Critic Reviews

• Rich Cline, Contactmusic.com

  Filmmaker Leberecht takes an intriguingly askance approach to the vampire genre with this dark, romantic horror film, but after after a promising set-up seems unsure where to go from there.

• Philip French, Observer [UK]

  It's a frightening story, plausibly developed within a relatively brief running time, and the central love between the male protagonist increasingly addicted to blood and a girl addicted to cocaine is oddly moving.

• Greg Klymkiw, Electric Sheep

  Visually and narratively, Midnight Son leads us confidently into territory we almost never see, but even when things start to feel familiar, Leberecht throws us a curve ball ...

• Eddie Harrison, The List

  It might not be offering anything new to the lore of the horror film, but Midnight Son is a confident, minor work that hardcore admirers of the True Blood/Twilight cycle will want to seek out.

• Robbie Collin, Daily Telegraph

  Horror films driven by ideas are thin on the ground, but behind the gory façade of Scott Leberecht's debut feature there ticks some cleverly assembled clockwork.

• Allan Hunter, Daily Express

  A thoughtful tale that is more a twisted romance than a typical shocker.

• Derek Malcolm, This is London

  Better made and imagined than most [horror films].

• Andrew Pulver, Guardian [UK]

  Yet another tortured-emo vampire movie, but there's an attempt to inject a dose of plausible realism into proceedings, rather than Twilight's leaden coffee-table stylings.

• Antonia Quirke, Financial Times

  The film plugs its holes with a curdled blankness.

• Kim Newman, Empire Magazine

  A bloody and well-acted vampire curio.

• Philip Kemp, Total Film

  Leberecht plays games with vampire lore, but skirts around it with a subtlety and delicacy that lends his film emotional depths rare in low-budget horror.

• Matt Donato, We Got This Covered

  Scott Leberecht should be commended for his ability to turn a low budget independent flick into somewhat of a surprise success, and Zak Kilberg deserves to be recognized for what should be his breakout performance.

• Witney Seibold, CraveOnline

  For a vampire romance, "Midnight Son" is actually interesting. And in a world where all vampire romances are lost in the smoky teenage death fantasies of Stephanie Meyer, that's a huge relief.

• Staci Layne Wilson, Horror.com

  Very well-acted, beautifully shot, and most of all: deftly directed, Midnight Son is the perfect quiet, slow-boil existential chiller to watch alone at night, quiet and in a contemplative mood.

• Steve "Uncle Creepy" Barton, Dread Central

  Leberecht and company have delivered to us a smart, intense, and unpredictable film that is tons of ghoulish fun from beginning to end.

• Anton Bitel, Little White Lies

  gives the tropes of the undead a moodily modern revamp.

• Scott Weinberg, FEARnet

  There are still good vampire movies being made. Like this one.

• Shaun Munro, What Culture

  Delivers a compelling, unique spin on the vampire mythos despite a subterranean budget. Hopefully Leberecht will attract plenty of attention as a result.

• Eugene Novikov, Film Blather

  More suspenseful and involving than most films with 200 times its budget, it's beautifully directed, and features an astonishing performance by an extravagantly talented unknown named Zak Kilberg.

• Simon Foster, sbs.com.au

  Driven by star-in-the-making lead Zak Kilberg...Midnight Son is a sad, scary, superb piece of low-budget filmmaking.

Read all 20 critic reviews