THE MIDNIGHT DISEASE (2010)

Streaming on Tubi!
Directed by Ryan Fowler & Robbie Ribspreader
Written by Robbie Ribspreader
Starring Lawrence Griffin, Mia Chiarella, Ann Pratten, Katie Foster, J. Mooy, Carleen Troy

This little low budgeteer surprised me at how effective it was. Though the acting is not fantastic and the effects are pretty rudimentary, Ryan Fowler and Robbie Ribspreader have put together a nice little literary horror film in THE MIDNIGHT DISEASE. It views like a distant cousin to STEPHEN KING’S THE DARK HALF in that it involves a writer suffering from Writer’s Block aka The Midnight Disease. THE MIDNIGHT DISEASE still stands up due to a strong script.

Comparisons to THE DARK HALF are imminent, though instead of a murder of crows haunting Timothy Hutton, we’ve got Lawrence Griffin doing a decent job as everyman Jack Jones, a writer in need of inspiration. When a mysterious package containing a jar of blood arrives on his doorstep, his life changes for the better when a vampire creature walks out of his closet, drinks the blood, and then sits down to write a chapter of his new novel for him. Soon, Jack needs more chapters, but he needs to supply the blood himself. When he gets sick of letting his own blood for the vampiric muse, he does what any man in need of a dead body does—he goes out and picks up hookers, of course.

Having just seen and reviewed the original LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, this film surprisingly follows the narrative of Corman’s classic as Jones flirts with stardom and having a relationship with a bouncy neighbor interested in his writing. Of course, murdering a shit-ton of prostitutes has its consequences and things don’t work out as planned.

As I said above, the real strength of this film lies in the script. There are interesting turns taken as well as a nice amount of humor peppered throughout. Griffin is likable as Jack, and though when he takes his dark path he starts to get his full Jack Torrence on, he still pulls it off. The film maintains a nice moralistic code focusing on the depths some will go to channel their artistic muse. Though it does borrow heavily from the works of King, having Jack’s bookshelf fully stocked with King books lets you know that it isn’t trying to be sneaky about it. THE MIDNIGHT DISEASE is a refreshing indie that uses familiar King subject matter, but does so well.

Check out the trailer here!!