The Midnight Game

Last updated
The Midnight Game
TMG-One-Sheet-2013.jpg
Promotional release poster
Directed by A.D. Calvo
Screenplay byRick Dahl
Story byA.D. Calvo
Produced byA.D. Calvo
Starring
CinematographyEun-ah Lee
Edited byMichael Taylor
Production
companies
Budderfly
Goodnight Film
Distributed by Anchor Bay Entertainment
Release dates
  • March 2, 2013 (2013-03-02)(MIFF)
  • August 12, 2014 (2014-08-12)(United States)
Running time
74 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The Midnight Game is a 2013 American supernatural thriller film directed by A.D. Calvo based on the creepypasta of the same name. The movie had its world release on March 2, 2013, at the Miami International Film Festival and was released to DVD on August 12, 2014. [1] Filming took place Wallingford, Connecticut in April and May 2012, [2] and stars Renee Olstead. [3]

Contents

Plot

Perky blonde teenager Kaitlan (Renee Olstead) has decided to invite over a few of her friends after she finds that her parents are leaving her home alone for the weekend. She's planning for a small, relatively quiet get together with her friends Jenna (Valentina de Angelis) and Rose (Shelby Young), but Kaitlan soon finds that Rose has invited boys to the party, Shane (Guy Wilson) and Jeff (Spencer Daniels). Not wanting to seem uncool, Kaitlan allows the boys to stay and party.

Eventually Shane suggests that they play The Midnight Game, where participants confess their deepest fears while performing a strange ritual. Anyone who performs the ritual inaccurately runs the risk of running into the Midnight Man, a terrifying figure that can bring the participants' fears to life. They must carry candles, and if the candle extinguishes then they must relight it in ten seconds or surround themselves instantly with a circle of salt, or the Midnight Man will catch them. The teenagers originally think the game sounds fun and do not take the idea of the ritual seriously, beginning the game gleefully.

Nothing happens for the first hour and a half, yet just as the group is starting to become complacent they begin to hear noises, and their candles start to go out. The boys decide to explore upstairs where they can hear unusual sounds, whilst the girls remain downstairs. Jeff and Shane discover a crucifix upstairs which unnerves them, and they are drawn back downstairs by the sound of the girls screaming; they saw a dark figure moving around outside the house. The candles all start to go out, and the group panics. Kaitlan attempts to end the game by turning on the lights, only to find that they do not work even though the power for the house is still running.

After some time has passed, they eventually draw a circle of salt around themselves and huddle together, eventually falling asleep. At 3:33 AM the lights turn back on and the group awakes, thinking that the game is over. They do not realise that having failed to relight their candles in ten seconds and drawing the circle of salt well after they needed to, the Midnight Man has won the game.

The next morning, Rose awakes to find Jeff is gone. She goes downstairs to the kitchen, and finds that no one knows where Jeff is; Shane assumes that he has gone to basketball practice and texts him, with no response. Jenna, unprovoked, begins to verbally abuse Rose in a bout of sudden anger, accusing her of wanting to steal Shane and always trying to copy her. The others are stunned by Jenna's sudden moodswing, and later she apologises.

Shane, Kaitlan and Jenna decide to go for a hike, whilst Rose chooses to stay at the house and take a nap. On the hike, Jenna begins accusing Shane of cheating on her and acts extremely angry for no reason, until her mood suddenly changes and she is abnormally happy, seeing shapes in the clouds that do not exist and skipping along. Meanwhile, back at the house, Rose begins to hear strange noises and hallucinate unnerving things. Eventually, she walks into a room and sees the Midnight Man, a demonic pitch black figure.

On the hike, Shane receives a text from Rose begging him to help her, and despite Jenna screaming for no reason when he suggests they go back, he and the others return to the house to find Rose huddled in the kitchen, clutching a knife and having a panic attack from seeing the Midnight Man. Shane coaxes Rose to drop the knife, and as she does Jenna begins panicking and acting paranoid. The group deduces that this must be because of the Midnight Game, and Rose decides to go home.

On her way home, Rose starts to hallucinate the Midnight Man again. She sees Jeff at the side of the road and pulls over to talk to him, only to find that he is undead. Rose backs away, and is hit by a car. She then wakes up in the car and realises that this was a hallucination, and decides to go back to the house. Back at the house, Jenna has been growing increasingly panicked and paranoid, hallucinating that Shane cheated on her with Kaitlan. She breaks down, and Shane attempts to comfort her.

The group realise that the reason these things are happening to them is because they did not follow the rules of the Midnight Game, and they decide to play again to see if that will end the chain of horrific events. As they begin the game for the second time, Shane recalls a blog he read on the internet about a boy who did not follow the rules of the game and ended up reliving his worst fears over and over until his death, and the theories he has read that people get trapped in an endless cycle of reliving their death over and over. He fears that this will happen to them.

As they play the game, the candles blow out and they are unable to relight them. They intend to surround themselves with salt, but accidentally spill the salt, leaving them trapped to face the Midnight Man. Jenna goes upstairs, where she is taunted by a hallucination saying that everyone is against her and is driven to hang herself. Kaitlan is pushed off the balcony by the Midnight Man. Shane receives a text from Jeff stating he is in the basement, and discovers Jeff's corpse in a casket. When he returns to the house, Rose states that "he is behind you'", and he turns to see the Midnight Man. Shane runs out the house, pursued by the Midnight Man.

Suddenly, the clock turns to 3:33, and Shane, Rose, Kaitlan and Jenna all wake up on the floor, still alive. Jeff enters the house with a bottle of wine, and they are shocked to see that he is okay. It seems as though the five have survived the midnight game and that things will return to normal. However, the house is then shown to have been vacated for two years, and a realtor shows a prospective tenant around the house. He is put off buying it when he realizes it is where "the incident with the high school kids" took place and discusses the incident with the realtor; how four high school students died, and one (Shane) disappeared, believed to have killed the others.

As the man and the realtor pull away from the house, Rose's car is shown pulling up to the front as it had at the beginning of the film, and the events from the beginning play out for a few minutes. As the camera pans away from the girls entering the house, Shane's corpse is shown in a pile of leaves across the street, vaguely hinting that the five teenagers are all dead and are stuck in an endless cycle of the Midnight Game.

Cast

Release

The film was released on DVD by Anchor Bay/Starz on August 12, 2014. [4]

Critical reception

The Midnight Game has received mixed to positive reviews from critics. Fangoria gave the film two and a half out of four skulls, writing "THE MIDNIGHT GAME could probably delve a little deeper into its characters’ hauntings/psychotic episodes and even add a few more visceral scares throughout, but Calvo's ability to create atmosphere and build suspense lends welcome dimension to a film that could also have easily devolved into a series of shock cuts and big bangs—and a new blade on a vintage saw is rarely a bad thing." [5] Bloody Disgusting commented that while some of the film was "generic" it was also enjoyable. [6] HorrorTalk.com gave the film a mostly review, complimenting the film's competent direction, cinematography, and acting, but criticized the film's climax as being too heavy-handed. [7] FilmReel.com gave the film a positive review, writing, "For fans of various creepy pasta stories, this will be a worthwhile film. Hardcore horror veterans may not find much to enjoy, but those who are just starting out in the genre should have a great time". [8]

Related Research Articles

<i>13 Going on 30</i> 2004 film by Gary Winick

13 Going on 30 is a 2004 American fantasy romantic comedy film written by Cathy Yuspa and Josh Goldsmith, directed by Gary Winick, starring Jennifer Garner and Mark Ruffalo, and produced by Susan Arnold and Donna Arkoff Roth. The film is about a 13-year-old girl in 1987 who awakens to find herself suddenly 30 years old and living in 2004 as a fashion editor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Renee Olstead</span> American actress and singer (born 1989)

Rebecca Renee Olstead is an American actress, singer, and marriage and family therapist. Active since childhood as an actress, she is best known for her roles on the CBS sitcom Still Standing and on the ABC Family drama The Secret Life of the American Teenager as Madison Cooperstein. In addition, she has recorded four studio albums, primarily of jazz music.

<i>Pet Sematary Two</i> 1992 film by Mary Lambert

Pet Sematary Two is a 1992 American supernatural horror film directed by Mary Lambert and written by Richard Outten. It is the sequel to the film Pet Sematary (1989), which was based on Stephen King's 1983 novel of the same name and the second film in the Pet Sematary film series. The film stars Edward Furlong, Anthony Edwards, and Clancy Brown. Pet Sematary Two was theatrically released in the United States on August 28, 1992, by Paramount Pictures and grossed $17.1 million worldwide. It received negative reviews from critics, but Brown's performance received critical acclaim.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jasmine Thomas</span> Fictional character from Emmerdale

Jasmine Thomas is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Emmerdale, played by Jenna-Louise Coleman. She made her first screen appearance in the episode broadcast on 30 June 2005 and her last appearance on 26 March 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeff Hamilton (drummer)</span> American jazz drummer

Jeff Hamilton is an American jazz drummer and co-leader of the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra. A former member of the L.A. Four, Hamilton has played with jazz pianist Monty Alexander, bandleader Woody Herman, and singer Rosemary Clooney, and has worked extensively with singer Diana Krall.

<i>Still Standing</i> (American TV series) American television sitcom (2002–2006)

Still Standing is an American television sitcom created by Diane Burroughs and Joey Gutierrez, that aired on CBS from September 30, 2002, to March 8, 2006. It stars Mark Addy and Jami Gertz as Bill and Judy Miller, a working-class couple living in Chicago, Illinois. Taylor Ball, Renee Olstead, and Soleil Borda portray their children and Jennifer Irwin portrays Judy's sister Linda.

"Twenty Four Candles" is the 14th episode in the second season, and the 37th episode overall, of the American dramedy series Ugly Betty, which aired on April 24, 2008. The episode was written by Veronica Becker and Sarah Kuscerka and directed by Michael Spiller. The title of the episode is a wordplay on the film Sixteen Candles.

<i>247°F</i> 2011 American film

247 °F is a horror film directed by Levan Bakhia and Beqa Jguburia. Cast members include Scout Taylor-Compton, Christina Ulloa, Travis Van Winkle, Michael Copon and Tyler Mane. It was filmed in Tbilisi, Georgia and finished filming by July, 2011. It received its first international release date in Georgia on 1 September 2011. The film is about a group of friends who get trapped in a sauna.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jenna Marbles</span> American YouTube personality (born 1986)

Jenna Nicole Mourey, better known as Jenna Marbles, is an American YouTuber. Over the span of ten years, her YouTube channel has accumulated approximately 1.8 billion video views and, at its peak, over 20 million subscribers. After apologizing for a series of accusations involving offensive content in her older videos, Marbles announced her indefinite hiatus from the platform in 2020.

<i>V/H/S</i> 2012 horror anthology film

V/H/S is a 2012 American found footage horror anthology film and the first installment in the V/H/S franchise created by Brad Miska and Bloody Disgusting, and produced by Miska and Roxanne Benjamin. It features a series of found footage shorts written and directed by Adam Wingard, David Bruckner, Ti West, Glenn McQuaid, Joe Swanberg, and the filmmaking collective Radio Silence.

<i>This Is England 90</i> 2015 British drama series

This Is England '90 is a 2015 British TV drama mini-series written by Shane Meadows and Jack Thorne and produced by Warp Films. A spin-off from the 2006 film This Is England, it is also a sequel to the series This Is England '86 and This Is England '88. This Is England '90 was originally due in late 2012, but in July 2012, Meadows announced that the production had been put on hold in order for him to complete his documentary about reunited Manchester rock band The Stone Roses, and the actors were still waiting for confirmation as to when filming would start.

<i>The Den</i> (2013 film) 2013 American film

The Den is a 2013 American slasher film by Zachary Donohue and his feature film directorial debut. The film is shot in screenlife and found footage style and was first released in Russia as смерть в сети, Death Online on December 23, 2013. It was given a simultaneous limited theatrical and VOD release on March 14, 2014 through IFC Midnight. It stars Melanie Papalia as a young woman who discovers a murder via webcam.

<i>The Canal</i> (2014 film) Irish horror film, directed by Ivan Kavanagh

The Canal is a 2014 Irish horror film that was directed and written by Ivan Kavanagh. The film had its world premiere on 18 April 2014, at the Tribeca Film Festival, and stars Rupert Evans as a father investigating a horrific murder that took place in his home in the early 1900s.

<i>These Final Hours</i> 2013 thriller film by Zak Hilditch

These Final Hours is a 2013 Australian sci-fi apocalyptic thriller film written and directed by Zak Hilditch and starring Nathan Phillips and Angourie Rice in her film debut. It was selected to be screened as part of the Directors' Fortnight section of the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.

<i>Mr. Jones</i> (2013 film) 2013 American film

Mr. Jones is a horror thriller film and the feature-film directorial debut of Karl Mueller, who also wrote the screenplay. It had its world debut on April 19, 2013, at the Tribeca Film Festival and was released to DVD on May 2, 2014. The film stars Jon Foster and Sarah Jones as a couple who go out to the woods to work on a film, but end up being terrorized by a series of increasingly strange events.

<i>Geralds Game</i> (film) 2017 film by Mike Flanagan

Gerald's Game is a 2017 American psychological horror thriller film directed and edited by Mike Flanagan, and screenplay written by Flanagan with Jeff Howard. It is based on Stephen King's 1992 novel of the same name, long thought to be unfilmable. The film stars Carla Gugino and Bruce Greenwood as a married couple who arrive at an isolated house for a holiday. When the husband dies of a sudden heart attack, his wife, left handcuffed to the bed without the key and with little hope of rescue, must find a way to survive, all while battling her inner demons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kaitlan Collins</span> American journalist (born 1992)

Kaitlan Collins is an American journalist who is a news anchor on CNN. She is the former co-anchor of CNN This Morning. She has hosted The Source at 9 p.m. since July 2023. She also served as the network's Chief White House Correspondent from January 2021 until November 2022. Previously, she was the White House correspondent for the website The Daily Caller.

<i>The Midnight Man</i> (2016 horror film) 2016 American film

The Midnight Man is a 2016 horror film directed by Travis Zariwny and starring Gabrielle Haugh, Lin Shaye and Grayson Gabriel.

<i>Body Cam</i> (film) 2020 film by Malik Vitthal

Body Cam is a 2020 American police procedural horror film directed by Malik Vitthal, from a screenplay by Nicholas McCarthy and Richmond Riedel and a story by Riedel. The film stars Mary J. Blige, Nat Wolff, David Zayas, David Warshofsky, Demetrius Grosse and Anika Noni Rose.

<i>Satanic Panic</i> (film) 2019 comedy horror film

Satanic Panic is a 2019 American comedy horror film directed by Chelsea Stardust, based on a screenplay written by novelist Grady Hendrix and adapted from a story created by Hendrix and Ted Geoghegan. It is a Fangoria production.

References

  1. Gingold, Michael. "Exclusive DVD art: Do you dare play "THE MIDNIGHT GAME"?". Fangoria. Archived from the original on 19 August 2014. Retrieved 16 August 2014.
  2. McNary, Dave. "Renee Olstead strikes 'Midnight Game'". Variety. Archived from the original on 27 November 2019. Retrieved 16 August 2014.
  3. Turek, Ryan. "A.D. Calvo Dabbles in Witchcraft in The Midnight Game". STYD. Archived from the original on 19 August 2014. Retrieved 16 August 2014.
  4. "The Midnight Game (2013) - A.D. Calvo". Allmovie.com. AllMovie. Archived from the original on 12 November 2019. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
  5. Macomber, Shawn. ""THE MIDNIGHT GAME" (Miami International Film Fest Review)". Fangoria. Archived from the original on 19 August 2014. Retrieved 16 August 2014.
  6. Allen, Don (15 August 2014). "[DVD Review] 'The Midnight Game' Generic But Decent". Bloody Disgusting. Archived from the original on 19 August 2014. Retrieved 16 August 2014.
  7. "The Midnight Game – HorrorTalk". HorrorTalk.com. ZigZag. Archived from the original on 8 April 2018. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
  8. "Review: The Midnight Game (2013) – or – Always follow rules – The Film Reel". FilmReel.com. The Film Reel. Archived from the original on 14 July 2018. Retrieved 13 June 2017.