There is some outstanding independent movies coming out of Ireland, and many of them are super low-budget affairs. Night People is an old-fashioned-style anthology movie that’s essentially two small features stitched together with a single narrative.
Rather than having some sort of horrid ghoul presenting the stories, the framing device for Night People is two professional criminals chatting away as they wait for the go-ahead to burn down the house they’ve broken into. It’s certainly an original premise and it immediately establishes tension and countdown to the film.
The first story is about a mysterious artefact that gets discovered by a wannabe business man. Convinced that the weird object can be used for profit, he hands it over to a scientist friend who eventually declares that they’re both in over their head. As their relationship strains under the pressure to find out what the damned thing is good for, things begin to go wrong. It’s quite the slow burner of a story, but that suits the Lovecraftian nature of the tale quite well. The performances are okay and the direction is limited, but it does the job quite well.
The second story is a stronger story of people who work after hours. The main character is a sex worker looking for a way out of her current situation who ends up working for some very unusual people. The pace is slow and steady, and though it isn’t anything terribly special, the characterisation is very well done, with a great performance from Claire Blennerhassett.
Night People could have easily been a shorter movie, and they could have easily trimmed it enough to squeeze in another story. The various plot elements could have been tighter and the various twists given more emphasis. Despite these flaws, though, it’s a good indie horror anthology and we hope to see more.
NIGHT PEOPLE / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: GERARD LOUGH / STARRING: MICHAEL PARLE, JACK DEAN-SHEPHERD, CLAIRE BLENNERHASSETT, SARAH LOUISE CARNEY / RELEASE DATE: MAY 9TH
