10 Minutes to Midnight
Cast: Caroline Williams, Nicole Kang, William Youmans
Writers:Erik Bloomquist and Carson Bloomquist
Director: Erik Bloomquist
The last time I saw Caroline Williams as a DJ, she was fighting off a family of cannibals in Tobe Hooper’s classic meta satire The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2(click link to hear my review). Now her main problems besides some kiss ass intern taking over her late night radio show. Is that she may be slowly turning into a vampire.
Amy Marlowe(Caroline Williams) has been the host of the radio show Ten Minutes to Midnight for a long time. She has a pretty good working relationship with her staff including her sound engineer Aaron(Adam Weppler) and producer Bob(William Youmans). When a young intern named Sienna(Nicole Kang) is brought on as a possible replacement for Amy. Tensions already are very high and if you add in being bit by a huge freaking vampire bat. Things are going to fucking explode.
This is the debut feature length movie from filmmaking duo Erik and Carson Bloomquist. I really love how they kept certain elements pretty vague from the viewers. As soon as I saw the holes in Amy’s neck, I automatically assumed that this would follow other stories featuring vampires and I’m glad it steered away from the usual tropes. The directors seem to have fun knowing that audiences are coming in expecting one thing, and then slowly pulling the rug out underneath you. When I saw the holes in Amy’s neck I assumed she was going to bite someone(which she does) and then that person is going to infect another and so forth. Our hero fights to become the monster she is but will fight to make sure the person she infected won’t become an even greater threat. I’m glad the movie doesn’t go that route and there are some great moments where I begin to doubt the sanity of our lead protagonist. Only a few people even mention the bite marks on her neck at all. Were they actual there or even the people she was talking to. After Amy does bit someone, she begins to hallucinate, but maybe those visions were in her head way before than. I don’t know but it makes for a very interesting watch.
The only issue is that when you do pull the rug out from the audience, you’re going to need to give us a parachute to help guide us back, otherwise the landing is going to be a bit rocky. I ended up getting really lost in the last ten minutes of the movie and maybe that’s the point , I don’t know. What was with the office party featuring random guests and all of the main staff switching roles. The movie also does this time loop premise near the end that wasn’t explained well to me but maybe in another viewing. I can pick up on those clues more clearly.
I will give kudos to all of the cast in this movie who make their characters all very believable. William Youmans as Bob is a great role. He is this sleaze ball who does inappropriate things but he does treat his staff well. I can understand how some can have issues with him hitting on a younger girl like Sienna but he never forces himself on anyone . I’m not saying his actions should be praised. I’m just glad that the women in this don’t act like victims around him. Both Nicole Kang and Caroline Wiliams have great scenes together and I want to see them team up again for an action movie.
I have only seen Caroline Williams in this, Contracted, TCM 2, and Stepfather 2 and she is very good in this. There is a scene when Amy calls out to help from her listener that is very effective. Amy comes to the realization that may not survive the night and then goes into this monologue about how your time on this earth is getting loser to your own ten minutes to midnight. I’m over forty and this hit hard because I have had friends of mine who passed away at very young ages and there is so much I want to accomplish before I leave this earth and I may never have the chance. It’s a rough thing for anyone to realize that.
10 Minutes to Midnight was a pretty solid watch expect for the last 10 minutes for me. I can see that Erik and Carson Bloomquist have a love of 80’s horror films and look forward to watching a movie of theirs that is set in that decade.
*** out of 5
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