Retirement can be a scary thing. At least, this is the horror that Amy Marlowe (Caroline Williams) faces on her final night as a radio DJ. The evening in Ten Minutes To Midnight takes a wild and unpredictable set of twists and turns with director Erik Bloomquist curating a retro horror experience through the eyes of Amy that is entertaining and distinctly unforgettable.

In Ten Minutes To Midnight, Amy arrives to her late night shift at a small, local radio station with an untimely bat bite. But what’s worse, she arrives to find that after 30 years on the air, this evening’s broadcast will be her last as a younger, attractive host is assigned to replace her. But the more the bat bite bothers Amy, the stranger things get at the radio station. The subsequent series of events that transpire range from odd to outlandish as Amy grapples with her fate while trying to survive the night.

There’s something enchanting and alluring about classic late night radio. This year, we saw The Vast Of Night don a haunting sci-fi theme on the old-school late night radio setting to marvelous effect. Ten Minutes To Midnight bestows a similar kind of retro magic on the broadcasting scene, but with an evocative horror spin that’s difficult not to admire. 

The movie features an uncanny set of characters; Sienna (Nicole Kang), the flirtatious newcomer strategically weaseling her way into Amy’s role; Robert (William Youmans) the station manager pushing Amy into retirement; Aaron (Adam Weppler), the punk styled late-night program producer; and Ernie (Nicholas Tucci), an overly involved security man and receptionist. It’s an excellently chosen cast for portraying this set of characters and building the contentious dynamic between each other. But getting used to these characters as they are would be a mistake because one thing that Ten Minutes To Midnight does not allow is predictability - a quality of the film many will find appealing.

I can imagine, however, that Ten Minutes To Midnight won’t be for everyone. Differentiating what is real and what is hallucination for Amy is an ambiguous challenge that makes Ten Minutes To Midnight difficult to decrypt. And a mid-film twist shakes up the premise in an entirely unexpected way, for better or for worse depending on the viewer.

But for those who appreciate strange, bizarre, over the top horror experiences, Ten Minutes To Midnight is one to consider watching this Halloween season. It’s a fascinating journey through the mental angst of its lead character’s crisis and the horror house of terror that it instigates. The night might not be ideal for Amy, but it stands to be a wicked good time for audiences.

Acting and Casting - 2 | Visual Effects and Editing - 2 | Story and Message - 1 | Entertainment Value - 1 | Music Score and Soundtrack - 1 | Reviewer's Preference - 2 | What does this mean?

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