User reviews

Not the best horror anthology in the world it is interesting in one aspect...using a class in fear be the set up for the stories. Basically, a professor with a very unorthodox way of teaching has to invite those willing to a special story telling event at his house or something. Been awhile since I saw this one, so I am not all that clear about the details. They mainly have to go to his house thanks to a very shaky first day of class where the professor proceeds to show everyone how nuts he is. Well they go and exchange stories, the first one being about a couple stranded near an old house that looks typical, but has the best ending of the three stories presented. The next story has these girls getting stranded in the wrong part of town and being terrorized by a guy and his Doberman. Granted, nothing really special about it overall, but it did make for the most tense story of the three and my favorite. The final one for the most part is highly forgettable to say the least. I only remember a woman who has some sort of answering service and there was no being stranded involved here, though the female did have a bum ankle. Then the movie wraps up in a somewhat interesting and somewhat absurd fashion. Not the best, but it is entertaining enough to pass the time quite nicely.

With the 3 stories and the wrap around this horror anthology features a couple of familiar faces including CSI veteran Marg Helgenberger.

Including an elaborate prank gone wrong, crazy homeless man and his attack dogs, a celebrity stalker and a jocks vengeance.

None of the stories are great but are at least competently made.

The wrap around though interesting all falls apart in the last act which damages the film.

There are a lot of horror anthology's out there and though this one isn't bad it's shadowed by considerably better ones.

The Good:

The teacher was suitably hammy

Intense opening

The Bad:

Rather clichéd

Awful ending

Things I learnt from this movie:

This prank thing is really get out of hand

If attacked by rabid dogs it makes more sense to be on foot than safe in a car

Abandoned derelict buildings are logical places to seek a working phone

"After Midnight" offers interesting tales that remind me of another 80's slasher flicks such as "April Fool's Day" (the first tale), and "Girls Night Out" (the second tale).

People inside a house narrate these tales while a prowler lurks outside the place.

Anyways, the first story is pretty interesting and has a chilling climax. I didn't see that coming!. In the style of "April Fool's Day" but in this case something went wrong. The second tale is less interesting but has more action involving flesh eating dogs chasing the girls. It is thrilling and has a decent conclusion. The third one is absolutely thrilling and nerve tensing involving a psychopath.

I watched it on TNT a few years ago so my advice would be , look for this popular Anthology. You might be suprirsed to see how many people ask for the movie's title on the Horror board. It has generated a somewhat cult status.

I saw this on The Movie Channel yesterday, and I really liked it. The stories weren't great, but they were all entertaining, and I liked how the frame story was more than people sitting around telling stories, and despite the fact that the climax of the frame story was a little extreme (though, quite creepy with that skeleton!) it's still a good horror movie.

The film comes together with Allison (Jillian McWhirter) and Cheryl (Pamela Segall) starting college, and their first day of a class on the psychology of fear. After their professor (Ramy Zeda) goes too far with one lesson (scaring a macho frat guy to the point of wetting himself), he is forced to tone his class down, but opts for anyone who wants to get a better understanding of what he's teaching to come to his house the next night for a private lesson. A handful of students show up, including Allison and Cheryl, yet Allison has a bad feeling about it all (well, we haven't heard that one before!) and almost seems to be a bit psychic about it. (Believe me, it gets old quick.) Yet, that night, as a few students take turns telling stories to scare each other, the angry frat guy decides to get his revenge, and closes in on the party, as each story is told.

There are three stories told:

1: "The Old Dark House"- This one was really clever. It starts off and gets going with what seems like every cliche in hand. A couple takes the scenic route home, pass an old mansion where murders were committed, get a flat tire, and decide to go up to the house to call a tow-truck. We've seen all that before. But then, towards the end, the story takes a really creative twist that ties it all together perfectly, and actually proves to be a genuine surprise and thrill.

2: "A Night on the Town"- This one was a little thin, and could have used a few twists, yet it didn't surprise you like it should have, which would have helped the flimsy plot. Four girls looking for some fun (one of which, Amy, I knew I recognized, and finally realized was the teenage girl in "Mr. Belvedere"!) and end up in the warehouse district of town with little gas. They stop at a gas station, and meet the gas station attendant from hell and his dobermans, which all proceed to terrorize the girls in a sometimes tense, sometimes cheesy chase through the wrong part of town. This one was not as good as the others, but still entertaining.

3: "All Night Messenger"-This one was pretty good, though a little typical. A woman, Alex, who works for a telephone messenger service (I didn't get it, maybe this is pre-answering machine employment) comes home early from a ski trip with a broken ankle (hmm, will she have to run at some point?) and takes the late shift that night. She begins getting calls from a creepy caller for one woman, and when the woman comes home and calls for her messages, Alex tries to warn her before it's too late. Of course, the caller eventually catches on, and makes his move, and you can sort of see where it all goes from there. Though, this one was pretty good, and the ending was creepy.

The frame story eventually wraps up in this very bizarre climax that makes little sense at times, but it's still creepy. And to wrap all that up, the movie does the only thing that might make some sense, but will surely make you groan with annoyance.

Overall, I liked this. The main and end title music was creepy, and the whole atmosphere of the movie was that 80s horror movie feel that just sort of makes everything entertaining, and tolerably cheesy. The acting is all fairly typical. Jillian McWhirter sort of got on my nerves with all her damn premonitions, and she always looked really creepy, almost drugged. Ramy Zeda was a bit over the top, but creepy. I thought Pamela Segall was likeable, though, except, what was going on with her and the ending? (You'll know what I mean if or when you see this, and if you have, tell me what was going on.) All the other actors were forgettable, and basically playing the roles expected of them in a movie like this.

I recommend watching this if you get a chance. It moves quickly, and is really entertaining.

Although the stories in this Horror anthology are weak, the film manages to engage the mind throughout. The framing device used is that of a professor teaching the psychology of fear who humiliates a student during a lesson. Because of this, the wilder excesses of the teachers lessons can only be taught out of class at his home. Students relate scary tales during one such session most of which are interesting but have seriously flawed logic. Marg Helgenberger excels as the telephone service operator taking calls from a crazed stalker. The best story is the first in which a practical joke seriously misfires. The ending is surreal but is based on a hackneyed idea. The original music by Marc Donohue is excellent, especially that over the opening credits.

"After Midnight" appears to be a passable and insignificant late-80s horror anthology, and it really is to be honest, but I would definitely still encourage enthusiast genre fanatics to seek it out! The writers and directors, siblings Ken and Jim Wheat, are mostly famous for their scripting of "Pitch Black" and "The Chronicles of Riddick", but they also wrote an impressive number of adequate and versatile 80s horror & Sci-Fi gems, like "Silent Scream", "The Return", "Nightmare on Elm Street 4" and "The Fly 2". "After Midnight" is one of their sole attempts to also direct, and it became a modest but amiable little omnibus with a pleasantly deranged wraparound story and at least 2 out of 3 segments that are far above average.

In the wraparound, which is righteously also considered to be a fully independent segment, cute but worried student Allison reluctantly attends the first psychology class of the unorthodox teacher Edward Derek. He teaches his students about "fear" by threatening them at gunpoint and faking his own suicide in class. Naturally, the school doesn't appreciate this, and thus Prof. Derek invites a handful of students - including Allison - at his home to further plunge into the world of fear via telling each other scary stories. The first story, "An Old Dark House" is a traditional urban legend type of tale, but I liked the atmosphere and crazy ending. "A Night on the Town" is very similar to a contemporary childhood favorite of mine, namely "Adventures in Babysitting" (which was actually also known under the same title "A Night on the Town"), only this short features four yummy girls and a pack of wild dogs. The final story, "All-Night Operator", is the most known because it stars Marg Helgenberger of "CSI"-fame in one of her earliest roles. She's a switchboard operator in an apartment block and becomes the target of a maniacal stalker after refusing to transfer his calls to a famous actress. The tale is good, albeit derivative, and in this very brief episode Ken & Jim Wheat surely demonstrate they are capable of mounting suspense and generating a claustrophobic atmosphere.

The primary reason to watch "After Midnight" remains the demented wraparound tale, for sure. The classroom sequence is so incredibly surreal and bonkers that it literally has to be seen to be believed! Just imagine the lawsuits an act like this would spawn in real life! During the climax, the Wheat bros' scenario goes tremendously over the top, and it doesn't really fit in with the rest of the film. Who cares, though, as it's great fun!

Horror anthologies are largely a mixed bag. For every spectacular Tales From the Darkside or Creepshow there is a horrible (and often British) movie like Tales That Witness Madness to drag the genre down.

The first story is a mediocre haunted house tale that didn't really impress me.

The second was about four girls who end up in a bad neighborhood and terrorized by a gas station attendant and three killer dogs. I liked this story and felt that the characters were generally interesting and intelligent, bad choices aside.

The final story is about a telephone operator who is terrorized by a psychopathic stalker. This one was pretty good as well.

The wraparound story is interesting and generally more involved than most other anthologies. It is arguably better than the stories themselves, aside from the ending which I won't spoil.

In the pantheon of iconic horror anthologies, you have your "Creepshow," your "Tales From" both "Crypt" and "Darkside," and even a "Twilight Zone The Movie."

...and then you have "After Midnight," which in no way belongs to the same league as the aforementioned genre standards.

Really, "After Midnight" is the sort of thing you'd let slide to the bottom of your Netflix queue until one bored Friday or Saturday night. Within the first 20 minutes or so, your instincts prove to be true as this 3-part anthology has little to offer that its predecessors haven't already done in much bigger and bolder fashion. That's not to say that this film is completely worthless or without merit. There are some over-the-top, silly moments that -- whether intentionally or not -- will elicit a chuckle from anyone in the right mindset. It also boasts a pretty solid cast of "Hey, I know that guy!" and "Oh, that's the voice of Bobby Hill!" It's just so unfortunate that most of the 90 minutes spent on this film are devoid of any legitimate scares or creativity. Much like a drunken midnight snack, it comes and goes and leaves little to remember in its wake.

The first story, "The Old Dark House," focuses on a couple who find themselves stranded and seeking shelter in, well, an old dark house. Not much happens in this story until its hilariously stupid yet unforgettable conclusion. Nothing worth losing your head over, though. Next up, "A Night on the Town" finds a group of girls who just wanna have fun but instead have an unfortunate run-in with a crazy hobo and his three vicious dogs. The meatier of the three stories, this one doesn't do much to capitalize on its tense set-up. Its setting is creepy and all, but there's little else of interest here, though genres fans will enjoy spotting Penelope Sudrow of "A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors" and Judie Aronson of "Friday the 13th Pt. IV: The Final Chapter" in the pack. Finally, "All Night Messenger," a would- be tense game of cat and mouse between a phone operator (Marg Helgenberger) and some creep making threatening phone calls. This one almost hits the spot, but is undermined by sharing the identity of the stalker with the audience too early and too often. It also ends right when it starts getting good.

The three stories are surrounded by a wrap-around that, bad as it might be, feels a little more fleshed out than the rest. A nutty professor (Ramy Zada) teaches his students about the meaning of fear (or something). Even though their teacher reveals himself to be a bit suspect early on, the students seem fit to follow him home regardless. This of course culminates in a truly bizarre finale that begs a rewind.

Overall, "After Midnight" isn't a movie that can be recommended for anyone other than those who grew up in video store aisles and/or those who remember staying up way too late to watch horribly butchered slasher films on cable TV. It's terribly slow, at times dull, and if you watch it (ahem) after midnight, there's a good chance you'll fall asleep halfway through. Having said that, it's not without its charms, and while there isn't one single segment that sticks the landing, there are a few moments of inspired lunacy that make it worth sitting through at least once. Even still, there's nothing here that is worth losing sleep over.

Perturbed by the teacher in their psychology class, eventually he's forced to change his curriculum, and when he offers a special after- hours seminar that contains his original plans, students join at his house to indulge in telling scary stories to experience fear.

The Good Stor(ies): The Old Dark House-On their anniversary, a couple go for a midnight drive and get stranded on an abandoned road containing a house with a mysterious past. Eager for help, they ignore the warnings and go over, but when no one answers, they attempt to break in and get separated, forcing him to accept a deadly secret about the house's history. This here is a rather enjoyable entry, with a lot going for it. The atmosphere of the house, with the abandoned, sheet-covered furniture and shrubbery-lined walkways outside, give off a perfect Gothic atmospheric feel, combined with the back-story told to create a rather creepy setting. The mystery, with the bloodied necklace and off-screen call, works nicely with the key set-up scene, the collection of skulls covered in spiders and bugs as well as the flashlight-through-the- keyhole sequence, and then the final resolution is quite nice as it's a neat twist. If there was a flaw, it's not the fastest-moving story, but it's still enjoyable.

A Night on the Town-Trying to find a club, a group of friends drive around the city, and when they're low on gas, stop off at a gas station. When they meet the proprietor and his vicious dogs, they find themselves in an escalating series of encounters that makes them wish they hadn't stumbled upon. This is a slightly uneven effort, hampered really by the fact that there isn't a real effort to develop this one early on and simply making it run on the situation. They're lost in a strange part of town, the man they run into is somewhat slimy and perverted, but it never really does anything really interesting with those areas. Once it shifts into action, though, it's a lot more interesting and exciting from the different ambush attacks of the dogs through the town, to the deranged owner's extreme attempts to break into the car while it's on the run, this one is a lot of fun with its action set-ups and is an extremely better entry in the second half. Throw in an explosive finale, and it's a really redeeming effort.

Allison's Story-Arriving at their professor's house, the students proceed to tell their stories but one of them becomes concerned something is wrong. As the night continues, she begins to think those feelings are getting even stronger, and they eventually find the real reason why the events have been happening all night long. As the wrap- around, the main parts before the ending are just minor set-up pieces where the real fun is in the finale, which is a lot of fun. After the main stories, the ambush in the basement, complete with the flowing circle and eventual fire-filled room and slaughter, makes for a good time, and the interweaving with the stories told allows for a nightmarish feel in the manner done. It just takes a while to get there since that is the movie's logical end.

The Bad Stor(ies): All Night Operator-Returning to her apartment, a phone-line operator wants to forget about the ski accident that injured her and goes to work at a phone-call answering service. After getting several harassing phone calls from a deranged lunatic, she starts to realize that the caller is a little more unhinged than he let on, and thinking he's coming after her, she tries to defend herself. This here is the lone weak-link among the stories, simply through the exploits of two factors built into the main plot. This here has a one-note story that never really gives it a chance to go anywhere without a twist that is extremely illogical and unneeded, so it lumbers on mainly hitting all the expected notes until it's expected climax, driving out much of the suspense out of the premise. The other factor is the trapped-in-one- location nature, never allowing for there to be any suspense built up over the killer gradually coming closer to here, which combines with the first factor to lower it heavily. The finale chase through the building, with some clever hiding tactics and a couple suspenseful moments with her injury, is rather good, but it's too little too late.

Rated R: Violence and Language.

The Anthology movies are just OK. Not scary, gory or anything remarkable. Just Entertaining.

If you are looking for a 80's decent suspense B-movie this one is for you.

The movie itself drinks from Tales from The Crypt but the result is weaker. Acting is OK, script is predictable and the three stories are decent enough to entertain you for a while.

But don't get me wrong. You will forget this movie as soon as you turn off the TV. On the other hand, the 80's Nostalgia works here if you're around 35-40 yearss old. Good memories from our childhood here and the golden era of horror creativity/slasher, even here the glass can be half empty or half plenty. You choose.

Edward Derek is a psychology professor. He presents a course, Psychology of Fear, to his students and his methods are unorthodox, to say the least. When his methods are opposed by the school, he offers private seminars at his home. And so, on a dark and stormy night, a handful of students meet at his home for a session.

But 'After Midnight' is no slasher movie as expected. This is a horror anthology, with Edward and the students telling scary stories. The first story is about a couple who decides to take the long way home at night. When they are stranded with flat tires, they go to a nearby house where they saw a light on, hoping to find a phone. At first I thought the woman was far too brave considering their circumstances, but there's a twist...

The second story is about four girls looking for a place to go clubbing. Unfortunately they get lost and ends up at a garage where a guy is looking for a bit of fun of his own. They manage to escape his clutches, but his vicious dogs chase them and their fight for survival has only just begun...

The third story is about a night operator who receives weird calls from a guy. When he starts threatening her, her night becomes a nightmare. This story reminded me of 'When a stranger calls'.

And then Allison - who is part of the group of students - tells a story that involves them all. This final story then ends on a chilling note, and somehow reminded me of 'A Nightmare on Elm Street'. I enjoyed all the stories and the film in its entirety was a pleasure to watch. Classic 80s!

Fun teacher, making Person Wet him self in class lol, the teacher invites some if Collage Kids to his house after Midnight for some very scarystories.

There were decent stories , nothing really stood in those story, I did like the first story and found a little funny.

The second story. I didn't really like. I felt sorry for those dogs,

I already forgot what the 3rd story was!,

I hated the way the movie ended as really just started all over again.

I hate those ending

I give 5 out of 10

Being a big fan of 80's and 70's horror I knew I would like this movie and for the larger part I did. The non-anthology story, the wrap around story was easily far more interesting than any of the brief segments. It was no match for Creepshow 1 or 2 or similar really good anthologies.

The last 2 segments were good as this is where the movie picks up its thriller component, especially the last one with the Telephonist Alex being played by Marg Helenberger. The first segment was more horror and seemed too rushed production wise.

There were actually some pretty neat special fx at the end as the wrap around story concludes the movies narrative and its definitely worth the wait. This is the main problem I have with anthologies, its trying to rate mixed content especially in the case of After Midnight. The stories needed to be a lot better I think because the wrapper seemed much better.

This film begins with two college students by the names of "Allison" (Jillian McWhirter) and "Cheryl" (Pamela Adlon) about to begin a new course in psychology in which Allison has had a terrifying premonition about the night before. Sure enough, the professor "Edward Derrick" (Ramy Zada) begins his first day in a radically unprofessional manner which only heightens Allison's concerns. Not long after that Professor Derrick invites his students to his home and to further his lessons encourages each of the students to tell their most frightening story that they know. What follows are three separate tales which dovetail into a dramatic conclusion. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this film had a good premise but suffered under lackluster direction which ultimately resulted in a disorganized final product. Likewise, the ending could have used significant improvement as well. In short, this movie had some potential but failed to deliver and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly below average.

After Midnight is a horror anthology film which features three very different scary stories, all tying into an umbrella/wraparound plot revolving around a seemingly sinister professor teaching a class about fear.

We meet a university student named Allison and her friends who are taking this class on fear taught by Professor Derek From the start, we see he has very unique ways of teaching including bringing a revolver (which may or may not be loaded) to class in order to prove a point on the psychology of fear. He invites his students to his home to tell scary stories in order to understand and experience fear. Our lead character Allison and her friends show up to his place of course and the scary stories begin.

The first story is about woman and her husband celebrating his birthday. After dinner, their car gets stalled in the middle of nowhere and they are forced to walk up to a creepy and seemingly deserted old house for help. Once they get inside, they realize that they aren't alone. There is a very neat ending twist that wraps this story up pretty nicely.

The second story is about four underage girls out on the town for a night of clubbing. They end up getting lost in a bad side of town and run into a dangerous man with a pack of killer dogs. The young ladies will have to survive the night against the rabid beasts out for blood. Perhaps the weakest story, but good acting from the four women and a creepy location of a desolate bad area of the city makes it more than just watchable.

The final tale is one that I enjoyed a lot! It is about a female telephone voicemail operator named Alex who is working the overnight shift in a dark and desolate office building late at night. One of her clients is a soap opera actress who is being stalked by a crazed fan who constantly leaves voicemails to her through this telephone service. Once he murders the actress, his attention turns to Alex leading to a very creepy chase scene at the office tower. This one was so effective in my opinion. The location setting of the late night office high-rise was definitely a good one and gave it some serious horror atmosphere.

Overall, After Midnight is a pretty well done horror anthology film in my opinion. One that is VERY underrated and hardly mentioned in the horror community. I thought all of the stories were well written and creepy for the most part (especially the 3rd tale). Each scary story had a different horror sub-genre. One was a ghost story, the other a thriller, and finally a killer stalking a woman alone in an office tower. Something for everyone. The wraparound story with the professor is the one weakness, but the rest is executed well. Check this out for sure!

7/10

They say that a student is only as good as their teacher. If this is true, then we the viewer as student have failed miserably. This hilariously dated 1980's film on a college class facing fear straight-on is interwoven with poor 'horror stories' and is mediocre at best. Overacting, clichéd scenes, and 80's fashion fail this film. If you lived the 80's then this may be a fun albeit painful remembrance for you. If not, then you'll cringe not at the horror stories but of the hair and clothes of the actors. There's plenty of other anthology movies out there that far surpass this film. A nude scene here or there might have moved the film to the head of the class, but there is none of that, and without it - and more importantly real writing - this movie flunks for the term.

After Midnight (1989) is a bad 80's horror flick. It's one of those total cop-out movie. I hate these type of movies. Ramy Zada reminds me of Bruce Campbell's evil doppleganger for Evil Dead 3. I can't stand this picture. Lame movie based on even lamer "urban legends". Nothing to recommend about this flick. The movie's not even a "good" bad movie. It's just Bad, with no redeeming qualities, the film makers tried too hard to make a movie that's "scary". But in the end, all you wind with is a terrible film that has no meaning or substance.

You wanna be scared? I mean really scared? Then don't watch this movie! You can see scarier stuff on the P.A.X. network. For real.

No recommendations.