The Midnight Man-- My take on the movie with spoilers!!!

Plot Summary: A group of teens summon the Midnight Man to haunt them

There wasn't a lot going on in the 1950s. The lack of video games, thrilling TV shows, movies and adventure sports caused people to experience utter boredom to the extent they did anything they could to feel some modicum of excitement.

So what did they do?

Contact ghosts and demons.

The Ouija board started to get popular because the people who used them thought they could contact their dead loved ones.

That, I can sort of get.

What I can't get is people purposely contacting a demon to chase them around.

The Midnight Man is about a creepy game 'The Midnight Game' that is basically about calling a creepy demon to your house, then let it feed and manifest your fears. After that, for three hours and thirty-three minutes, you must dodge him, keep your candle lit or stand in a circle of salt.

I cannot imagine why people would want to play this weird game and put their lives at risk, but in the 1950s people did. Then later on when it is found in an attic, two teens decide to play it again. It's the twenty-first century and there are video games to play, even on the phone.

But nope, two teens find an old box of candles and a list of names with drops of blood by the side and decide they want to play the games as well. But they don't want to read the rules beforehand or check if the rule sheet contains all the rules.

That they do after the Midnight Man is summoned.

Only then do they realize the last part of the rule sheet is torn off.

The other creepy part is the grandmother (the talented Lin Shaye) who brings on more scares than the Midnight Man. Seriously, he speaks like Jigsaw, behaves like Chucky and looks like a mutated turtle in a hood.

The grandmother screams "You opened the game!" and you feel, oh, she did not want that to happen to her grandchild.

The Midnight Man Spoiler alert!

She did want that to happen.

Turns out when she played the game as a kid, she being the only survivor is recruited by the Midnight Man to entice more people to play the game. If she doesn't, she would be killed as well.

However, over the years, she begins to enjoy it so much even as she tricks her own daughter and granddaughter to play the game.

Her daughter kills herself while the granddaughter is left to take care of her grandmother who is diagnosed with dementia.

What she doesn't know is that her Nanna is actually a twisted old lady in cahoots with the Midnight Man.

She and her friend quickly become targets of the demon who shows them fears they didn't even know they had.

Instead of waiting out the three hours in a salt circle, they invite another friend who cannot wait to be part of the game.

Of course, she is the first one killed because the Midnight Man hates rules and is a mean cheater.

The two still try to outwit the Midnight Man and for a minute I thought they would use the grandmother's hand mirror to advantage because it is the only way they could see the Midnight Man around them.

But that idea is quickly tossed away in the script bin. At first, they couldn't even see him, only sense him as the air got colder.

The Midnight Man, however, wanted more screen time and it is never explained why he made himself visible to them rather than playing mind tricks as he was doing so before.

The Midnight Man Ending Explained

More people die, the grandmother as well. The Midnight Man apparently didn't like the players she brought and killed her. The two survivors feel like they are safe in the salt circle except the Midnight Man had changed the time and instead of waiting an extra five minutes in the circle, you know just in case, he steps out and busies himself with checking the doctor for who knows what. He must be trying to get the watch because when he turns it over, surprise, surprise, there were still three minutes remaining.

The guy is killed instantly and the Midnight Man crawls up to the granddaughter. It is never shown how she is killed.

Then there is the epilogue where the doctor's assistant, brings his son to loot the house. Okay no, the items are laid out on a table as if it's a sale or something and they just pick up whatever they like.

Of all the things in the house, I mean there must be more than clocks in there, the boy picks up a shoebox with strings all around it- literally the ugliest piece on the table. The father is nonchalant and says, "looks innocent enough."

But of course, we know it isn't. It's the Midnight Game and we are hoping the boy prefers video games over a piece of rotten paper and old candles. Hopefully, when he sees the garbage inside he would toss it in a bin.

Thoughts about The Midnight Man

The movie did have an exciting concept, but the idea isn't executed properly. There are a few creepy scenes in the first half. The second half is haphazard and the points just don't connect.

Scare scale: 2.5/5