After Midnight

The balance that After Midnight strikes between a two-hander and a monster story warrants a Valentine's Day weekend look, and maybe even a scary conversation.

as Hank's different anniversary memories fall into place, building a mosaic-like picture of a long-term, loving relationship and its gradual breakdown,... the intrusive, ever-returning monster proves a multivalent symbol

A jerry-rigged contraption of variably interesting, likable and skillful elements that only add up to one rather arbitrary goof.

While it's ostensibly about a man fending off a horrific beast, the movie's much more concerned with long flashbacks to the couple's happy days together and with asking why this fella never made an honest woman of his girl.

By the end of "After Midnight," he and the audience both may wonder whether the bogeyman and true love are equally mythical.

The film derails slowly but surely.

In short, presenting After Midnight as a horror film is misleading – it will be much more enjoyable going in knowing that it will lean on a romantic drama storyline than expecting scares.

You might not have heard of names like Garnder, Stella, Grant, Zebrowski, and Benson just yet, but have faith that their thoughtful, imaginative extraordinary mash-up movie will soon change that.

While it strains to fill its runtime, the pitch perfect ending makes up for everything.

A stalwart of modern horror and genre filmmaking, Gardner should be the name anyone looking to cast unconventional rom-coms seeks out when the pandemic is a thing of the past.