It Came From The Man Cave!: Ghouls just want to have fun!

Ghouls just want to have fun!

Director: Jack Bender

Writer: William Bleich

Stars:

Lee Montgomery

Shari Belafonte

LeVar Burt

Peter DeLuise

Joanna Lee

Phil, Melissa, Mitch, Mary, and Vinnie are high school friends, who unwittingly raise the dead on Halloween night. Once the dead have returned, Pitchford Cove will never be the same again....or will it?

For years now during the Countdown to Halloween I have read about The Midnight Hour so this year I made it a point to track it down. Sadly it was pretty easy to find thanks to YouTube once again. And after viewing The Midnight Hour I immediately kicked my self for not watching this one sooner!

What is not to love about this movie, young 80's up and coming stars, silly small town plot that works if you live in a small town (duh), fun Halloween costumes, witches, vampire zombies and a stellar soundtrack! This movie is so much fun why does it get a bad rap? The film also marks Macaulay Culkin's first screen role as an uncredited trick-or-treater yet I could not tell you who he was.

Director Jack Bender was no stranger to TV movies like High School USA staring Chrispin Glover to a catalog of 29 other made for TV movies from 1980 until now. Bender has also worked on many great TV shows starting his career with Eight is Enough, 90210, all the way to Game of Thrones. But good old Jack could never break away from the small screen with only two theatrical releases Childs Play 3 and Lone Justice 2. But when it comes to the small screen he is pure gold just like The Midnight Hour.

It is also fun to point out William Bleich the writer has given us some great spooky Halloween style flicks to look back on as well. Starting his career with 1980's the Hearse to 1989's Chain Letter and one of my favorite Christmas TV movies Dolly Parton's A Smoky Mountian Christmas. The last thing Bleich has worked on was Poltergeist: The Legacy, in 1986 he was nominated for the Edgar award for best television feature or miniseries Deadly Messages. This man knows his stuff.

Let's talk about this amazing group of actors that brought this movie to life. Some will recognize Lee Montgomery from his starring role in 1972's Ben or maybe the 1985 Sarah Jessica Park's Girls Just Want to Have Fun for me tho it was Growing Pains, With Stephen and Elyse away for the weekend, Alex hosts a wild party and worries over Mallory going off with one of his womanizing friends. Montgomery is our star of The Midnight Hour and he does a fantastic job.

Shari Belafonte is beautiful as the main Witch and even gives us a little homage to Michael Jackson with a dance number even sung by her, "Get Dead" and why have I not put Get Dead on any of my Halloween mixtapes yet!

Oh, 21 Jump Steet how we thank you for all those heartthrobs that graced Tiger Beat Magazine we get Peter DeLuise has the dumb jock. All through this heartthrob has stepped behind the camera more working for the Disney Channel as well as the Hallmark Channel even giving us a Halloween love story Harvest Moon from 2015 that still airs this time of the year.

But by far my favorite actor in Midnight Hour has to be Jonna Lee as a stunning 50's era cheerleader. Lee can be seen in big screen hits Chained Heat with Linda Blair and one of my favorites Quarterback Princess with Helen Hunt and her big role Making the Grade with Judd Nelson. I do not know what it was but she played the innocent role so well as she was searching for love. I just could not take my eyes off of her as she lit up the screen. Sadly Lee has left acting to become an artist I sure would have loved to see more of her.

This movie also has some great cameos from legends like Dick Van Patten, Kevin McCarthy, Cindy Morgan, Mark Blankfield, and Kurtwood Smith. So what is not to love about this movie? And how about the soundtrack In the Midnight Hour by Wilson Pickett, Sea of Love with Del Shannon, and Bad Moon Rising by CCR just to name a few. And the soundtrack comes to life thanks to Wolfman Jack as our radio DJ.

The special effects are phenomenal being this is a made for TV special. Nothing really over the top or scary but simple make-up works bringing the many ghouls and vampires to life. And the background visuals really pop to life with much time and effort spent making sure every little detail is there.

If you are an 80's kid like myself or even a 70's kid you owe it to yourself to watch this Halloween treat. I loved the story it was simple but effective with a cast that gets along so well you really feel like your part of the gang. A dream of a soundtrack keeps the pace flowing and of course an 80's style love story. I never lost interest in the story. To the critics that pan this movie you are obviously part of a new generation of fast-paced action games and forget what it is like to have a story that mixes comedy with horror and romance. So slow donw and enjoy life around you!

The Midnight Hour deserves a proper DVD or Blu-Ray release so we can add this to our let's watch a Halloween Movie Collection!!!! I will be revisiting this movie from now on as long as it finds its home on those streaming sites or if I can come up with $235 bucks for an out of print DVD.

Midnight Hour I give you....