MIDNIGHT SKATER

Produced by Andy Campbell
Directed by Luke Campbell
Written by Andy Campbell, Luke Campbell, and Stacy Silvers
Edited by Andy Campbell and Luke Campbell
Director of Photography - Luke Campbell

Pete - Luke Campbell
Danny - Andy Campbell
Alvin - Ezra Haidet
Richard - Cory Maidens
Annie - Roza Haidet

Recently, I was chatting with DEAD LIFE director Bill Schotten about the bland Tempe Video release THE BONE SETTER, and the comparison was made to an episode of Scooby-Doo. When I originally started writing my review for Speed Freak Productions' MIDNIGHT SKATER, before my computer harddrive became corrupted and I lost everything, I compared the movie to Scooby-Doo as well. The difference being that MIDNIGHT SKATER is micro-budget Scooby done right. Where THE BONE SETTER was boring, formulaic tripe, MIDNIGHT SKATER thrives off a state of blissful punk rock anarchy.

Produced and Directed by brothers Andy and Luke Campbell during their early years at Kent State University, MIDNIGHT SKATER deal with that favorite subject of micro-cinema Scorsese's, zombies. What sets this one apart from the 999 other no-budget zombie flicks released in the last 12 months is that this one is good...or at least entertaining.

At the recent Baltimore, MD horror convention HorrorFind, I found myself discussing MIDNIGHT SKATER with a number of conventiongoers, including my friend literary critic Mark Seiber, who echoed else's sentiments, "it wasn't great, it was fun." Sieber is a long time supporter and proponent of underground cinema, but like me, he's grown dismayed at the recent crop of camcorder epics, most of which we both turn off early on. Not only did Mark sit through MIDNIGHT SKATER in it's entirety, but he did it in one sitting. If you ever met Mark you would know just how big an accomplishment this is.

Remember, word of mouth is the best selling point, and MIDNIGHT SKATER is a movie people remember enough to talk about months later with a smile on their faces. While the "zombies a go-go" plot is derivative, the Campbell brothers make it fresh and fun by blending the "golly gee" charm of 1960's Frankie and Annette beach party pictures, the gore of RE-ANIMATOR, and the bawdy humor of the AMERICAN PIE series. It's the kitchen sink approach to comedy. If you throw enough jokes at the audience, eventually everyone finds something to laugh at. And as I told Andy Campbell at HorrorFind, I laughed my ass off at MIDNIGHT SKATER.

The Midnight Skater himself is one of the movie's best running gags. Not a primary player, he's the impetus for much the primary cast's motivation. Like every young puck brimming with Kent State pride, the Scooby Gang (led by Luke Campbell) set out to unmask the Midnight Skater and force him to pay for all the graffiti he's spray painted across the campus. When was the last time you met any punks with school pride, let along school pride for a college that will forever wear that historical graffiti of the pivotal 1960's moment when The National Guard opened fire upon the student body?

For that matter, where the heck is The National Guard when you need them? Does a black man's education really outweigh a zombie plague? Or does The Guard only come out if black zombies are involved? These are just some of the question that went through my head as MIDNIGHT SKATER played out. It's not an overtly political film, but given the historical nature of the location, the movie gains a political air by default. Did either of the Campbell brothers set out to make a political statement with their zombie film? 30 years later George Romero still says "no" when asked a similar question regarding the Vietnam undertones of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD.

I think, more importantly, the Campbell's set out to entertain. As I said above, MIDNIGHT SKATER is the kitchen sink approach to moviemaking. One moment it's a serial killer flick, the next it's a drugs-gone-bad flick. There are zombies and sex, but the movie's core is a group of friends who just want to get to the bottom of the mystery.

Friendship is the heart and soul that drives the picture. Some bonds are loose (the drug dealers and their clientele), while some are tight (the two who grew up as brothers and long to become lovers). Regardless of the natures of the relationship, be it romantic or business-like, all the characters are intertwined in a Paul Thomas Anderson sort of way. And they all share a sense of Kent State comradery. The characters are so likeable that by the end of the movie you want to be part of the gang.

The DVD release from Tempe doesn't come close to some of the other jam-packed releases from Tempe in the past, but it does contain a cast and crew commentary, outtakes, deleted scenes with introduction by the filmmakers, and a trailer vault of other Speed Freak productions.

Speed Freak Productions
Tempe Video