GRIMMFEST 2020: Ten Minutes to Midnight
GRIMMFESTTen Minutes to Midnight is much more clever than it looks. On the surface, it looks like a cheap horror flick stuffed with gore and vampires and the lead from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2. And, sure enough, it is all that. But director Erik Bloomquist actually seems much more intent on telling a very human story underneath it all.
Caroline Williams plays late night radio host, Amy Marlowe, who has spent the past thirty years of her life running the Ten Minutes to Midnight show. However, this particular shift is different — a severe storm is raging outside, Amy has been bitten by a rabid bat and she comes into work to find she is being replaced by a younger, prettier host called Sienna (Nicole Kang).
Tensions rise between her and Sienna, as well as her lewd boss Robert (William Youmans). Whether it be the storm outside or the bite on her neck, Amy does not take the news of her forced retirement well and things escalate rapidly. What follows is a mashup of gruesome scenes — one memorable moment includes a boiling kettle — that draw on elements of both vampires and zombies. It’s all pretty standard and by-the-by, and almost feels like Bloomquist is ticking the boxes in order to get this certified as a cheesy, horror B-movie. But then the film takes a rather David Lynch-ian turn.
In a series of what can only be described as experimental visions, Amy looks back on her career. Ten Minutes to Midnight takes an introspective and reflective look on a woman who is angry that she’s getting old. It’s a very human thing and Bloomquist treats the topic with great respect — flashbacks show Amy’s first day on the job, wrapping comparisons and drawing parallels with Sienna’s first day, also. Fear overtakes anger as Amy suddenly realises that being replaced essentially means her life is over. Bloomquist takes her on a journey to confront her own buried fear of growing old and the very point of life itself.
And Caroline Williams absolutely nails it. When it comes to the horror and the gore, Williams plays it so delightfully tongue-in-cheek. But in the moments when Amy is dealing with her issues, Williams grapples those with dignity and strength. One stand out moment sees Amy on the phone to one of the last callers of her show and it’s here that Williams shows she knows how to act. The tears, the emotion, the delivery. All of it is perfect.
Ten Minutes to Midnight really is worth a watch. It has the dumb gore moments every horror flick needs, but also features a compelling storyline about growing old carried by a stellar Caroline Williams