The Midnight After (2014/Well Go USA DVD)

Picture: B- Sound: B- Extras: D Film: B-

Directed by Fruit Chan, The Midnight After is an interesting science fiction/comedy/post-apocalyptic film that is interestingly written and well shot. Originally released overseas in 2014, the film is now seeing its way onto disc in America. It reminded me a little of a recent American film I reviewed elsewhere on this site, Flight 7500, where a group of unlikely strangers were in a similar impossible scenario, only in that film it was more of an analogy for purgatory and this film plays by its own rules, which makes it a recommendation. Starring in the film are international actors Wong You-nam, Simon Yam, Kara Hui, Cui Tien-you, and Sam Lee.

The film focuses on 16 unlikely strangers in Hong Kong that hop on a minibus and end up getting sucked into a different dimension where a horrible disease has killed off the world's population and few are left alive. Stranded inside the bus at first, they start to question how and why they have ended up in such a place and soon disband and discover horrifying truths and gas mask wearing creepy strangers around every corner.

The disease literally fries its victims after a series of convulsions - leaving the human body a heap of flesh and bone. Pretty brutal imagery here that definitely raises the stakes for our characters. Another creepy scene in the film is where every character gets a strange phone call at the same time, an eerie screeching noise. The acting here is definitely effective as one character looks out a window of his apartment and sees a highway with literally no cars on, leaving you to really question who are the true leaders of this dimension. The film keeps you guessing until the satisfactory ending that I won't spoil.

Though the film was obviously shot on a low budget, the filmmaking is clever in making you think that the towns have been deserted in many of the opening sequences mirroring other films that like 28 Days Later, Omega Man, I Am Legend, and the opening sequence of Tom Cruise's Vanilla Sky. Shots of mysterious characters in gas masks are also a creepy highlight and reminded me a bit of the Resident Evil films. There are some impressive special effects (both practical and digital) in the film featuring characters with diseased & mutated faces that bubble and boil and one impressive scene where the infected are chasing a character on a bike across a bridge and they literally crumble and turn into stone in mid-stride after him. Very well done.

Presented in standard definition with a widescreen anamorphic aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and lossy 5.1 Cantonese Dolby Digital track with optional English or Chinese subtitles. While the film would obviously look better in HD, for a DVD, I found the quality to be satisfying. No digital copy.

The only extra is a trailer, which is a shame, as I would have liked to have seen a Behind the Scenes featurette on this.

If you're a fan of foreign films and are looking for a new twist on the post apocalypse with some humor, then you will definitely want to give this disc a spin.

- James Lockhart

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