After Midnight

Not the best horror anthology in the world it is interesting in one aspect...using a class in fear be the set up for the stories. Basically, a professor with a very unorthodox way of teaching has to invite those willing to a special story telling event at his house or something. Been awhile since I saw this one, so I am not all that clear about the details. They mainly have to go to his house thanks to a very shaky first day of class where the professor proceeds to show everyone how nuts he is. Well they go and exchange stories, the first one being about a couple stranded near an old house that looks typical, but has the best ending of the three stories presented. The next story has these girls getting stranded in the wrong part of town and being terrorized by a guy and his Doberman. Granted, nothing really special about it overall, but it did make for the most tense story of the three and my favorite. The final one for the most part is highly forgettable to say the least. I only remember a woman who has some sort of answering service and there was no being stranded involved here, though the female did have a bum ankle. Then the movie wraps up in a somewhat interesting and somewhat absurd fashion. Not the best, but it is entertaining enough to pass the time quite nicely.

With the 3 stories and the wrap around this horror anthology features a couple of familiar faces including CSI veteran Marg Helgenberger.

Including an elaborate prank gone wrong, crazy homeless man and his attack dogs, a celebrity stalker and a jocks vengeance.

None of the stories are great but are at least competently made.

The wrap around though interesting all falls apart in the last act which damages the film.

There are a lot of horror anthology's out there and though this one isn't bad it's shadowed by considerably better ones.

The Good:

The teacher was suitably hammy

Intense opening

The Bad:

Rather clichéd

Awful ending

Things I learnt from this movie:

This prank thing is really get out of hand

If attacked by rabid dogs it makes more sense to be on foot than safe in a car

Abandoned derelict buildings are logical places to seek a working phone

Although the stories in this Horror anthology are weak, the film manages to engage the mind throughout. The framing device used is that of a professor teaching the psychology of fear who humiliates a student during a lesson. Because of this, the wilder excesses of the teachers lessons can only be taught out of class at his home. Students relate scary tales during one such session most of which are interesting but have seriously flawed logic. Marg Helgenberger excels as the telephone service operator taking calls from a crazed stalker. The best story is the first in which a practical joke seriously misfires. The ending is surreal but is based on a hackneyed idea. The original music by Marc Donohue is excellent, especially that over the opening credits.

In the pantheon of iconic horror anthologies, you have your "Creepshow," your "Tales From" both "Crypt" and "Darkside," and even a "Twilight Zone The Movie."

...and then you have "After Midnight," which in no way belongs to the same league as the aforementioned genre standards.

Really, "After Midnight" is the sort of thing you'd let slide to the bottom of your Netflix queue until one bored Friday or Saturday night. Within the first 20 minutes or so, your instincts prove to be true as this 3-part anthology has little to offer that its predecessors haven't already done in much bigger and bolder fashion. That's not to say that this film is completely worthless or without merit. There are some over-the-top, silly moments that -- whether intentionally or not -- will elicit a chuckle from anyone in the right mindset. It also boasts a pretty solid cast of "Hey, I know that guy!" and "Oh, that's the voice of Bobby Hill!" It's just so unfortunate that most of the 90 minutes spent on this film are devoid of any legitimate scares or creativity. Much like a drunken midnight snack, it comes and goes and leaves little to remember in its wake.

The first story, "The Old Dark House," focuses on a couple who find themselves stranded and seeking shelter in, well, an old dark house. Not much happens in this story until its hilariously stupid yet unforgettable conclusion. Nothing worth losing your head over, though. Next up, "A Night on the Town" finds a group of girls who just wanna have fun but instead have an unfortunate run-in with a crazy hobo and his three vicious dogs. The meatier of the three stories, this one doesn't do much to capitalize on its tense set-up. Its setting is creepy and all, but there's little else of interest here, though genres fans will enjoy spotting Penelope Sudrow of "A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors" and Judie Aronson of "Friday the 13th Pt. IV: The Final Chapter" in the pack. Finally, "All Night Messenger," a would- be tense game of cat and mouse between a phone operator (Marg Helgenberger) and some creep making threatening phone calls. This one almost hits the spot, but is undermined by sharing the identity of the stalker with the audience too early and too often. It also ends right when it starts getting good.

The three stories are surrounded by a wrap-around that, bad as it might be, feels a little more fleshed out than the rest. A nutty professor (Ramy Zada) teaches his students about the meaning of fear (or something). Even though their teacher reveals himself to be a bit suspect early on, the students seem fit to follow him home regardless. This of course culminates in a truly bizarre finale that begs a rewind.

Overall, "After Midnight" isn't a movie that can be recommended for anyone other than those who grew up in video store aisles and/or those who remember staying up way too late to watch horribly butchered slasher films on cable TV. It's terribly slow, at times dull, and if you watch it (ahem) after midnight, there's a good chance you'll fall asleep halfway through. Having said that, it's not without its charms, and while there isn't one single segment that sticks the landing, there are a few moments of inspired lunacy that make it worth sitting through at least once. Even still, there's nothing here that is worth losing sleep over.

"After Midnight" appears to be a passable and insignificant late-80s horror anthology, and it really is to be honest, but I would definitely still encourage enthusiast genre fanatics to seek it out! The writers and directors, siblings Ken and Jim Wheat, are mostly famous for their scripting of "Pitch Black" and "The Chronicles of Riddick", but they also wrote an impressive number of adequate and versatile 80s horror & Sci-Fi gems, like "Silent Scream", "The Return", "Nightmare on Elm Street 4" and "The Fly 2". "After Midnight" is one of their sole attempts to also direct, and it became a modest but amiable little omnibus with a pleasantly deranged wraparound story and at least 2 out of 3 segments that are far above average.

In the wraparound, which is righteously also considered to be a fully independent segment, cute but worried student Allison reluctantly attends the first psychology class of the unorthodox teacher Edward Derek. He teaches his students about "fear" by threatening them at gunpoint and faking his own suicide in class. Naturally, the school doesn't appreciate this, and thus Prof. Derek invites a handful of students - including Allison - at his home to further plunge into the world of fear via telling each other scary stories. The first story, "An Old Dark House" is a traditional urban legend type of tale, but I liked the atmosphere and crazy ending. "A Night on the Town" is very similar to a contemporary childhood favorite of mine, namely "Adventures in Babysitting" (which was actually also known under the same title "A Night on the Town"), only this short features four yummy girls and a pack of wild dogs. The final story, "All-Night Operator", is the most known because it stars Marg Helgenberger of "CSI"-fame in one of her earliest roles. She's a switchboard operator in an apartment block and becomes the target of a maniacal stalker after refusing to transfer his calls to a famous actress. The tale is good, albeit derivative, and in this very brief episode Ken & Jim Wheat surely demonstrate they are capable of mounting suspense and generating a claustrophobic atmosphere.

The primary reason to watch "After Midnight" remains the demented wraparound tale, for sure. The classroom sequence is so incredibly surreal and bonkers that it literally has to be seen to be believed! Just imagine the lawsuits an act like this would spawn in real life! During the climax, the Wheat bros' scenario goes tremendously over the top, and it doesn't really fit in with the rest of the film. Who cares, though, as it's great fun!