After Midnight (1989).

Review #1150: After Midnight.

Cast: 
Ramy Zada (Professor Edward Derek), Marg Helgenberger (Alex, segment "All Night Operator"), Marc McClure (Kevin, segment "The Old Dark House"), Jillian McWhirter (Allison), Pamela Adlon (Cheryl), Tracy Wells (Amy, segment "A Night on the Town"), Judie Aronson (Jennifer, segment "A Night on the Town"), Ed Monaghan (Russ, segment "Allison's Story"), Alan Rosenberg (Richard, segment "All Night Operator"), Richard Gabai (Dave), Loyda Ramos (Molly, segment "All Night Operator"), Kerry Remsen (Maggie), and Nadine Van der Velde (Joan, segment "The Old Dark House") Directed by Jim Wheat and Ken Wheat.

Review: 
I suppose there must be something to the task of making an anthology film come to life. Perhaps it is better fitted for television (such as The Twilight Zone or Night Gallery, for example), but the beginning parts of the film, involving the setup with a weird professor played by Zada, does help give the movie some sort of amusing start, complete with a "Psychology of Fear" college class. Honestly, you would be best off sticking to those shows I just mentioned instead. This is a film brought to life by the Wheat brothers, who had helped co-write the screenplay for A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988). To properly give the film its due, I'll simply recap my thoughts on the three stories told to us, along with the wraparound parts.

The first segment, titled "The Old Dark House", seems to be destined for cliches, owing to the title that had already been used for two films, made by noted directors James Whale (1932) and William Castle (1963) that had been adapted from a novel called Benighted by J. B. Priestley. Honestly, that bit of history is more interesting for me than the actual segment, which goes nearly exactly the way you'd expect from a spooky house story. There is a twist to it, which I suppose makes it worth it, although it reminds me of a magician doing a magic trick and then pulls a jackrabbit out of the hat to mess with the audience with a chuckle. It probably doesn't hold up well on a re-watch, but it isn't anything too annoying. McClure and Van der Velde do just fine with such okay material, at least. "A Night on the Town" is easily the worst segment, in part because of how dull it is. It features a group of teenage girls who get lost and encounter a rundown gas station and are then chased...by vicious dogs. It's a bit of a tedious story, not evoking any sort of fright or even passion to it. The only thing that amuses me is the fact the conclusion, involving an explosion. "All Night Operator" is an average story, but it is likely the best of the bunch since it actually feels like an actual tale worth telling people. It involves Helgenberger (whose character has a broken leg while skiing) working at an answering service on a night shift before she gets involved with a client who is been stalked. The thing that bugs me about the segment is the ending, since it doesn't really have an ending, as opposed to how the other two segments seemed to have a natural conclusion to them. It may not be very scary (unless spooky callers really get under your skin), but it isn't too bad.

As mentioned earlier, the opening parts do help the movie get a bit of footing, with some hammy acting by Zada that is at least trying to get the movie somewhere interesting - he plays a character who likes to scare his students on his opening lecture by going through with Russian roulette (complete with makeup after faking getting shot) and messing with one of the surly kids to scare him, complete with pulling a revolver on him. What's weird is the ultimate setup: he offers private lessons when the college tells him to use textbooks for the class, and a bunch of students go to the lesson. I don't think I ever had a class in college that offered private lessons at a professor's house, but I digress. During the stories, there are shots showing the student who got scared by the professor trying to get his revenge on the teacher, which all build up to a weird showdown in the basement. The acting from the people in the wraparounds besides Zada isn't too interesting, especially since McWhirter doesn't give too much to this character that we follow for the wraparounds. You would think that she has her own story to tell, but she ultimately does not. The last trick the film plays on the audience is the worst of all - all of it was a dream. With how the wraparound segment ends, of course the film picks the one trick that undoes what just occurred on screen. Ultimately, this is a pretty mediocre movie, but the segments aren't recommendable in any sense of the word for frights or scares, being more something to watch on a lark. Nobody stands out in terms of acting aside from Zada, although that may be due to the ridiculous nature of his character, and the film is more of a tedious journey than an actual fun time. There isn't much to recommend, but if you really have a curiosity for anthology tales and cheap 80s thrills without much reward, this might be enough for you.

Overall, I give it 5 out of 10 stars.