Midnight Skater-2002

I picked this one up a little over a year ago at the Horrorfind Convention. Well, I probably would have never bought it had I not seen that these were the same folks that made Teenage Zombie House Massacre and shared my thoughts on the latter. Anyway, Stacy Silvers convinced me to buy a copy and I figured a review would be cool.

Tagline: Something strange is happening on a small-town college campus…

Synopsis: Students have been disappearing and the only clues left behind are a bloody corpse and the name “Midnight Skater.” A group of nosy kids take it upon themselves to put an end to the mystery, but find out they may be in over their heads! They’ll have to make their way through the college's dark side of drugs, lies, and murder in order to find out who is behind it all. Prepare for an all-out gorefest in one of the most bloody twisted tales of horror ever told!

As the synopsis tells the viewer, people are disappearing and the name “Midnight Skater” is seen. Otherwise, it has the movie description somewhat askew and leaves me wondering if the author of the synopsis actually paid attention to the film. There is no bloody corpse left behind, although we quickly find out that a maniacal killer is on the campus and preying on young ladies. We also see that the “Midnight Skater” is not the killer because he skates by the home of a victim and stops briefly to listen in on her screams.

There is a group of six college students who are out to discover the mystery of the “Midnight Skater” and stop his vandalism spree on the campus. They do not mention the missing girls at all. The group devises a number of plans to capture the skater and bring him to justice. They finally decide to start staking out the campus in order to capture him and stop his vandalism. Danny, one of the group’s members, finds himself torn between hanging out with his best friend Alvin and helping the gang stop the campus vandal. Alvin also happens to be the roommate of the homicidal maniac.

Add to the mix, a designer drug known as “Z” being distributed by a couple of drug dealers who hang out on the campus. Something goes terribly wrong with the popular and highly addictive drug, turning partying college students into flesh eating zombies. The bumbling gang of would-be heroes ends up in a huge mess between the living dead, a mysterious and menacing skateboarder, and a machete-wielding lunatic.


This is a twisted film, just as the case promises. The gore is plentiful, although not very realistic. In the delivery of much of the gore, the viewers might find themselves having to turn away or be somewhat appalled. One particular moment that got to me was a castration scene. Yeah, these guys didn’t pull any punches when they went for the splatter.

The acting was okay for the most part. Some of it was pretty pathetic and most of it was less than convincing. Some of the actors did well in their rolls though, particularly Alvin although his nerdiness might have been overplayed to an extent. In a way, I wonder if some of the acting was intentionally poor. Regardless, the acting was not enough to make me stop watching the film or prevent me from watching it again on other occasions.

The dialogue was entertaining and original for the most part. Even though viewers might get tired of the constant barrage of nerd jokes, the humor was on for me. That’s not to say that I have the most normal sense of humor mind you. A Scooby Doo reference was also thrown in well at one point. I enjoyed a number of the films lines, such as:

“You’re feisty. I like that in my victims.”

“I have the strength of ten men. The power of the purple ninja flows through me.”

”Did you just piss your pants?”

“That’s the best sex I ever had with a dead body whose arm was cut off that I was using to spank myself on the ass.”

Maybe, they’re better in context. Who knows?

The zombies were decent, but nothing spectacular. Lots of black make-up around the eyes and some crusty white flesh seems to be the gist of it. They shamble and eat flesh. Some of them speak, mainly calling out for more “Z.” They can be killed in a number of ways aside from just the typical dispatching of the head or destroying of the brain. With these zombies, damage that would kill most people seems to keep them down for the count.

The score is decent, although one particular surf rock songs seems to be overused in the film. There is also a campy, but catchy eighties metal style song called Midnight Skater at the end, which always serves to amuse me.

Over all, I say this film is well worth watching. Collectors and fans of the zombie subgenre should definitely have this one in their collection. I watch it on occasion and make most visitors to my home sit through it. What one doesn’t enjoy of the film itself is made up for in the sadistic and over the top humor of the film.

Directed by Lucas Campbell

Review by hatefuldisplay (Ron Clark).