At first glance, director Jack Messitt's snappy 2008 feature-length debut "Midnight Movie" may seem like yet another tired retread populated with a handful of pretty actors who are probably too young to genuinely appreciate the movies that inspired this surprisingly sharp, blood-drenched excursion into the well-worn slasher subgenre. And, for the most part, your knee-jerk reaction to the film is fairly accurate. However, because Messitt and everyone involved appear to be having such a blast with the material, chances are you'll forgive the picture its trespasses, of which there are a few.
