[Published at Film Inquiry] Midnighters knows exactly how to draw the viewer in. It starts off with a bang, or a couple bangs, rather, to grab the audience’s attention, but doesn’t shock with gore, graphic details, or bore with too much story prefacing. The film is written by Alston Ramsay, former speechwriter and senior advisor to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, General David Petraeus, and Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson. Now, on the other side of the country as D.C., he has a promising new career as a screenwriter in Los Angeles. The film is directed by his brother, Julius Ramsay, longtime editor and director of two episodes of The Walking Dead.

After accidentally hitting a man with a car white distracted from the road, Hanna (Perla Haney-Jardine) and Jeff (Dylan McTee) decide to keep the body, not call the police, and wait until they are sober. Chaos ensues. Midnighters is further proof that IFC Midnight is upping their quality of standards for releases. It’s a rapid-fire mystery, offering moments of reflection in between a series of psychological play-by-plays of our central characters as they go through their options post-car accident.

What Works And What Doesn’t?

J. Ramsay’s directorial style is decidedly intrusive, very in-your-face so as to transport the viewer as much as possible to the moment and aftermath of the horrifying event. It adds to the tense anxiety of the Midnighters. He shoots drawn-out moments of the film like a haunted house thriller, which adds to the building tension. The idea was to replicate the anxiety of those involved as much as possible. That’s either a fun or stressful experience for the viewer, depending on how adventurous of theatergoers they are.

Chris Westlake’s score is a little heavy and carries various overused musical motifs that often appear in the horror genre. For someone who just wrote a great score for the film Small Town Crime, his compositions in Midnighters really throw the viewer off at times, particularly with the use of the slow and simple melancholy piano scale in minor. Fortunately, after the second act, Westlake’s score moves from the foreground and blends into the background of the film, even during the exciting climax. The organ effect with the chorus of strings on the keys are far more effective than the standard, solo piano.

source: IFC MIdnight

The female actors are one of the standouts of the film; Haney-Jardine more than makes up for the acting shortcomings of her male counterpart, McTee. Alex Essoe, who plays Lindsey, does a fine job as well committing to the script and staying in the scene even when she doesn’t have dialogue, something that the actor has a difficult time with occasionally.

Ward Horton, who plays the detective, does so in a rather over-the-top fashion. Whether this is intentional or not, it is tonally almost completely the opposite from the performances of the rest of the cast. If this were intentional, it might be a subtle representation of the unpredictability of arbitrarily, compounding negative events. But, who knows? It isn’t superior acting, either way.

A Bunch Of Bonkers Themes And Tropes

Midnighters is certainly a Hitchcockian thriller, above all. However, there is a considerable lack of restraint in terms of jump scares and sudden plot unravelings. Surprisingly, however, Midnighters still remains somewhat unpredictable. Though it isn’t a particularly bloody film, it’s all very cringeworthy, what the central couple go through. It’s one of those, “don’t do that!” and”why would you do that?” and “why do you keep doing that?” types of plot lines. Of course, there wouldn’t be a movie if the couple just went to the police after the incident in the first place, right?

source: IFC Midnight

A. Ramsay is adept at capturing the ugly side of human nature. As always, the human’s true selves are exposed in moments of crisis. Their loyalty, strength, sanity, judgment, and self-control are put to the test. The two cops knock on the door. Then the detective. The fear of getting caught competing with the shame of family betrayal.

Power play, double-crossing, sketchy comings and goings, awkward moments. J. Ramsay has a lot of fun playing with so much material, pulling common tropes out of his pocket, and throwing them into each scene. For the most part, it somehow works, perhaps mostly because of his commitment to each handful of ideas.

When it isn’t Hitchcockian, it often feels very Lynchian. The wild characters, the rural setting, the over-the-top, existential noir, the lack of a sense of time period. Somewhere in the mix, one can see shades of J. Ramsay’sdistinct, refreshingly alarming, and scatter-paced style (perhaps one he learned on The Walking Dead). Right when the audience begins to settle in their seats for a slow-burner of a film, something shocking or attention-grabbing happens, and that is how the Ramsay brothers keep the viewers on their toes.

Technically Decent

Alexander Alexandrov’s cinematography mirrors the season. It’s wintertime, and the house is surrounded in gloomy, crisp whitish hue to highlight the cold. Alexandrov uses every shot near a window as an opportunity to completely white out the windows, creating a dark sillhouette of every figure inside the house in turmoil.

source: IFC Midnight

The house is naturally well-lit, and every ray of light beaming through it in the house is ghost white. One may notice a few clever and strategically-placed rays of light throughout Midnighters, as well. A lot of care went into the making of the film, and it shows, but the execution of the vision could have used a little more support by some of those both in front of the camera and behind the production.

The sound department does an unsettlingly fantastic job of conveying what’s happening in gruesome detail to the viewer when it isn’t happening onscreen. At 93 minutes, Midnighters is just a tad overlong. However, it still sustains the audience throughout its runtime, which is impressive given its predominantly single setting within the couple’s house. The story-development could have been improved upon. Who are these men coming after the family, exactly? Who is the detective? Why is everyone trying to betray each other?

Midnighters: Well Worth The Time

Those questions are only partially explained by the end of Midnighters. The film doesn’t ask too much from the audience. Respectfully, it knows what it is: a popcorn thriller with style and a bit of substance. Enough relevant information is given to the audience to sit back and revel in the suspense created by the Ramsay brothers.

Midnighters is an impressive screenwriting debut from A. Ramsay and a solid effort from J. Ramsay. However, Haney-Jardine and Essoe impress the most, stealing each scene and selling this Hitchcockian and Lynchian thriller.

Did you like Midnighters‘ sporadic pace? In your opinion, what was the most shocking aspect of the plot?

Midnighters was released by IFC Midnight on March 2, 2018 theatrically and on VOD. For more information on its release, click here.