The Midnight Game

Not even watching this on a fun Halloween night with your friends can save this film. With a half-decent premise and a only a couple good jump scares, this movie is laughable. Anywhere from the terrible acting to the failed scare tactics to, in my opinion, the dumbest decisions ever made by characters in any horror film I've ever seen, this movie fails on every level. But like I said, it's pretty funny. The runtime is 70 minutes, so it never feels drawn-out and knows exactly where to end. And for the record, the film's conclusion is so confusing and jarring that it takes a rocket scientist to make sense of it, if it makes sense at all. The film left me disappointed, cheated, and even a little angry. However, you might have a few fun conversations about the film with your friends the next day, trying to make sense of an insensible, dumb horror movie.

Five stereotypical hard-partying teens get together at a secluded house, mostly just farting around until Shane (Guy Wilson) comes up with the idea to act out a Pagan ritual he's read about online: "The Midnight Game". It involves 22 knocks on the door, drops of each persons' blood, a circle of salt, and lit candles, and its rules must be followed to the letter. Otherwise, terror awaits, based on the group members' individual fears.

The teens find that surviving the night is easy enough. The terror actually begins next day, starting with erratic behavior and culminating in various nightmarish hallucinations.

"The Midnight Game" is noteworthy for co-story author / director A. D. Calvo's attempt to go for the "slow burn", parceling out its horrors carefully. While it can be amusing to watch the teens become increasingly on edge, and start sniping at each other, Calvo's film *promises* big horrors but delivers very little. Ultimately, the film is disappointing. A shame, really, as the young cast do what they can with roles that are not exactly fleshed out to any great degree. For this viewer, Valentina de Angelis ('As the World Turns') is a standout as Jenna; veteran actor Robert Romanus ("Fast Times at Ridgemont High") comes in for a quick cameo right at the end.

Everything here is pretty average: the script, the characters, the (repetitive) score, the cinematography, etc. There's really not much to recommend "The Midnight Game".

Inspired by supposedly true events.

Four out of 10.

Metaphysical horror movie. A group of young people gather at a girl's house when her parents are away on a trip. Eventually one of them persuades them to play a dangerous game, the midnight game. It is essentially a "casual" ritual where they actually summon a demon at night. Strange things happen in the house and to these young people who eventually all regretted starting this "game". Will they finally survive? A common but always interesting horror movie concept, with suspense, short duration, so as not to become boring and some effects. However, the characters of the film were completely superficial and not all of them had good acting, while it did not have enough intensity for most of it. In general, however, it is worth a watch for the fans of the genre.

Well, the movie had potential to be a good film, but the execution wasn't successfully done. First of all, the ending was messed up, many questions left unanswered. Also, the characters, the plot, the location were all basic. In my opinion, the movie was inspired by the "Ouija" franchise, because they had many similarities. The kills were good. It wasn't scary, but it was kinda creepy.

This movie had so much promise with the pagan rituals and the interesting plot. I had been waiting a good while to find it. Even though it did bring in the over played teenagers playing a dare style situation on each other and trying to scare the girl into the boys arms, it still maintained value. Unfortunately, the story line and ending left us feeling wanting. It seemed to be heading to a great climactic event but it ended so abruptly that I wondered if I had blinked an missed something. The acting was well done and believable mostly. I enjoyed it until the anti-climax. All in all it was enjoyable and great ideas that were not fully developed. With the climax lacking, 3 stars is all we could agree on.