AFTER MIDNIGHT (Film Review)

                                  Starring: Jeremy Gardner, Brea Grant, Henry Zebrowski

                                        Directed by: Jeremy Gardner & Christian Stella

      "Love - exciting and new...come aboard, we're expecting you!" The following line has been sung with much gusto, and if you happened to have loved extremely cheesy 80's television programming you'll more than likely remember said line from The Love Boat. With that being belted out, the movie that's up on the specimen table today is from the co-directorial efforts of Jeremy Gardner & Christian Stella, and it's a tale of young love lost, and the subsequential horrors that follow (cue ominous music).

  The film is called After Midnight, and it was rightfully released this past Valentine's Day, and at the risk of sounding like a slacker, I put this one on the back burner for a short spell until I returned from my own amore-palooza with my bride of 2 years (2/14 being our anniversary). This is the sort of film that intrigues me to a certain level, and that's why I made it a priority to eyeball it once I returned to the ergonomic milk-crate that I sit upon when movie-gazing, so here's the skinny on this creepy little fright-fest. The story centers around (seemingly) happy couple Hank (Gardner) and Abby (Grant) - with their somewhat standstill management of a local watering hole bringing in the dollars to survive, there's something missing in their existence, although you'd never know the way this duo can't keep their mitts off of each other (horny little devils, they are). After a rather steamy exchange one night Hank awakes to find a "Dear John" type of letter from Abby that simply states "I had to go away for a while - I'm sorry - I love you." Just like that - no further information, no clues as to Abby's disappearance, and nothing further to assist Hank in the sorrowful pursuit of his true love...well, if you don't count the hellaciously-sized claw marks on his front door, yeah...then he's got nothing to go on.

  Unexplained phenomena can result in the deterioration of one's mindset, and Hank's current condition is no exemption - blowing shotgun blasts at his front porch in the dead of night and an overwhelming sense of despair are hung on his neck like a wet scarf. This situation has drawn the attention of Hank's close friends and the finality of this horrific incident will come when the audience least expects it - some of you who have been akin to this particular kind of film might sniff out what's going to happen much earlier, so don't ruin it for the newbies! What works for this film isn't really the "what could it be" factor, but the amount of weight that Gardner not only pulls in a directorial fashion, but in a strong lead role as well. The audience is along for a sullen ride as we lay witness to multiple scenes of solitude, which are decorated nicely with periodic bouts of paranoia, anger and at times unreasonable tactics in which to deal with trauma on these levels.

  At the end of it all, After Midnight is one of those films that will appeal to some viewers who want a simplified, scaled-down dose of horror/love and at times even a little shot of comedy to level things out. It's not going to knock you out of your knickers by a stretch, but it is a film that can be watched with a prospective future "someone"...just warn them as to the horrors of what might occur if they do happen to step off of the front porch. The film is currently available to watch via On-Demand services.

FILM SCORE: 3 out of 5