Anonymous Andy (Minus_The_Beer) 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.

callanvass (Allison's Story) It really is a shame that After Midnight could not follow up to such a promising beginning with the wraparound story. I found the opening to be riveting and downright chilling. The "Psychology" of fear class (Creepily played by Ramy Zada) was very inventive and managed to grip me by the balls. Let's just say it had a scene that involves a gun, and I did NOT expect it. This would NEVER happen in a movie today, I don't think, especially for what was revealed seconds after the stunt. I truly thought I was in for one of those underrated gems. Sadly, once the stories began, it went awry and I was thoroughly disappointed. I'll review the stories for you down belowThe first story is called "The Old Dark House" and stars nobody in particular special. A couple gets stranded on a road that goes to nowhere because of a flat tire. They decide to enter the premises for help. Unfortunately for them…it turns out to be haunted. It's a rather dumb story, that tries to be more light hearted and amusing than anything else, but it wound up annoying me when all is said and done. It all turns out to be some dumb prank. The husband (unbeknownstly) is in store for a surprise party, but they take it too far, and the husband inadvertently decapitates his wife¾*The second story is called "A night on The Town" It involves four pretty young girls who unwisely run out of gas in the ghetto area. The story isn't actually that bad, and is probably my favorite out of all of them. It certainly doesn't hurt that you get to look at the drop dead gorgeous Judie Aronson either. It has some suspenseful dog chase sequences, and I dug how it was presented. I did feel the ending was a tad anti climatic though. **1/2The Third story is called "All Night Operator" It starts the beautiful Marg Helgenberger from CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. She makes for a very effective lead, but the story is average at best. The caller is obnoxious. Just get over it already, and get laid! The constant calling got a bit redundant by the end, and once again. The payoff was very lame**Also, what the hell was with the ending of the film? That was some really convoluted stuff…Final Thoughts: It wasn't terrible, just highly disappointing after such a great wraparound story. I was gonna bump this up to 5.0, but it doesn't quite deserve that. The stories are mostly mediocre, aside from "Night on The Town" and the ending is ludicrously silly. You can do much better with anthologies4.8/10

Woodyanders Anthology fright flicks experienced a brief, but welcome resurgence in the mid 80's up until the early 90's, as evidenced by the lovably chintzy "Creepshow 2," the genuinely disturbing "The Offspring," the wonderfully offbeat horror-Western favorite "Grim Prairie Tales," the enthusiastically gruesome indie effort "Campfire Tales," and this well-done sleeper.A creepy college professor (a very intense Ramy Zada) and several of his students (which include "Pumpkinhead" victim Kerry Remsen, who meets a similar ill fate here) tell each other a trio of urban legend-style terror tales throughout the course of your standard dark and stormy evening. First and most ironic vignette, "The Old Dark House" - Young married couple Marc McClure (Jimmy Olsen in the "Superman" movies) and Nadine ("Critters") Van Der Velde are forced to spend a night in a spooky, rundown old mansion after their car breaks down. Second and most unintentionally sidesplitting story, "A Night on the Town" - A quartet of screaming, vacuous, wholly deserving bimbettes ("American Ninja" 's Judi Aronson among 'em) are terrorized by a demented homeless lunatic (outrageously overplayed to the sneering fruitbag hilt by the late, great Luis Contreras, who portrayed nasty Hispanic villains in such action items as "Stand Alone," "Extreme Prejudice," "Walking the Edge," and "Dollman") and his pack of vicious wild dogs. Third and best yarn, "All Night Operator" - This taut, gripping little corker features a bang-up performance by the ever-lovely and personable Marg Helgenberger as Alex, a sexy, resourceful receptionist who receives menacing phone calls from and, naturally, eventually gets stalked by some homicidal madman (a finely flipped-out freako turn by Alan Rosenberg).Writers/directors Jim and Ken Wheat, who previously made the excellent, underrated Hitchcockian suspense thriller pip "Lies" and penned such goodies as the solid slasher picture "Silent Scream" and the fantastic sci-fi/horror knockout "Pitch Black," do a typically up to snuff job with this extremely fun, sometimes thrilling and always entertaining omnibus affair: the brisk, steady pace never falters for a minute, the acting is uniformly good, a suitably eerie atmosphere pervades throughout, each anecdote leads to a reasonably frightening conclusion (the climax to the first tale is especially effective), and the wacky, nightmarish final may be pretty silly, but it still works in a goofily over-the-top hokey carnival funhouse sort of way. Sure, it's no trend-setting, genre-bending innovative masterpiece, but "After Midnight" nonetheless doesn't deserve its current obscure status and certainly makes for a nice, perfectly pleasing late night with the lights out and the shades drawn horror movie viewing experience.

insomniac_rod "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.