Minutes Past Midnight

Minutes Past Midnight: Horror Anthology film, nine segments of varying quality. Roid Rage is OTT, disgusting but perhaps funny in a sort of sick way, Awake is the business though, parents of a young boy worry as the kid can't get to sleep, his behaviour becoming odder and more violent, Onvincing performances by cast. Directed by Francisco Sonic Kim, written by Collin George. Ghost Train is set in Ireland, a man returns to his hometown, meeting up with an old friend who looks ravaged by booze. There are flashbacks to an incident during their childhood when they went to a derelict ghost Train with a third boy, Real Horror if not terror here with great acting by both the child and adult actors. Written and directed by Lee Cronin. Never Tear Us Apart is also about a homecoming but murderous cannibals are encountered. Sort of slapstick. The Mill At Calders End is an interesting mixture of puppetry, live action (I think) and stop motion about an old curse. Much of the rest depends on hit and miss humour and gore. Overall worth watching for the stand out short films. Saw it on AMC Channel which is now on Virgin Media Cable.. 7/10,

a 9-short comedy horror anthology. my favourites are James Moran's romantic comedy spoof Crazy for you and The Mill at Calder's End by Kevin McTurk, which features some brilliant picture composition and stop motion, near-photorealistic banruku rod puppet animation unlike anything i've seen before. also worthy of note is Ryan Lightbourn's genre-spanning Roid Rage and accompanying soundtrack. the dialogue is clever and delivered in deadpan fashion that practically had me in stitches

the only short i didn't like was the final segment, Horrific, by Robert Boocheck. the story is clichéd, the monster design appeared lacking in inspiration, and the positioning of the short in the anthology was simply poor judgement on the part of the editor/s. then again, i like the film better on the whole if i think of number nine as an unnecessary 'bonus' track, to be discarded upon future viewing. all in all an entertaining film; pairs well with New Belgium Voodoo Ranger IPA

I've always had a rule of thumb when it come to horror films. The cheesier, the better. This one takes it to a new level! This collection of completely disjointed shorts is entertaining from start to finish. It's gory, silly, head-scratching fun. If you're expecting Oscar-worthy writing, directing and acting, you'll be really disappointed. If your bar for quality entertainment is as low as mine though, you'll love it!

Numeric ratings are so impossibly subjective, but FWIW, I'm giving the entire collection a 6/10. I rarely watch these type of short story films, but after reading a few of the reviews, there were a couple stories that looked really good. An quite frankly, the good ones were excellent! I'll make a couple of comments below:

"Never Fear Us Apart": Entertaining. Ironic. Slightly gory. (6)

• I liked the premise on this one. My biggest complaint was the VERY noticeable CGI. Had the film been done with practical fx, it would have been more enjoyable, but beyond that, it worked as a short.

"Awake": Too short. Perplexing. Leaves questions. (5)

• Another interesting premise, but this is a big reason I don't like shorts...it was...too short, and lacking in answers. The piece itself is very well done and filmed with a stark filter, leaving it cold and dark. The acting is fine, son no complaints there, but it was just too short. Most of these types of pieces are meant to leave the viewer with a few questions, as they are not meant to provide complex back-stories, but this one leaves questions going in AND coming out. It's wasn't bad, and the writing works...I just felt a bit confused about what the "how's" and "why's."

"Crazy For You": Light. Clever(ish). Twisted. (6)

• I like this one, but would have preferred more gore. It was done well, and the plot is fun and unique, but as a "horror," there lots of chances to make it more horrific with fx. Still, it was a unique piece that entertained and worked well as a short.

"The Mill at Calder's End": Gothic. Stylish. Haunting. (8)

• I'm not a fan of animated pieces, but this was brilliantly done! It looks great, is dark, and the story is creepy. Loved the plot. While it absolutely works as a short, I would have enjoyed a full length feature as well.

"Roid Rage": Very B-movie-ish. Grotesque. Cult-like. (4)

• As a fan of cheesy b-movies with blood and gore, and actually kind of liked this. My biggest issue is that it feels very out of place with the other shorts. It reminds me of a Troma flick, both in plot and execution, but compared to the stylishly done companion pieces, I was grossly underwhelmed.

"Feeder": Slick. Professional. Dark & Sinister. (8)

• Another really well done piece. The story is Faustian in nature, which I always enjoy, and the production is top notch indie grade. No real complaints here. This is one I would have enjoyed as a full length feature.

"Timothy": Odd. Childish. Chaotic. (4)

• Another piece that I felt didn't belong. The production value was ok, but the premise felt like it didn't fit. Maybe others would disagree, but it was nowhere near as dark as most of the others. It still had a chaotic feel to the story, but in a maniacal way, opposed to anything creepy. I guess I'm just not in to stuffed animals.

"Ghost Train": Rich. Textured. Genuine horror. (9)

• This was my favorite of the bunch. Everything about it was great. The look, the feel, the plot, and the production. I would have loved watching this as a full feature but it works as a short tale without issue. I also appreciated the resolution and/or explanation of characters. We actually get back story on this. Overall, just extremely well done.

"Horrific": Cheap. Pointless. Goofy. (4

• This was probably the most out of place piece of all. It was violent and pointless for the point of being violent and pointless. I truly believe this was meant to be exactly what it is, which is not a bad thing. I just didn't feel it fit in with most of the others. I compare it in nature to "Roid Rage;" a movie I could see myself watching during another sitting, but not as a part of this collection. It's just corny, hokey, B-grade horror.

I must admit that I initially stopped playing this movie after the first short story, but I continued watching it again after reading a few reviews on this site; and I'm really glad that I did. This film consists of nine short stories and while the first one wasn't necessarily my cup of tea and almost caused me to skip the rest of the stories, there are some pretty entertaining features that I would have missed had I not been more patient. The Mill at Caulders was a spooky animation, and the short film Feeders was down right creepy and entertaining. I also found Ghost Train and and Roid Rage creepy and kooky respectively.All in all this was definitely not a waste of time.