Midnight Son (18)

There are times when I find the marketing departments behind movies fascinating.

Take the poster for the award-laden Midnight Son (three awards at film festivals you haven't heard of), which is "from" the director of The Blair Witch Project (Eduardo Sanchez is one of the executive producers).

Apparently, it's "Martin meets Let The Right One In".

It isn't.

Apparently, going by the bite marks on the girl's neck, it's about a vampire who feeds off an attractive female victim.

It isn't.

What it is, is a rather fine, low-budget horror flick that eschews vampiric-convention and burrows it's way in to deliver a breath of fresh air to a world of Twilight and Vampire Diaries.

Gone is the glossy portrayal of tortured blood-suckers with feelings, and instead we return to a world of gritty realism, where crosses and garlic are for decoration and garnish.

At the centre of the whole thing is Jacob (Zak Kilberg), a young man who has become isolated from the world through a skin condition which means he literally burns in sunlight. His body is changing, slowly becoming unable to process 'normal' food. Then Jacob discovers blood is the only thing that keeps the hunger at bay.

Into his life stumbles Mary (the sublime Maya Parish), herself living a seemingly isolated existence.
Both are fragile, somewhat broken, and in need of someone else in their lives.

At the heart of Midnight Son is the love story between Jacob and Mary, a relationship that goes through all the usual ups and downs - discovering she does drugs, discovering he needs blood to survive, discovering she knows how to take his gift for painting to a wider audience, discovering where his dealer is getting the blood from... All pretty standard stuff, you know.

Zak Kilberg as Jacob

What makes the film work so well are these two central performances, and the measured direction from first-timer Scott Leberecht. Kilberg captures Jacob's detachment from the world perfectly, while Leberecht manages to make the viewer become the voyeur, watching through Jacob as his whole world changes. Parish, meanwhile, shines as theerrant lollipop and ciggies salesgirl who gets drawn into a very twisted world. Her performance is captivating, forcing you to care for someone you'd normally work hard to avoid.

The film is slow-paced, helping to both build the tension and again mirror Jacob's view of the world. Initially I was actually put off by the cold detachment of the film, but it didn't take long to settle in and embrace it.

Comparisons with Let The Right One In are not too wide of the mark, either. While offering its own take on the folklore, it shares that feeling of emptiness - in both the world and the lives of those living in it - mixed with the closeness felt by those who discover they need each other.

Maya Parish as Mary

I'll be honest here and say at the end of the film, while I knew I'd enjoyed it, I couldn't have told you why. But it has stayed with me, I can still picture moments of Jacob and Mary's lives, I can feel it lodged under my skin.

It's only had a limited cinema run (I was lucky to catch it), so be sure to pick up the DVD when it comes out on Feb 11. You'll want to watch it more than once.