MIDNIGHTaka BACKWOODS MASSACRE
1980/82, 93m 56s
Severin Films BD / Region ABC/CC
Written and directed by the co-author of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, John Russo's MIDNIGHT was one of the last films I remember seeing at a drive-in, when drive-ins could still be trusted to present real, honest-to-goodness drive-in movies. (Unlike today, when most of the straggling survivors run the same multi-million dollar blockbusters that are playing indoors elsewhere.) I remember being seduced by Independent-International's radio campaign, which was not quite Brother Theodore but approximated that same wavelength: "MIIIIIIIIDNIGHT! When the DEAD drink the BLOOD of the LIVING!" intoned a raspy voice. Deal me in.
As signalled by Russo's proprietary credit, MIDNIGHT is an example of what George A. Romero's team could conjure up with Romero himself off the playing field. Based on a "best-selling" novel by Russo (which I suppose means it's the best-selling of his many novels), MIDNIGHT (whose working title was THE CONGREGATION) is the story of Nancy, a teenage girl who runs away from home to escape the overbearing sexual advances of her patrol cop step-father, hitchhikes a lift to Florida with two guys who are stealing food from convenience stores along the way, and ends up running afoul of a family of Satan worshippers trying to revive their dead mother with sacrificial blood while unwittingly camping on their woodsy property.
For all I know, this out-of-the-frying-pan-into-the-fire story may be a real page-turner, but the film Russo made from it rolled out slowly. He was initially approached by an investor who offered him $35,000 toward a production; he then approached Samuel M. Sherman of Independent-International who offered him that same amount (as well as free 35mm film stock, the free use of an Arriflex camera, and the services of actor Lawrence Tierney) in exchange for the US distribution rights.
The film stock tended to arrive three cans at a time, and irregularly, and somehow Russo - with a little help from his friends, including special makeup effects artist Tom Savini and MARTIN star John Amplas - managed to keep things moving forward over a leisurely pace. You've heard of films made in eight weeks? Six weeks? Four weeks? Two? Over a weekend? Six months later, Russo had his rough cut. According to the stories gathered in the interesting extras of Severin's new Blu-ray, Russo sent his cut to Sherman, who was reportedly pleased with the result... but not entirely satisfied. He suggested an alternate ending bringing Tierney back into the story, which Russo filmed to order, and the film's completion coincided with 1980's glut of serial killer gore pictures. Feeling that "it's time will come," Sherman shelved MIDNIGHT till the summer of 1982, by which time it was pretty obvious that he had waited too long. By then, drive-ins were starting to die and splatter movies (of which this is a fairly dry example) were starting be co-opted by major studios as their franchise value began to be recognized. Even changing the film's title to the more-to-the-point BACKWOODS MASSACRE proved ineffectual. In short, the unlucky picture never had too much exposure.
In all honesty, MIDNIGHT is nothing to get too excited about. It doesn't really add anything to what filmmakers like Tobe Hooper and Wes Craven had brought to the genre in far scarier form in the 1970s, though Russo did have certain ambitions for the project. It was his intention to depict a world in which even the good people were compromised; where he could ironically contrast the evil family's Satanic beliefs with Nancy's reawakened-under-stress Catholic beliefs, both of them equally misguided in his view; however, in the script that developed, these are no more than shown in parallel without achieving a true synthesis of contrast and ironical comment. Russo's intentions are most effectively expressed in the film's score, which consists in large part of what sounds like Christian rock ballad instrumentation wedded to dark, Satanic lyrics.
According to Russo's 22m interview in this set, the production was beset by trouble with the film stock, which was somehow inadvertently (and repeatedly) exposed to light before use, rendering most of his best takes (and even some entire scenes) unusable - which they didn't know until they screened them, and at which point the opportunity to reshoot was gone. The cinematography is no more than serviceable and offers very little in terms of atmosphere. Dead characters are repeatedly misframed so that their breathing torsos remain in full view. The primary performances are mostly okay, with Melanie Verlin (our resilient Final Girl) and Amplas standing out, while the supporting roles are mostly amateurish. As with NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, there are some African-American actors in the mix, allowing the film to shuffle in some mild editorializing about lingering racism in small town America, but it makes so little impact on the whole that it seems almost obligatory rather than a hard confirmation of the picture's world view. Curiously for a 1980s R-rated film, there is no nudity and only the mildest of cursing, though in one climactic scene Verlin can be seen silently mouthing the F word and the S word while repeatedly failing to light a match to set her gleeful pursuer ablaze. Independent-International actually added some elegance to the film in post-production with the title sequence design of their trusty expert, Bob Le Bar. Ultimately, this is one of those movies that are probably less entertaining as films than they are useful and instructive reference for people with an interest in regional, grass-roots filmmaking, which makes its supplementary content all the more valuable.
Michael Felsher's Red Shirt Productions brings to the set a fine series of interviews with Russo, Sherman, Amplas, and Savini, most of whom mention that the film was largely brought together by "Point Parkers" - the local nickname for faculty, students, and alumni of Pittsburgh's Point Park University. Savini actually recalls little about the production, as his services were keeping him especially busy during this period, but he itemizes the props he brought over from previous jobs, like the trick machete used in DAWN OF THE DEAD and the mask used for the mother's dead body in MANIAC, which is recycled here for much the same purpose. Also included are isolated score selections composed by Mike Massei (who comments on them between cues), and an alternate title card and radio spot for BACKWOODS MASSACRE. Alas, the MIDNIGHT radio spot I remember so fondly is not included.The region-free disc presents the film in its OAR of 1.66:1, with audio in optional 5.1 surround or 2.0 stereo, and it looks infinitely better, razor-sharp with well-defined color, than the print I remember seeing at the drive-in back in the day. Alas, that rough-and-ready presentation probably did this punch-pulling film some favors, as the clarity of Blu-ray makes it more of a through-the-window look back at the younger days of some ambitious Point Parkers, using their off-time to have a little fun while rolling the dice at the Big Time.
For what it's worth, though MIDNIGHT wasn't fated to become any kind of a classic, we're told that it eventually earned back its money and then some.
(c) 2021 by Tim Lucas. All rights reserved.
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