“Midnighters” by Julius Ramsay is a film that embraces one of the worst fears of every driver getting into an accident whilst driving. We’ve all had a bit too much to drink and some of us have even gotten into a distraction while operating the vehicle. Jeff (Dylan McTee) and Lindsey, on the other hand, are a couple that are spending their New Year’s Eve driving out to a celebration and happen to be an average couple. They enjoyed themselves, but neither of them appeared to be intoxicated nor were they overly drinking. Lindsey had to attend a work function and, to say the least, her coworkers aren’t Jeff’s favorite people. His character does show some level of interest when we first see him outside the building, having a cigarette and waiting to be let out. “Midnighters” is a classic case of the production and cast working “smarter, not harder.” The film manages to cram astonishing amounts of both scope and negligence.
What happens in the car on the way home for Lindsey and Jeff? As Jeff gets a little too handsy with Lindsey and puts his hand on her thigh, he starts to lose focus on the road. Without his full attention on the road, he ends up running into someone walking on the street. The aforementioned people start off the ride the right way, but things quickly go haywire. They try to contact 911, but have no signal. They throw the now battered but still breathing man into the back seat and head to the hospital. When Lindsey is driving, the victim stops breathing. ‘Stops’ is the key word here because that is only what Jeff thinks if not ‘says’. Now where do they go? If they go to the hospital with a body, they’ll be asked too many questions. They decide to take the body home, sober up for a few hours, and then take him in looking like it was an accident. Not to even try to figure out why this does not go as planned.
As always, “Midnighters” follows one of those tried-and-tested designs of a thriller which is terrifying from start to finish and is built around a protagonist’s never-ending chain of poor choices. But Alston Ramsay, who wrote the film and played the titular character, along with the cast, made it work. It is more of a character piece comprised of four pieces Hordern’s Smith, the couple’s elder sister Hannah, and her younger husband (Ward Horton). What I find most captivating about those thrillers is their capacity to keep the audience in suspense despite the absence of many speaking parts and action within a confined setting. The Ramsays are more shrewd than the average filmmaker. They do not overspend beyond what they have set aside for the budget or what the narrative demands. For most of the running time, they imprison us in a house which feels more and more threatening. Moreover, they do this during the day, just so you know, which makes that working title even more awful.
In “Midnighters” the conflict between Lindsey and Jeff is very subtly shown and Jeff assumes blame for things he shouldn’t have, and this sets him on a path to destruction. After one of the many car chases his first reaction to the accident is asking ‘What did you do?’ and Ebose brilliantly captures the essence of Lindsey’s panic and makes it abundantly clear that she isn’t taking responsibility for his malice and stupidity. The director Ramsay has a good sense of timing and pacing which is very beneficial in “Midnighters”. These types of films benefit from rapid pacing in order to suspend a viewer’s disbelief. Most films watching ‘Midnighters’ will find themselves rolling their eyes as the characters fail to take logical actions, but I personally was captivated from the beginning of the movie until its gory ending. This film is a marvelous surprise for the beginning of the year and we can only hope to see more of it.
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