John A. Russo follows up his partnership with George Romero with a backwoods massacre in MIDNIGHT, on Blu-ray from Severin Films.

When her drunken cop stepfather Burt (Lawrence Tierney, THE PROWLER) tries to force himself on her, Nancy (Melanie Verlin, MONKEY SHINES) packs a bag and takes to the road to hitchhike to her sister’s place in California. She gets picked up by college students Tom (John Hall, SURF NAZIS MUST DIE) and Hank (Charles Jackson) who are on their way to Ft. Lauderdale for spring break. As they make their way through the countryside, they encounter racist, unfriendly locals and are warned about mysterious disappearances and murders by a reverend (Bob Johnson, the MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE tape recorder voice) and his daughter (LaChele Carl, BATMAN) who are subsequently murdered. When they shoplift at a local grocery store, they outrace the cops by turning off into the backwoods. Despite the sighting of a creepy hillbilly seemingly carrying a corpse in a sheet, they decide it would be the ideal secluded spot to camp for the night only to fall into the clutches of a family of backwoods Satanists including a trio of mad brothers (MARTIN'S John Amplas, KNIGHTRIDERS' Greg Besnak, David Marchck), their imperious sister Cynthia (Robin Walsh), and the corpse of mother who advises them in all matters Satanic from beyond the grave.

Although made in the early 1980s, MIDNIGHT has a very 1970s vibe its washed-out photography, dissonant synth suspense cues, and the sub-TEXAS CHAINSAW captivity and crazy family scenario. The infectious theme song “Midnight Again” also sounds very seventies AM radio but it actually has thematic significance that becomes evident the more it plays on the soundtrack. The pacing drags a little and the finale is a bit limp, but it is interesting that Russo does not definitively answer whether the Satanists’ powers are real or if they are just a bunch of wackos screwed up by their mother (Doris Hackney) who is seen in the opening pre-credits sequence instructing her then-young children on sacrificing “demons” disguised as humans. Nancy's own fear-based religious faith seems equally questionable, especially since her only chance of rescue seems to be her lecherous stepfather who has told her mother that she is promiscuous and has thrown herself at him.

The production was primarily the work of Russo (as writer/director) and Paul McCollough as director of photography, editor, still photographer, and composer (McCollough also composed the score for Tom Savini's 1990 NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD remake). Bill Hinzman (NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD’s cemetery ghoul) is credited as another still photographer. Casting director Raymond Laine – who starred in George Romero’s THERE’S ALWAYS VANILLA and had a prominent supporting role in his SEASON OF THE WITCH – is credited alongside Russo, Besnak, and Tom Savini (FRIDAY THE 13TH) with special effects for the climax. Tierney became involved in the low-budget production through mostly hand-off producer Sam Sherman of exploitation great Independent-International Pictures Corporation (Tierney had previously been featured in I-I’s color reshoot framing footage for EXORCISM AT MIDNIGHT, the 1980 reworking of the 1966 British black and white voodoo flick NAKED EVIL). Verlin later appeared Russo’s lesser-known sequel MIDNIGHT 2 along with most of the first film’s cast as “archival footage". The film was recently remade by character actor turned director Gary Lee Vincent but it has not been released yet.

Released theatrically by Sam Sherman's Independent-International first as MIDNIGHT and then as THE BACKWOODS MASSACRE, MIDNIGHT was widely available on VHS due to a deal with Vidmark (later Trimark then Live then Artisan then Lionsgate). The same video master was utilized by Lionsgate for their 2005 DVD. For their 2011 special edition, U.K. distributor Arrow Video promised a "brand new transfer in the original full frame 1.33:1 aspect ratio" but what they delivered was a soft NTSC-converted aged video master to accompany some nice supplements. Severin's 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.66:1 widescreen Blu-ray come from a new 4K restoration from the original 35mm camera negative. While the old master looked washed out during the daytime exteriors, what we see here is a more moody overcast look to the skies, some atmosphere in the more visible textures of the rural settings, while the interiors still look rather cheap as do the make-up effects unfortunately. The original mono mix is presented here in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 stereo remixes that are rather conservative in their rechanneling (the score certainly does not have the spread of the stereo soundtrack release). Optional English SDH subtitles are also provided.

Extras must have been tinkered with to the last minute because an optional audio track is credited with featuring isolated score selections and an audio interview with composer Mike Mazzei by Red Shirt Pictures' Michael Felsher for the first fifty-minutes of the track. What is not mentioned anywhere on the disc or cover is that after the soundtrack cues is a thirty minute interview with actor Hall (the soundtrack reverts to the stereo mix at roughly eighty-seven minutes). In the short Mazzei interview, he discusses the group he formed with his family, their attempts to get into pop, country music, and then Catholic music with no interest in doing movie soundtracks. He notes that they had some trepidation about doing music for a film about Satanism but were placated by the heroine's religious faith and good winning out in the end. The soundtrack heard divorced from the images and in stereo is better than the film deserves, including the earworm theme song. In the interview with Hall – who is now a religious talk radio show host – he discusses his stage training and how the Pittsburgh stage, TV, and film scene did seem to encourage learning all sides of their crafts, noting that he had broken his leg nine months before the film and had only been working as a stage manager in plays when he was not on the set. He recalls Russo opening the set to the cast and crew even when they were not needed, and getting to observe Amplas and Verlin, both of whom he admired.

In "Making MIDNIGHT" (22:44), Russo notes that his partnership with Romero fell apart due to Rudy Ricci's business practices, yet he formed a new company with him and Russell Streiner to make THE LIBERATION OF CHERRY JANKOWSKI which later became THE BOOBY HATCH, and how partnering with Sherman on MIDNIGHT doubled his proposed $70,000 budget. He discusses the casting and the not always constructive contributions of Laine and McCollough, and the original 72 minute cut with a downbeat ending that was changed at Sherman's behest along with some beefed-up violence. He recalls that Vidmark wanted THE MAJORETTES which they sold to Vestron but they sold MIDNIGHT to Vidmark who made substantially more money than they paid out. Of the religious aspect of the film, he notes that the protagonist's religious faith is just as questionable as that of the Satanists.