After Midnight Limited Edition Blu-ray Review

4 star tale of love lost and monsters found.

After Midnight is written and directed by Jeremy Gardner (Tex Montana Will Survive, The Battery) who also stars and co-directed by Christian Stella.

It is presented here alongside bonus film The Battery (2012) on Limited Edition Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video.

“This is gonna sound crazy I know, but ever since you left, some kind of thing’s been coming out of the woods every night, scratching on the door, trying to get into the house.”

Hank (Jeremy Gardner) a small town bar owner has been living happily with his partner Abby (Brea Grant – Eastsiders, Lucky) for the past ten years. He wooed her with his creepy house in the woods and a mix tape intended for someone else. All that comes to an abrupt end one morning when he awakens to an empty house and a cryptic note on the fridge saying that she has to go away for a while.

The same night, something comes out from the woods to growl and scratch at the front door, leaving huge claw marks in the paintwork. This continues night after night and is slowly driving him insane. He is forced to sleep on his sofa pushed up against the front door to barricade it and with a shotgun by his side.

He turns to drink and his increasingly erratic behaviour is a source of concern to Shane (Justin Benson – The Endless), local law enforcement and brother to Abby who is sceptical about the ‘monster’ and thinks it is a bear. Also worried is his best friend Wade (Henry Zebrowski – Dirty Grandpa) who doesn’t really believe him, but supports him anyway.

Is Hank really being terrorised by a monster from the woods, or is he simply fighting his own demons?

Also included in this special edition is an earlier film by Gardner, The Battery. This film tells us the story of Ben (Gardner) and Mickey (Adam Cronheim – Red Spring), two baseball players forced together during a zombie apocalypse and finding it more difficult to survive each other than the zombies.

After Midnight is a thoroughly enjoyable film, however if you’re looking for a classic creature feature or a gorefest then this probably isn’t for you. This is a genre defying mix of romance, thriller and the occasional fall-out-of-your seat jumpscare. It’s thoughtful, surprisingly tender and yet also unsettling and downright scary in places, with sufficient blood to class it as a horror.

Gardener is an excellent actor and the banter between Hank and Wade is hilarious. The direction is very good too, creating great atmosphere, and supported by a cracking soundtrack.

The Battery is equally unusual, focusing more on the relationship between Ben and Mickey than the zombies, although again there is plenty of blood if that’s what you’re after. It too is very funny in places, with great use of what was clearly a very small budget and helped by another really good soundtrack. Both films amply illustrate that you don’t need a big budget to make a great film.

A superb package and well worth adding to your collection.

“We’ve been letting our imaginations draw faces on the noises in the dark since we were living in caves. And we always draw sharp teeth.”