Writer/director Scott Leberecht did pretty well for his first feature-length movie. Indeed, Midnight Son may just be the next big cult classic.
The movie stars Zak Kilberg as Jacob, a young man born with a rare skin disorder that prevents him from being in the sun.
After he meets and falls in love with cokehead bartender Mary (Maya Parish), he slowly realizes he isn’t all that normal; he develops an insatiable hunger that can only be appeased by blood.
Okay, so what we have here is a vampire movie. All the elements are present: suspense, love, humour, and morals. With this in mind, it’s not the average vampire movie. None of the myths you see in other vampire films are present, apart from the sun being deadly. This is a refreshing deviation from the norm.
Leberecht manages to keep a steady tone of suspense to this movie. The effects are low-budget, and at times laughable, yet it all works.
Kilberg is excellent as the naïve vampire. His morale struggle is obvious and consistent. It’s easy to sympathize and to want things to work out for him. He comes across as more of a junkie than a cursed soul; this makes the film stand on its own.
The antagonist in this film is Marcus (Jo D. Jonz). His character goes from amiable to daunting as the plot develops. In other words, Jonz is awesome as the bad guy.
The best part of this whole movie? It’s not Twilight.
Midnight Son plays again 7 pm Thursday at the Vic Theatre.