MIDNIGHT
Horror
The Cast: Colin Farrell, Deborah Ann Woll, Gabriel Macht, Ginnifer Goodwin, Bill Murray, Imogen Poots, Angelica Huston
The Director: Brad Anderson
Based on the 1963 Brazilian film "À Meia-Noite Levarei Sua Alma" or "At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul"
The Plot:
The story is set in a small town down in the swamps of Louisiana during the 1930s. Joe Thibodeau (Colin Farrell) is the local undertaker. He disdains religion and emotion and is looking for the ideal woman to bear him a child. His wife Laura (Ginnifer Goodwin) is been found to be unable to bear children, so Joe begins to make advances towards Sofia (Deborah Ann Moll), the fiancée of his friend Remy (Gabriel Macht). Sofia tells him that Remy is the only man in her life. Joe kills his wife Laura because of her infertility by poisoning her tea with Apocynum cannabinum, a poisonous herb. The local authorities cannot find enough evidence to arrest him.
Some days later, Joe is invited by Remy to visit a local fortune teller (Anjelica Huston) who will tell the fortune of Remy's marriage with Sofia. The fortune teller reveals that there is going to be a tragic disaster, and the two will never get married. Joe calls her a fraud and states that the supernatural is a hoax. She warns him not to mock the supernatural forces, lest they make him pay. That night, Joe and Remy go to Remy's house, where Remy tells Joe that he really doesn't actually believe the fortune tellers' words, and that fully he expects to marry Sofia and have a happy life together. Joe fulfills the fortune tellers' prophecy by brutally bludgeoning and then drowning Remy in a pond on Remy’s property.
Once again, the police cannot find enough evidence to charge Joe with the crime, although he is their prime suspect. He proceeds with his plan to seduce Sofia by purchasing a dove for her, which she accepts. He starts to touch her against her will. Sofia tries to resist, and Joe savagely beats her and rapes her. Sofia curses him for his brutality, saying she will kill herself, then return to take his soul to hell. Joe laughs at her, but the next day she is found hanging in her home. To his surprise, she doesn't blame him in her suicide note. Meanwhile, the town’s lone doctor, Dr. Paltrow (Bill Murray), begins to suspect Joe for the recent outbreak of violent deaths. When Joe becomes aware of the doctor's suspicions, Joe appears at Dr. Paltrow's home, gouges his eyes out with a corkscrew and sets him on fire.
Time passes and Joe remains unpunished for his crimes. On Halloween, Joe meets Mary (Imogen Poots), a young woman visiting her relatives, and chooses her as his next woman. Joe escorts Mary home late at night, only to be confronted by the fortune teller who predicted the doom of Remy and Sofia. She tells Joe that his soul shall be claimed by the ghosts of those he murdered at midnight. Joe threatens the fortune teller, and after leaving Mary at her destination, he is visited by ghostly apparitions. Joe runs away, and coincidentally arrives at the mausoleum where Remy and Sofia were buried. At the edge of his sanity, Joe opens the coffins to prove to himself his victims are really dead, but instead sees that their eyes are open, faces crawling with maggots. A short while later, the groundskeeper of the cemetery arrives at the mausoleum after hearing Joe's screams and finds him lying on the ground, horribly disfigured, his eyes open like the eyes of the two corpses. The nearby church bells ring out, indicating that it is now midnight.
THE END.
Stark’s Comment:"The Studio has bet stronger for this film in terms of production and marketing budget than what we usually do with horror movies. We have the feeling that there’s something about this movie that can make it work very nicely at box office. Hope we are not wrong…"
Box Office: 32 mill.
Net Losses: 16 mill.
Stark’s Reaction:"Ouch! The Studio made a wrong bet here. Definitely, horror films and thrillers are not called to become blockbusters in CMP’s world. Both are genres where you cannot invest too much money if you don’t want to go through disappointing experiences like this one."
AWARDS
Nominations: 2
Best Production Design
Best Villain - Colin Farrell
Wins: 0
