Movie Review: The Midnight Man (2016)

Synopsis: While caring for her senile grandmother, Anna, teenager Alex and her friend, Miles, discover a game in the attic and despite Anna's scared reaction, decide to play it. The game summons the Midnight Man, a creature that can use their worst fears against them and will eventually kill them if they can't keep away until 3:33 a.m. As they, along with their other friend, Kelly, attempt to survive, Alex learns some dark secrets about her grandmother.

Who's in it? The movie stars Gabrielle Haugh, Lin Shaye, Grayson Gabriel, Kyle Strauts, Em Haine and Robert Englund.

Review: My wife came across The Midnight Man yesterday morning and added it to our movie library. Since she was feeling under the weather, keeping us at home, we ended up watching it last night. Unfortunately, it wasn't as good as we had hoped it would be.

The movie's premise, while not necessarily unique, had promise. The game rules, keep a candle lit or hide in a circle of salt, seemed a bit too easy at first but the Midnight Man (Straus) proved to be both clever and not opposed to cheating. This meant even my strategy of creating a circle of salt and reading a book until the clock struck 3:33 wouldn't have worked and at minimum, kept the film from being as predictable as expected.

The main problem with the movie is it feels like it leaves a whole lot out. For one, Anna (Shaye) was a former player of the game, and the film doesn't bother explaining why nobody seemed to notice the dead children or why she was now seemingly helping the Midnight Man find victims. Plus, why is it Kelly (Haines) seemed to know about the legend when nobody else did?

Of course, one of my biggest problems with this film is it doesn't happen unless Alex (Haugh) and Miles (Gabriel) are the dumbest teenagers alive. I'm sorry, but if my grandmother freaked out over me finding some candles and a list of names marked with blood, I think it would prompt me to at least attempt to ask some questions and do some research before playing the game, even if they were bored.

Oh, and what the heck was up with their grandmother's friend, Dr. Harding (Englund) not taking the time to warn them when he had a chance? He clearly knew what was going on, knew they discovered the game and didn't want them to die so what was the point in his silence?

I am also a bit confused about the game itself, with it being unclear when the Midnight Man would kill one of the players or just choose to torment them. The big question for me is why does that game happen in the first place? As far as I could tell, beating the Midnight Man gained the players nothing, so what was the point?  

Maybe a bit of background about the Midnight Man himself or an explanation of why anyone would want to summon him would have made a bit difference. It probably wouldn't have made this movie a good movie, but it could have at least helped it make it a bit more sense.

Final Opinion: It's a movie with a premise that isn't overly unique but was still wasted by poor execution. It is not a film I would recommend as a result.

My Grade: F

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Here are some reviews of other movies from 2016:

Movie Review: Skiptrace (2016)

Movie Review: Split (2016)

Movie Review: Central Intelligence (2016)

Movie Review: Lights Out (2016)