VFF '12: Midnight Son's Hidden Messages: A Movie Review

Director/writer: Scott Leberecht.

Cast: Tracey Walter, Arlen Escarpeta and Larry Cedar.

Very rarely can the vampire tale of legend ever get twisted around to the Nth degree so that something new can be bled out of it. Midnight Son nicely offers a new interpretation of yore, and viewers should take note: maybe vampirism is a disease. Very few tales takes this angle and it’s not an easy one to cure. Instead, this story details the metamorphosis of becoming the beast.

That transformation not only looks at the life of Jacob (Zak Kilberg) but also explores the feelings of Mary (Maya Parish). They both want a new drug, one of life and a love that they want to share for one another. But when he reveals his condition of why he can’t go out into the sun without being burnt to Mary, a wall between them is being developed.

Jake had this disease ever since he was young. He tells Mary this, but there is more to the condition than he realizes and he has trouble saying this to her. He still feels like a social pariah; even in a bar, he feels alone. The visual cues are smart to keep this motif going. Kilberg does a great job in playing that aspect up. But in who steals the show is Parish. She plays up her “life is in the dregs” role with more panache.

The screenplay has plenty of subtle nuances to like in the intro and it stays consistently strong throughout. One simple piece of dialogue explains it all, and it comes from the last person few may think can dispense advice, the janitor.

But a fair amount of this movie is spent in incubation, like the disease, before the suspense and thrills take off. No explanations are required to what causes vampirism in this film, or how many exist. And the pathos this movie develops is reminiscent of a very old television product, The Incredible Hulk, that writer/director Scott Leberecht may have taken small bits of inspiration from.

When confronted, Jake tends to walk away. In the heat of passion, Jake’s eyes turn yellow. The climax never happens, and he’s afraid of letting his feelings loose. Interestingly enough, when a series of murders start making the front page of the L.A. Times, Detective Ginslegh’s (Larry Cedar) investigation arrives at Jake’s workplace. And he dogs after him Jack McGee style. Even the allusions to Jacob’s final transformation mirror David Banner’s anxieties.

There are times where Jacob restrains himself from “Hulking” out. Another transformation that this character has to make is in accepting what he has become. How the tale resolves itself is far more exciting than the oblique start. But in what this new interpretation of what vampirism is all about, it’s one that is heartily welcomed. It’s about bloody time.

7 out of 10 (slow start, strong dialogue, solid performances throughout, and a great twist on an overdone romance angle).

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Posted in: 2012 release,independent horror movie review,vampire