Depois da Meia-Noite

This is a great horror movie! For those people who don't favor gore so much but are more interested in hearing scary stories on a rainy night, you'll love it. If you like this movie, be sure to check out Rod Serling's "Night Gallery". Last but, not least, you get to check out that hunk, Ramy Zada.

Horror anthologies are largely a mixed bag. For every spectacular Tales From the Darkside or Creepshow there is a horrible (and often British) movie like Tales That Witness Madness to drag the genre down.

The first story is a mediocre haunted house tale that didn't really impress me.

The second was about four girls who end up in a bad neighborhood and terrorized by a gas station attendant and three killer dogs. I liked this story and felt that the characters were generally interesting and intelligent, bad choices aside.

The final story is about a telephone operator who is terrorized by a psychopathic stalker. This one was pretty good as well.

The wraparound story is interesting and generally more involved than most other anthologies. It is arguably better than the stories themselves, aside from the ending which I won't spoil.

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.

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

"After Midnight" offers interesting tales that remind me of another 80's slasher flicks such as "April Fool's Day" (the first tale), and "Girls Night Out" (the second tale).

People inside a house narrate these tales while a prowler lurks outside the place.

Anyways, the first story is pretty interesting and has a chilling climax. I didn't see that coming!. In the style of "April Fool's Day" but in this case something went wrong. The second tale is less interesting but has more action involving flesh eating dogs chasing the girls. It is thrilling and has a decent conclusion. The third one is absolutely thrilling and nerve tensing involving a psychopath.

I watched it on TNT a few years ago so my advice would be , look for this popular Anthology. You might be suprirsed to see how many people ask for the movie's title on the Horror board. It has generated a somewhat cult status.