Midnight Mass

Like watching a train wreck

Horrible, but you couldn't stop watching it. The first few minutes are an eerie prelude to a pathetic B- movie. An excellent story and idea As I watched this movie I kept hoping to see something get better, I kept wanting and hoping for the movie to be what I wished it would be. Maybe because there were some honestly well done shots in the film, like when the priest is giving a last prayer to a group of dead bodies. 10 minutes into the movie we placed bets that the leading lady got her job by being someone's daughter. Her acting, only matched by the vampire priests, shadowed even the pathetic make up effects. The fight scenes were laughable and made no sense.

An exercise in frustration. With all that's done right, and all that's done wrong, this film should be watched as a lesson in what not to do in filmmaking.

Being from New Jersey, I rented this film after reading about it in Fangoria magazine and about how it was filmed locally. I am also a fan of horror movies, and I generally like to check out anything new I can find. This one was pretty entertaining to watch, and the special effects were well done (and very gruesome, just how I like them). The intro was powerful, and some of the shots throughout the film were visually stunning. However, this film would have benefitted from using more vampires (...and more bloody f/x). Standout performances were the two priests, Father Cahill (played by Doug Gibson), and the convincingly demented Father Palmieri (Marvin Schwartz). For a first time director, I would say this was a valiant effort. Worth checking out if you like horror and can appreciate independant films.

After an apparently outbreak of a mysterious virus, the world is dominated by vampires helped by the traitors Vichys. The atheist Gwen Waters (Pamela Karp) leaves the small town of St. Anthony in her bicycle trying to find the alcoholic Priest Joe Cahill (Douglas Gibson) and bring him back to her town to give hope to the human dwellers. Father Joe rebuilds the church with the support of some locals but is attacked by vampires and Vichys leaded by the evil Father Alberto Palmeri (Marvin W. Schwartz), in a battle between good and evil.

"Midnight Mass" has a promising beginning that explains what has happened to the world through footages of broadcasting news. Unfortunately, after the first three or four minutes, the story becomes a complete mess. However, the acting is the worst, with amateurish performances of Pamela Karp and Douglas Gibson in the lead roles, and with the ham actor Marvin W. Schwartz performing Father Alberto Palmeri. It is ridiculous the way he speaks the sentences, and I do not recall any other actor or actress with such bad speech. I ruined my Saturday night watching this crap on DVD, deceived by its great initial five minutes. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): "A Missa da Meia Noite" ("The Midnight Mass")

I rent this movie in DVD fullscreen format, I don't remember a vampire movie so bad it looks like a super-8 movie it has it all bad acting,bad lines bad filming Please save your money and dont rent it.

Rock-bottom rotten. A promising premise (reminiscent of stories in "Under the Fang") and a somewhat creative opening few minutes -- tracking a vampire apocalypse from the point-of-view of TV news clips -- are red herrings in this presumably straight-to-video release.

Wherever the dividing line is between "low-budget" and "indie", this movie is well on the losing side. The acting is entirely amateur and ranges from the sub-par (for example, the goth youth collaborators) to the merely dull (alcoholic hero Father Joe) to the whopping ludicrous (Marvin Schwartz as a Catholic priest-turned-vampire). The direction as such is incomprehensible. A dreadful, rambling script is partially credited to horror author F. Paul Wilson, who also briefly appears.

Don't be misled by the colorful video box! This trash is impossible to watch in its entirety, and not worth the wear on your DVD player.