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TEN MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT (2020)
Ten Minutes to Midnight image

CAST
CAROLINE WILLIAMS
NICOLE KANG
NICHOLAS TUCCI
ADAM WEPPLER
WILLIAM YOUMANS

WRITTEN BY
CARSON BLOOMQUIST
ERIK BLOOMQUIST

PRODUCED BY
CARSON BLOOMQUIST
ERIK BLOOMQUIST
ADAM WEPPLER

DIRECTED BY
ERIK BLOOMQUIST

GENRE
DRAMA
FANTASY
HORROR

RATED
AUS:NA
UK:18
USA:NA

RUNNING TIME
73 MIN

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ten Minutes to Midnight image

Caroline Williams re-establishes her standing as a horror queen in Ten Minutes to Midnight, a surreal and blood curling vampire tale in which the looming spectre of time is the monster.

One day, you will wake up and realise you are 40. 50. 60. Perhaps more. The question is always the same: where did the years go? What was once a life of promise and ambition became just another cog in the wheel of existence. Legacy is replaced with regret, and from regret comes bitterness.

For veteran late-night radio host Amy Marlowe (Caroline Williams) 30 years in the booth have gone by in a flash. Once the young hot prospect, her time in an industry that craves new blood is coming to a close. To make matters worst her last night behind the mic is during one of the worst storms of the year, and her potential young hot replacement Sienna (Nicole Kang) waits to fill her soon to be vacant seat. Oh, and she was bitten on the neck by a bat.

Indeed, Ten Minutes to Midnight is a tale about vampirism and its three core tenants: time, death, and transition. Directed and written by Erik Bloomquist (Long Lost), it is a film that messes with the vampire movie sub-genre, while savouring many of its concepts as well.

There is a line in the movie about how “the obituaries are always found near the funny papers”, and in many ways it’s a line that describes Ten Minutes to Midnight: a film that deals with serious issues and bloody violence, but does so with a high entertainment factor that enhances both the themes, and stakes (pun intended) at play.

Caroline Williams is at her ferocious best portraying a character who resents a life in which sacrifice and humiliation was paid, and is driven to madness by the transition thrust upon her, doing so with emotions palpable and a physicality that is entertaining to watch. Bloomquist indeed asks Williams to “go there” on numerous occasions, and she obliges in gross out scenes shocking and unique, yet never to the point of cheap exploitation.

Countering the scary and batshit crazy forays into violence are segues into the surreal, that are done with style and depth. Bloomquist has something to say here with moments that resemble A Christmas Carol meets Nosferatu, and is confident in his abilities as a filmmaker and storyteller to pull them off, which he does.

 

****

 

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Ten Minutes to Midnight image Long Lost image

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