I have to admit that the Friday Night Horror Movie is often, in reality, the Friday Afternoon Horror Movie. I tend to knock off work a little early on Friday afternoons, about the time my wife is picking up our daughter from school. With no one home, I go upstairs and put on a horror movie. Often I’ll put on another one immediately after, and sometimes I’ll even watch a third one before the night is over.
But lately, I find myself watching something with my wife in the evening. I like her and she doesn’t like horror so we’ll catch a mystery or something silly. Thus the horror movie I watched in the daylight hours becomes the thing I write about.
This afternoon I watched Severance (2006) about a group of weapons salespeople who get attacked by some crazy killers whilst out on a work retreat. It was terrible and I didn’t feel like writing about another terrible movie so I let my wife watch something with the kid and I settled down into Midnight.
I’m glad I did because it is terrific. And it was nice to watch something truly terrifying in the dark recesses of the night.
Midnight takes a couple of pretty standard thriller tropes (serial killer, deaf woman being stalked) and doesn’t necessarily do anything original with them, and some of its plot choices are baffling, but its execution is excellent.
Kim Kyung-mi (Jin Ki-joo) is a deaf woman working as a sign language customer service agent. On her way home one evening she stumbles onto a murder scene. A woman has been attacked and left for dead in an alleyway. When the injured woman throws her shoe into the street Kim investigates. Her attacker, Do-shik (Wi Ha-joon) watches from his van and then attacks Kim with a knife. He’ll wind up chasing her through the streets of the city for the rest of the movie.
Along the way, she’ll pick up her also deaf mother (Gil Hae-yeon) and the alley woman’s brother Jong-tak (Park Hoon). Together and separately they will make one terrible decision after another. The movie regularly stretches credibility in order to keep the thrills rolling.
But it makes smart use of sound, often cutting out at important moments to indicate how our two female protagonists live in a world without sound. There is a wonderful moment in which Kim is trying to escape by opening a metal gate, unable to hear the grating sound it is making, alerting the killer to her whereabouts. Another finds the killer inside the house making all sorts of noise while Kim thinks she is safe.
Kim and her mother are not just victims in this film, they fight back using every available weapon in their arsenal. The film also delves a little into the casual misogyny and overt ableism they face on a regular basis.
Most of the movie takes place on the apparently deserted streets of the city, leaving our heroes to fight the killer on their own. But even when they enter the crowded downtown area their inability to speak leaves their pleas for help falling on deaf ears.
Many of the plot choices may leave some of you smirking in your seats, but if you are able to overlook them this is one thriller packed with chills.
themidnightcafe.org 