0089593|title=The Midnight Hour}}
*{{Amg movie|32565|The Midnight Hour}}
*{{AllMovie title|32565|The Midnight Hour}}
*{{rotten-tomatoes|id=midnight_hour|title=The Midnight Hour}}
*{{rotten-tomatoes|id=midnight_hour|title=The Midnight Hour}}


{{Portal bar|Film|Television|Speculative fiction/Horror}}
{{Jack Bender}}
{{Jack Bender}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Midnight Hour, The}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Midnight Hour, The}}
[[Category:American television films]]
[[Category:1980s comedy films]]
[[Category:1980s horror films]]
[[Category:English-language films]]
[[Category:1985 television films]]
[[Category:1985 television films]]
[[Category:Zombie films]]
[[Category:1985 comedy horror films]]
[[Category:Vampires in film and television]]
[[Category:1980s monster movies]]
[[Category:Monster movies]]
[[Category:1980s high school films]]
[[Category:Werewolves in film and television]]
[[Category:American comedy horror films]]
[[Category:American horror television films]]
[[Category:American vampire films]]
[[Category:Films about curses]]
[[Category:Halloween horror films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Jack Bender]]
[[Category:Films directed by Jack Bender]]
[[Category:Films set in cemeteries]]
[[Category:Films set in Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Vampire comedy films]]
[[Category:Vampires in television]]
[[Category:American werewolf films]]
[[Category:Television about werewolves]]
[[Category:Films about witchcraft]]
[[Category:Television shows about witchcraft]]
[[Category:1985 films]]
[[Category:Films scored by Brad Fiedel]]
[[Category:1980s English-language films]]
[[Category:1980s American films]]
[[Category:English-language comedy horror films]]
[[Category:1985 science fiction films]]
[[Category:English-language science fiction horror films]]

Latest revision as of 01:47, 10 September 2024

The Midnight Hour
Original advertisement
GenreComedy horror[1]
Written byBill Bleich
Directed byJack Bender
Starring
Theme music composerBrad Fiedel
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
Production
Executive producerSharon L. Sawyer
ProducersErvin Zavada
Jill Mullikin-Bates
Production locationCalifornia, USA
CinematographyRexford L. Metz
EditorDavid A. Simmons
Running time94 minutes
Production company
Original release
NetworkABC
ReleaseNovember 1, 1985 (1985-11-01)[3]

The Midnight Hour is a 1985 American made-for-television comedy horror film directed by Jack Bender and starring Shari Belafonte-Harper, LeVar Burton, Peter DeLuise, and Dedee Pfeiffer. Its plot focuses on a small New England town that becomes overrun with zombies, witches, vampires, and all the other demons of hell after a group of teenagers unlocks a centuries-old curse on Halloween.

The film aired on ABC on Friday, November 1, 1985, at 9:00-11:00 pm EST. In addition to an original musical number, "Get Dead", the film's soundtrack features songs by Wilson Pickett, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs, Three Dog Night, and The Smiths.[4] The film marks Macaulay Culkin's first screen role as an uncredited trick-or-treater.

Plot

[edit]

It is Halloween in the small town of Pitchford Cove, Massachusetts, and five high school friends, Phil (Lee Montgomery), Mary (Pfeiffer), Mitch (DeLuise), Vinnie (Burton), and Melissa (Belafonte-Harper), plan on making it a night they will never forget. They steal outfits from the town's historic museum and come upon other old artifacts, including an old trunk encasing a paper scroll which contains an ancient curse. When the latent sorceress Melissa recites the curse at the local cemetery, things take a turn for the worse.

The town's dead, led by Melissa's great-great-great-great-grandmother Lucinda Cavender (Jonelle Allen), a witch who was put to death 300 years earlier, rise up from their graves and roam the town. As Melissa, Vinnie, Mitch, and Mary enjoy themselves at their annual Halloween costume party, Phil encounters a mysterious girl, named Sandra "Sandy" Matthews (Jonna Lee), dressed in a vintage 1950s cheerleader outfit, who warns him that the whole town is in danger.

Meanwhile, Lucinda and the various undead crash the costume party. At first, nobody pays much attention to them since everyone is in costume. However, Lucinda begins turning the party guests into vampires, starting with her great-great-great-great-granddaughter Melissa.

When Sandy discovers that Phil and his friends recited the ancient spell in the cemetery, they realize that the whole town is being overrun by the living dead and decide to team up to break the curse. The only way to do so is to find the Grenville Spirit Ring inside the grave of a witch-hunter Nathaniel Grenville - who, coincidentally, was Phil's great-great-great-great-grandfather and slave owner of Lucinda Cavender, her arch-nemesis - and use it to undo the curse. Phil and "good ghost" Sandy must restore the town to normal by midnight before it is too late and the curse becomes permanent.

When the local police do not take Phil and Sandy's warning seriously, Phil manages to get his father's hunting rifle to make silver bullets from his father's silver coin collection so they can use the silver bullets which appears to be effective against the undead. When the couple ventures to the Halloween party, they discover everyone turned into zombies, vampires, witches or other evil creatures. Phil manages to get the Grenville Spirit Ring from Zombie Mitch, after which he and Sandy drive to the town's cemetery. They break into Grenville's crypt and take his bones-and-dust remains to use to seal the scroll, just as Lucinda and the horde of undead attack. Cornered in Phil's car, he and Sandy manage to use candle wax to seal the parchment scroll. After Sandy tells Phil she loves him, every creature resurrected on that night vanishes, the wounds that Phil sustains disappear, and the damage to his car is undone—as if the entire event had never happened.

Phil finds Sandy's grave and finally understands that she had been one of the undead too. As the clock strikes midnight, Phil begins to drive back to town, and as he is pulling out of the cemetery, he hears a music dedication on his car radio from 'Sandy,' implying that she will always be looking after him even from beyond the grave.

Cast

[edit]

Release

[edit]

The Midnight Hour had its world premiere on ABC on Friday, November 1, 1985, at 9:00-11:00 pm EST.[6] The film later aired on occasion during the Halloween season, with an 8 pm airing on the Lifetime network on Wednesday, October 31, 1990.[7] Lifetime continued to air the film on numerous occasions during afternoon time slots, including showings on December 27, 1990,[8] June 19, 1992,[9] and October 31, 1992.[10]

Critical response

[edit]

Contemporaneous

[edit]

Rick Sherwood of the San Bernardino Sun deemed the film a "less-than-satisfying teenage monster movie," adding: "The two-hour made-for-TV movie is billed as a humorous horror romp, but The Midnight Hour is really a campy monster bash in which revived corpses break into song and dance. Expect neither tricks nor treats, just lots of rock music, fake-looking special effects, and slow-moving scenes."[1] A review published in The Des Moines Register noted: "The plot is contrived and simple, but the special effects, makeup, and costumes (done by the same person who staged Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video) may be worth the watch,"[11] while a review in The Tennessean described the film as "a sophomoric concoction about a bunch of teenagers who conjure up a gang of goblins."[7] Leonard Maltin wrote in his 1987 film guide that The Midnight Hour was "below average...[a] bland concoction of teen comedies, music videos, horror spoofs, and monster mashes."[12]

Retrospective

[edit]

Of retrospective assessments on the film, Gary Militzer of DVD Verdict called it "a mediocre made-for-TV horror/comedy" unworthy of a DVD release,[13] while the 2004 DVD and Video Guide deemed it an "enjoyable cross between Night of the Living Dead and An American Werewolf in London, helped along by humor and a lively cast."[14] AllMovie's Robert Firsching wrote: "Cultists and completists may find it worth a look for camp value alone, but most will want to give it a wide berth."[15]

In Zombie Movies: The Ultimate Guide (2012), Glenn Kay called the film "lavishly produced, but not particularly thrilling," adding that it "has a sickening cuteness to it."[16] Vampire fiction scholar John L. Flynn referred to the film as "a hodgepodge of horror film cliches."[17] John Stanley wrote in Creature Features (2000) that the film was a "violent TV-movie vacillating between graveyard humor and shock thrills."[18] Academic Peter Dendle noted in The Zombie Movie Encyclopedia: "Even zombie movie completists will have a hard time stomaching this lame made-for-TV drivel," also comparing elements of the film's dance sequence to that of the Jackson "Thriller" video, and likening other elements of the film to those of Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things (1972) and Grease (1978).[19] Similarly in Cyborgs, Santa Claus and Satan: Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Films Made for Television (2009), media scholar Fraser S. Sherman wrote: "This pointless film spends far too much time with teens partying and dancing, and pays much more attention to visuals than to plot."[20]

Home media

[edit]

Vidmark released The Midnight Hour on VHS in May 1989.[21] Anchor Bay Entertainment re-released it on VHS on July 20, 1999 with a Region 1 DVD following on September 19, 2000.[22][13] Both releases of the film are out of print.[23][24]

Soundtrack

[edit]

The film features these songs, as adapted from the film credits:

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b Sherwood, Rick (November 1, 1985). "Don't expect tricks". San Bernardino Sun. p. 45 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection. Free access icon
  2. ^ "The Midnight Hour (1985)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on December 6, 2017. Retrieved December 23, 2017.
  3. ^ Sherman 2009, p. 123.
  4. ^ The Midnight Hour (DVD). Anchor Bay Entertainment. 2000 [1985]. ASIN 6305971714.
  5. ^ Foy, Scott (October 22, 2011). "B-Sides: A Thriller Rip-Off That'll Make You Want to Get Dead". Dread Central. Retrieved February 4, 2015.
  6. ^ "Today's Television". Democrat and Chronicle. Rochester, New York. p. 14 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ a b "Today's highlights". The Tennessean. October 31, 1990. p. 30 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "Movies". Reno Gazette Journal. Reno, Nevada. December 23, 1990. p. 145 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "Movies". Reno Gazette Journal. Reno, Nevada. June 14, 1992. p. 155 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "Prime Time and Late Night". The Palm Beach Post. October 31, 1992. p. 105 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "MOVIE: 'The Midnight Hour'". The Des Moines Register. November 1, 1985. p. 18 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ Maltin 1987, p. 631.
  13. ^ a b Militzer, Gary (October 9, 2000). "The Midnight Hour". DVD Verdict. Archived from the original on October 13, 2003. Retrieved August 22, 2014.
  14. ^ Martin & Porter 2003, p. 719.
  15. ^ Firsching, Robert. "The Midnight Hour". AllMovie. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  16. ^ Kay 2012, p. 174.
  17. ^ Flynn 1992, p. 229.
  18. ^ Stanley 2000, p. 267.
  19. ^ Dendle 2001, p. 110.
  20. ^ Sherman 2009, pp. 123–24.
  21. ^ "Vampires, Canseco Top Weeks' Releases". Spokane-Review. Spokane, Washington. May 12, 1985. p. 18.
  22. ^ Amazon.com, The Midnight Hour DVD release info
  23. ^ "Blogoween: The Midnight Hour (1985)". The Scope. October 20, 2010. Retrieved August 22, 2014.
  24. ^ B., Billy (October 31, 2012). "13 Days of Halloween: Retrospective: The Midnight Hour". Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer. Retrieved August 23, 2014.

Sources

[edit]
  • Dendle, Peter (2001). The Zombie Movie Encyclopedia. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-9288-6.
  • Flynn, John L. (1992). Cinematic Vampires: The Living Dead on Film and Television, from The Devil's Castle (1896) to Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992). McFarland. ISBN 978-0-899-50659-3.
  • Kay, Glenn (2012). Zombie Movies: The Ultimate Guide. Chicago Review Press. ISBN 978-1-613-74425-3.
  • Maltin, Leonard (1987). Leonard Maltin's TV Movies and Video Guide. New American Library. ISBN 978-0-452-25994-2.
  • Martin, Mick; Porter, Marsha (2003). DVD and Video Guide 2004. Ballantine Books. ISBN 978-0-345-44994-8.
  • Sherman, Fraser S. (2009). Cyborgs, Santa Claus and Satan: Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films Made for Television. McFarland. ISBN 978-1-476-61101-3.
  • Stanley, John (2000). Creature Features: The Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Movie Guide. Berkley Boulevard Books. ISBN 978-0-425-17517-0.
[edit]
  • The Midnight Hour at IMDb
  • ‹The template AllMovie title is being considered for deletion.› The Midnight Hour at AllMovie
  • The Midnight Hour at Rotten Tomatoes