The Midnight Hour (1985)

To get through this made-for-TV Halloween horror-comedy, you’re going to need something stronger than alcohol; you’re going to also need a severe-to-crippling case of 1980s nostalgia. I’m talking people who DON’T want to kill someone when “Always Something There to Remind Me” comes on the radio. I’m talking people who have Kristy McNichol’s autograph. I’m talking people who can tell you, without help from Google, what all of the original MTV VJs are doing now. That’s the audience for this movie. They’re definitely they’re own little cult. They want to hang out at a picture-perfect Halloween party with a young and pretty Shari Belafonte and then fight zombies that look like they wandered in from Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” video. They get all misty during the bittersweet ending and they get annoyed that the DVD of the film was in print for about five minutes in 2000 and is now only available from Amazon seller leeches who want $9,000 for it. Horror fans won’t care about it any more than they care about The Count from Sesame Street. This is strictly for wimps. The most notable thing about it is that it’s the only Halloween film that seems primarily inspired by American Graffiti. Sentimental oldies hits dominate the soundtrack—the setting is the 80s, but these kids party to Wilson Pickett and Bobby Vee—and the TV-friendly zombies, ghosts and vampires here are little more than strong winds to blow around all of the teen angst. The only concessions to contemporary music are the ridiculous Shari Belafonte song-and-dance number (maybe the best scene in the film) and the riff from The Smiths’ “How Soon is Now?” on repeat during the “scary” scenes. Director Jack Bender was, and is, an active television director. The only other horror he’s directed are Child’s Play 3 and a few episodes of Beverly Hills 90210.