10 Great Monster Movies You've Never Seen
2. After Midnight
After Midnight is a total delight.
When his girlfriend leaves, a man's home is assaulted daily by a stranger creature during each night. Is this mysterious beast real? Or has paranoia gotten the best of him?
The main draw of monster movies is usually the monster itself, and while the one here is used sparingly, do not let that deter you. The creature of this feature is grotesquely gorgeous, and while we only get short glimpses of it, up until its big appearance in a moment that will stop your heart mid-beat, that's okay, because the real heart of the movie is in its characters.
Between monster attacks, the film flashes back between the past, when protagonist Hank and his girlfriend Abbey were together, and the present where she is gone. This structure helps us bond with not only Hank, but Abbey as well. At its core, After Midnight is about relationships and how, whether alone or with a partner, there are always external and internal obstacles to overcome.
The genuine humanity of its characters combined with a monster that gives The Predator a run for its money makes for a movie with equal parts horror and heart to spare.