Midnight Son

Watched this last night at San Francisco's Hole in the Head Festival held at the Roxie Theater. Film way exceeded my expectations. Love the needling pace that works on the mind and builds tension, slowly, throughout. Well-acted. Great casting. Main actor reminded me of a more soul-less Robert Pattison. Clever storyline for an old world theme. A few scenes were abruptly edited but as a whole seemed to work as it left a lot to the imagination. I felt chills run up my spine and eked out a few edge-of-the-seat screams as I grabbed the arm of the guy sitting next to me. Would definitely see this film again. Highly recommended.

This played at the 2011 Minneapolis/St. Paul Film Festival as one of the "Late Night" offerings, and its labeling as a "vampire" movie probably discouraged some potential viewers. Let's face it, vampire movies have been done to death with all the creative juices long since having been drained out of them -- right? Writer-director Scott Leberecht, however, has somehow found a way to approach this material in such a way that, almost without your realizing it, and without resorting to any of the usual gimmicks, he's created a small, quiet movie that slowly gets under your skin and haunts the corners of your mind. The final image, resembling a Mayan frieze, will burn into your memory. Praise goes to lead actors Zak Kilberg and Maya Parish with a special nod to Jo D. Jonz as the worker in a hospital blood lab. While not as good as last year's "The Revenant," this can at least be mentioned in the same breath and that's high praise indeed.

I have been a fan of vampire films since I was young, and grew up with the classic vampire myths, no day walkers, no fighting werewolf's and no teenage never die over the top Hollywood type of films. Sure there are some great films about bloodsuckers that had huge budgets, great cast. great script, and then there are all those oh so forgettable cheap teen kiss love over the top vampire films of late, but this small budget B grade film fits in with the better ones.

Don't sit there and wait for a well know actor to show up, the acting is kind of stiff at times, not to much blood, but those short comings are well made up for with a fresh new story line, sure it sort of grabs bits of other films, but it still stands by it self.

It is well paced, direct to the point, and a whole lot better then some of the garbage of late, give it a go! I gave it a 7 out of 10

Jacob works a night shift as a security guard in a building in Los Angeles. He has a rare skin condition, preventing him from being able to be out in the daylight. He develops a need for blood, which he satisfies at first, by getting it from a butcher. His body soon rejects the animal source and he finds a way to buy the human variety from a street hustler. He meets Mary, a strange girl selling candy and cigarettes outside a club. They begin an offbeat romance of sorts, and the first time they try to have sex, Jake's eyes turn cat like, and Mary leaves. When she returns and sees paintings of sunsets, she asks to take one home. An art gallery is shown the work, and Mary convinces him to let her try to sell them at a show. In the meantime, the vampire artist/security guard, struggles to obtain fresh blood. The romance is on again, off again, as the odd couple dance around the truth. The story is a standard one with two very good performances by Zak Kilberg and Maya Parish. They have chemistry, and made me want to see them make it and survive their troubles. It is certainly a step above the Twilight series of Stephenie Meyer.

I went to a screening of this not expecting much. It's got its rough spots, but on a whole I liked it. The idea is fresh (for a vampire flick) and the performances are fairly good. Maya Parish acts outside the box and Jo D. Jonz makes some interesting choices. It's got the look of film shot on the cheap, probably flying under the radar a few times sans permits, but for the most part that serves the overall grittiness of the thing. This is actually one I'd like to see revisited à la EVIL DEAD. I'd be curious to see what could come of it with more cash, a little script polish, etc. Hope to see this create some more opportunities for these film makers. Curious to see what's next. Totally worth checking this one out.