PAST MIDNIGHT (1991)
Article 3001 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 7-26-2009
Posting Date: 11-1-2009
Directed by Jan Eliasberg
Featuring Rutger Hauer, Natasha Richardson, Clancy Brown
Country: USA

A social worker takes on a case of finding a job for a parolee who was in prison for killing his wife and unborn child. She begins to suspect that he was framed for the murder, and she investigates on her own while falling in love with him. However, she may be in greater danger than she thinks…

Yesterday I mentioned Quentin Tarantino in passing; today I find myself unexpectedly encountering him. He’s listed as associate producer on this movie, though, according to IMDB, he got the credit from having done an uncredited rewrite on the script. I have yet to see any of Tarantino’s other movies, so I’m not going to make any judgments or generalizations, and I don’t know just how much was rewritten here. The movie is only fair; Rutger Hauer is well cast, but he’s in exactly the sort of role I’d expect him to be in. The story itself is standard, and I think it mostly falters towards the end when too many characters make stupid decisions. A serial killer aspect of the story is the primary horror element, though touches of PEEPING TOM also creep in. Incidentally, this movie predates Tarantino’s breakthrough movie RESERVOIR DOGS.