THE MIDNIGHT MAN Review – Whoever Said That Marriage Counseling Had To Be This Painful?
Matt Boiselle
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Starring Ken Foree, Wendie Weldon, Tommy Day Carey
Written by Kamal Moo
Directed by Aitor Uribarri
There comes a price to pay when faced with marital difficulties, and when it comes down to the marrow of things and you take the inevitable plunge into “assistance” from a qualified professional, there’s an indeterminate amount of shit that one must eat when sitting down with a counselor. For instance, take the two sad individuals we’ll be spotlighting in Aitor Uribarri’s The Midnight Man – we’ve got a couple that hasn’t even been hitched that long and they’ve already got issues…is it safer to continue on with the mental homework in order to save your marriage, or would it be easier to deal with the impending pain? Let’s jump into this one as the therapist writes up the bill – I just hope the premium will cover it.
Kyle (Carey) and his beautiful, but oh-so-slightly taxing bride Jessica (Weldon) are on their way to a house in the woods, and right off the bat you can assess that trouble is at hand – I mean these two are virtual babies when it comes to the vows and all they represent, especially due to the fact that they’ve only been banded for around six months, but that’s not even the bigger picture here. Their therapist has suggested that they begin the initial phases of healing their relationship by spending time in a secluded spot way up in the woods – why not put the stamp on them now as official horror movie fodder and just be done with it? Their downsides are as intriguing as their tactics for rejuvenating this scarred union (sarcasm alert), but when an uninvited guest comes a knockin’ on their door, they’ll have to remember that strength does indeed reside in numbers, especially if they’re planning on making another appointment with the therapist.
While the film attempts to use scattered bits of horror and humor as an effective blend (which doesn’t really mix well here), it’s the performance of Mr. Ken Foree as the enigmatic, yet slightly off-center chap named Hamilton – his scenes are the stuff of legend and he pulls this sinking vessel to shore all by himself and manages to (somewhat) save what would have been a run-of-the-mill horror/com that jumped and missed the pool altogether. We’ve got a little romantic strife at hand, concocted with some horror elements and hell, just for good cause there’s even a bit of criminal intent tossed in – only problem is that the blender blades couldn’t handle all of the genres chucked into them, and the eventual engine burnout occurs, leaving this one ripe for a pitch into the cinematic appliance graveyard. Writing (Moo) and directing were solid in nature, but the application was skewed in such a way that at times you weren’t completely sure just what type of film you were watching, and while that mode of presentation might work for some films, The Midnight Man would have been better off if he showed up around, say…3 or 4 in the afternoon? Perhaps a one-timer if you need a Foree fix, but I’d have to write on my prescription pad that this one requires further assessment and evaluation.
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The Midnight Man
Summary
That awkward production that wants to wear too many hats but only has one rotted skull on which to place it – yep, you’re looking at it.
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