The Midnight Hour (1985)

 ***½



High School seniors decide to go to the graveyard, with a parchment held closed by a signet ring, and conjure an incantation that releases all manners of ghouls, zombies, werewolves, vampires, and such. Can the likable high school nerd (Lee Montgomery) and a beautiful resurrected cheerleader (Jonna Lee) stop the town from being hell on earth???



In the 70s and 80s, television horror offered some quality examples: Gargoyles, Are You Afraid of the Dark, Satan’s School for Girls, and Dark Night of the Scarecrow. Trilogy of Terror is a staple example of the television horror film done swell. Well, I had the great pleasure of discovering another one Thursday night, “The Midnight Hour” (1985). A gem cast, a small town with plenty of Halloween spirit, some old vets popping up in guest spots (Kevin McCarthy as a cranky, boozing judge, Dick Van Patten as a happy-go-lucky family man dentist), an ancient scroll read in a cemetery by high school kids (obviously not taking the legend of its power seriously) that unleashes a witch and the dead, and a romance most unusual (Patten’s son, played by Lee Montgomery (the creepy “lil devil” conjured by mom in the classic tale from Dan Curtis’ television anthology, Dead of Night), meets Jonna Lee’s Sandy, tragic cheerleader dead ohhhh 30 years!) offer lots of pleasant surprises and entertainment value.

Young faces like LeVar Burton, Shari Belafonte, Peter DeLuise, and Dedee Pfeiffer as high school buds should pop a smile in early roles. A year later Pfeiffer would emerge as a charmer in Vamp (1986), Burton was only two years into his hosting duties of Reading Rainbow and only two years later would get his major break on Star Trek: The Next Generation, DeLuise would get a memorable gig on “21 Jump Street” two years later, and Shari was in the middle of her stint on “Hotel.” Wolfman Jack on the radio, Montgomery in a sweet 50s ride, the opening “paper boy on his bike hurling newspapers throughout the neighborhood and town” scene, stunner sub teacher ogled by the students in her class, kids in their Halloween get-ups, the dead leaving the cemetery and populating the town they once knew, and Montgomery bonding with Jonna during the night before a departing quite disappointing.

The film even includes a "Thriller-esque" musical interlude with Shari Belafonte, after being vampire bitten, leading the party into a number "Get Dead." It's that kind of movie. That dazzler final act, as Montgomery and Jonna drive through a foggy town now overrun with monsters and the dead, the locals included, sets up our heroes having to put an end to the ritual's scourge on the town. The milkman is dumping his bottles while the postman tosses mail into a fire. It's great stuff.

I didn't grow up with this or watch it when I was a kid, although I was of that impressionable age who would have grooved to it if I had seen it on television in '85. Even if I didn't, watching it for the first time, I can just see this being a nostalgic trip I'd want to take over and over. I'd say if you are looking to pair this with something, I'm thinking maybe the Lukas Haas film, "Lady in White" (1988).

The plot includes the high school comedy mainstay of Montgomery being crazy for Dedee without her even noticing him (in fact, he's almost invisible to her), LeVar desperate to score with Belafonte and coming up empty, and various monsters either supplying laughs at the Halloween party or attacking locals.

Jonelle Allen, as Belafonte's ancestor risen from beyond the grave, is well cast as quite a spooky vampire, while Kurtwood Smith is a rather humbug sheriff quite annoyed with Halloween and all the pranks and such it brings. This film really captures Halloween well, certain to be an annual must for the foreseeable future. Fantastic soundtrack with a mix of old and modern music...most of the time the songs fit within whatever scene they comprise. The song dedicated to Montgomery at the end is especially well done. Mark Blankfield (Frankenstein General Hospital) is barely recognizable under his zombie makeup.

I did want to finish by saying that nothing quite worked as extremely well as the unlikely romance between the high school brain, who is just a swell guy, and the vibrant cheerleader, getting a chance to relive one night as her life was cut too short. They have chemistry that is right there on the screen, and their appeal is winsome. I like these little movies (especially if on Halloween) that take place during a day and night, which is lively and captures the heart of the holiday. This movie does that. Sadly, Montgomery and Jonna only have this one night to enjoy as midnight deprives them of a life together. Out of a near apocalyptic situation was something worthwhile.