Pitchford Cove is a picturesque little town with an unusual past. Three hundred years ago, Melissa Cavender’s (Shari Belafonte) ancestor, Lucinda Cavender (Jonelle Allen), was deemed a witch and put to death. Lucinda had been a slave for the Grenville family. Lucinda cursed the town. Nathaniel Grenville was responsible for ending Lucinda’s reign and stopping the curse on Halloween night. The history of the curse is documented in the Pitchford Cove Witchcraft Museum. The museum houses artifacts from the original haunting, including clothes worn by the residents from that time. Nathaniel Grenville’s ancestors still live in town. Phil Grenville (Lee Montgomery), a local teenager, is related to Nathaniel and is his great, great grandson.
300 years later, Phil is friends with Melissa as well as Mary Masterson (Dedee Pfeiffer), Mitch Crandall (Peter DeLuise) and Vinnie Davis (Levar Burton). Since it is Halloween, Mitch talks everyone into breaking into the museum and ‘borrowing’ period clothing for a Halloween party later that night. While they are in the museum they find the town archives in the basement. In a trunk they find a scroll with an ancient curse written on it and sealed in wax. For a lark they decide to take the trunk to the local cemetery. Melissa, being the great, great, granddaughter of Lucinda, decides that she should recite the curse.
After the kids take off, the cemetery begins to come alive as all manner of dead and demonic creatures begin to rise. The ghouls and monsters begin to spread out over the town. One of the dead is a perky cheerleader named Sandy Matthews (Jonna Lee). When Phil meets her, he believes that she is from out-of-town and dressed for Halloween. As Phil and Sandy are getting to know each other, the other kids are being attacked by Lucinda. When Sandy finds out that Phil and his friends raised the dead using the curse from the parchment, she understands that the curse must be reversed in order to restore the town, but with everyone in town being turned into vampires and ghouls, they may be too late.
“The Midnight Hour” was released in 1985 and was directed by Jack Bender. It is an American made for television comedy horror film.
It’s standard stuff but it’s done in a lighthearted way with plenty of camp. It’s like watching a full-length Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” romp. It didn’t do well with critics, but fans loved it and still too. I’d never seen it before, but there are a lot of former kids that fondly remember it.
There are a couple things that add to the fun of the film. First of all, most of the music is right out of the sixties top one hundred. Second you have radio announcer “Wolfman” Jack as the over voice and DJ. The special effects are OK, but the monster make-up is good and the variety of them is impressive. The cast is a solid block of supporting actors and 80’s favorites. There are also a few next generation actors represented as well. Dedee Pfeiffer is the sister of Michele Pfeiffer. Peter DeLuise is the son of Dom DeLuise. Shari Belafonte is the daughter of Harry Belafonte.
The movie is a good example of a fun family friendly movie.