Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		2.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.0

Home Before Midnight Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf June 20, 2014

The concept of the meet cute takes a creepy turn in “Home Before Midnight.” When we meet our lead characters, Ginny is hitchhiking down a quiet road, soon stopped by Mike, who’s driving along in his car. He offers her a lift, she naturally hesitates, concerned with the prospect of riding with a single man. Mike, in his infinite wisdom, cracks a rape joke to lighten the mood. Ginny responds not with a crescent kick to the throat, but with a laugh, and quickly slips into the car. This is true love, folks, at least the 1979 British kind from director Pete Walker, who attempts to step away from his routine of terror films to make a sensitive drama about the trials and tribulations of romancing an underage girl. In a way, Walker remains in the horror genre, but instead of displaying blood and guts, “Home Before Midnight” traffics in lies and urges, asking the audience to judge these characters alongside the rest of their community.

Ginny (Alison Elliot) is a friendly young woman out on the town with friend Carol (Debbie Linden), teasing men with their flirtatious demeanor, loving the attention. Growing uncomfortable with the situation, Ginny finds a friendly face in Mike (James Aubrey), a 28-year-old songwriter for the rock band Bad Accident. With chemistry comes sexual attraction, with the pair embarking on an affair that reveals Ginny to be slightly more virginal than she appears to be, thrilling Mike, who’s delighted to explore every inch of his new girlfriend. While their union develops, Mike discovers that Ginny is actually a 14-year-old girl. Horrified but not ready to sever ties, Mike continues sleeping with Ginny, with news of their bedroom adventures eventually reaching her parents, Harry (Mark Burns) and Susan (Juliet Harmer). Urging their daughter to confess to rape, Harry and Susan attempt to ruin Mike with damaging accusations, threatening his life and treasured career as the press picks up the story.

While “Home Before Midnight” isn’t a typical exploitation picture, it bears the marks of a production that’s out to titillate as it surveys disturbing behavior, making plenty of time to study Ginny in various states of undress. Perhaps this is Walker’s way of condemning the viewer for their lustful ways, creating a headspace similar to Mike’s clouded perspective -- a man who, while hesitant to continue, doesn’t completely shut down the relationship after discovering Ginny’s true age, eager to feel up his teen conquest once again. Walker creates a bear trap viewing experience, but he doesn’t follow through with it, soon transforming “Home Before Midnight” into a melodrama that bizarrely sympathizes with Mike and turns Ginny into a villain of sorts, manipulated by her parents to make the relationship appear more violent than it was. Walker walks into the movie armed with a shotgun and exits swinging a gavel. It’s disappointing.

“Home Before Midnight” is provocative work, and Walker gooses the mood with voyeuristic angles during sexual encounters and unsettling exchanges -- Harry is a protective father, but one who’s prone to playfully spanking his children, calling them “sexy.” We spy Mike and Ginny having a teasing conversation about incest fantasies, and there’s Carol’s presence as well, the friend showcasing a liberal attitude toward free love, speeding up Ginny’s experimentation with classmates. It’s a bouillabaisse of trouble that creates a psychological portrait of the pair, helping to understand what drives Mike and especially Ginny, whose true age comes to the forefront once outside pressure is applied and she reverts to adolescent meltdowns. Walker almost nails the complexity of emotions, but he’s too quick to turn up the melodrama, focusing on Mike’s lost livelihood as hedonistic rock stars turn their back on him as the accusations reach the front page (it’s the negative publicity, not the crime, that scares them), while Ginny is cocooned by authority figures, instructed on matters of statutory rape as she struggles with her sincere feelings for the older man.

“Home Before Midnight” eventually dissolves into a legal drama, abandoning a few promising storytelling directions, including Susan’s doubts concerning the volatility of her daughter’s relationship. After teasing ambiguity for the first half, Walker begins to make definitive judgments about his characters, making “Home Before Midnight” less about the nuances of bad decisions and more about punishment. There’s a germ of an idea here that’s worth exploration, touching on the sexualization of young girls and the blinders of love, but rarely does the picture scratch below the surface when it comes to uncomfortable areas of exploration. Walker is more at home studying blunt acts of sex and betrayal.

Home Before Midnight Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The AVC encoded image (1.66:1 aspect ratio) presentation is extremely soft, with inconsistent cinematography unable to settle on a specific look for the feature. Fine detail is difficult to capture, often lost in the gauzy display (which gives off a slight ghosting effect during certain shots), but some minor textures remain. The BD is working uphill here, and it manages to fine a satisfactory range of clarity, good with exploitation elements and period décor. Colors are in place, looking healthy with cherry lips and ruddy skintones, while greenery and disco neon also find balance. Blacks are acceptable. The print is in rough shape at times, with speckling and damage detected.

Home Before Midnight Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 2.0 LPCM mix isn't strong, and while the listening event is teeming with soundtrack cuts and heated dialogue, the track doesn't have the desired clarity to meet the film's demands. Hiss is present and music is pronounced, periodically smothering dialogue exchanges, demanding a little volume riding to help navigate the trouble spots. Accents are on the thick side and highs are a tad shrill, making some aggressive dramatics hard on the ears. It's not an impossible mix to follow, with emotionality present and musical moods set, but it takes some work to endure everything at once, as opposed to a more comforting, layered effect.

Home Before Midnight Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Interview (11:09, HD) with Pete Walker is perhaps his most defensive supplementary contribution to date, discussing how critics at the time went after him for his casting choices and imagined condemnation contained in the picture. Walker only seems mildly interested in the movie, insisting it wasn't the right film for him to direct, but still stands behind the work. He's also a little confused about the fate of actress Debbie Linden, suggesting she died "a year or two" after the 1979 effort. She passed away in 1997.

• And a Theatrical Trailer (2:02, HD) is included.

Home Before Midnight Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

"Home Before Midnight" has its engaging moments, with satisfactory performances from Aubrey and Elliott creating a respectable tug of war mood of accusation and surrender. And Walker does manage a participatory moment or two during Mike's discovery of Ginny's true age, forcing viewers to yell at the screen when the character decides to ditch common sense and continue bedding his dewy piece of jail bait. The picture sets lofty dramatic goals for itself, perhaps a bit too far out of Walker's range as a filmmaker, but even when "Home Before Midnight" insists on banality, it remains just engaging enough to keep watching the downfall of these two dim characters.