‘Sometimes you can’t look away’
Midnight Peepshow is a 2022 British horror anthology film about a businessman who experiences three stories connected to a fantasy website.
Directed by Andy Edwards – ‘F*ck Marry Kill’ (Punch; Ibiza Undead), Airell Anthony Hayles – ‘Personal Space’ (Werewolf Santa; The Krampus Calendar; They’re Outside), Ludovica Musumeci – ‘The Peepshow Wraparound Story’ – and Jake West – ‘The Black Rabbit’ – (Doghouse; Pumpkinhead: Ashes to Ashes; Evil Aliens; Razor Blade Smile) from a screenplay co-written by Andy Edwards, Airell Anthony Hayles and Jake West. Produced by Vinod Malgewar. Executive produced by Airell Anthony Hayles and Dovile Kirvelaityte.
The GoViddo-Golden Gate Motion Pictures-The Haunted Cinema production stars Zach Galligan, Ryan Oliva, Chiara D’Anna, Derek Nelson, Richard Cotton, Bethan Walker, Ocean M Harris, Dylan Baldwin, Jamie Bacon, Mark Hampton, Sarah Diamond, Miki Davis, Kit Shirley, Roisin Browne, Georgina Bitmead, Tatiana Franic, Crispin Holland, Beatrice May, Christopher Lloyd James, Jack Fairbank and Rusty Egan.
Plot:
A madame owns a London Soho peepshow with a difference – the sights on offer are tailor-made to its customers’ deepest sinful fears. Tonight it welcomes a businessman who has a unique connection to an extreme fantasy website. He becomes witness to three stories of victims who found the website.
However, now the Midnight Peepshow has found him, it’s only a matter of time before he’s made to pay the ultimate price for dabbling in the dark side of desire…
Reviews:
“Despite the promotional material which implies – like any half-decent peepshow advert – that we are going to get a glimpse of something truly unusual, the sexual fantasies addressed here are pretty common ones […] There’s not a great deal of depth to the adjacent narrative, but the film holds together pretty well, the pacing is good, and Cotton keeps us caring.” Eye for Film
“As low-budget horror anthologies go Midnight Peepshow is a fair effort, yet held back by its conceptual flimsiness. With a stronger wraparound story and more potent throughline across the shorts, the filmmakers just might’ve been onto something here.” ★★½ Flickering Myth
” …the three stories work very well separately but also fit very well together. The wraparound story (directed by Ludovica Musumeci ) is also a lovely bow that ties the whole package together and will most certainly make for a fun evening viewing. So if you like things such as the V/H/S series, Tales of Halloween, and Deathcember, then I do most definitely recommend you venture into the Midnight Peepshow.” From Page 2 Screen
“In the world of Midnight Peepshow, both the worker and the buyer must be punished. Perhaps the directors did not think so deeply about the implications. Perhaps Midnight Peepshow is simply a shallow exploitation film.” Grimoire of Horror
“There are more connections between Graham and the women’s stories, though they don’t begin to become clear until late in the gate. This interconnectivity helps sell the wraparound, Midnight Peepshow almost passing as one cohesive whole rather than several little bits […] If the title and wraparound setting haven’t given it away, Midnight Peepshow revolves around our fascinations with sex, seduction and monagomy.” ★★★ The Hollywood News
“Midnight Peepshow brings us three main short horror stories, each connected to a mysterious Black Rabbit society. It is smartly connected, rather than a basic introduction, as it explores the world Graham finds himself drawn into. The effects in each short are great, with a series of strong disturbing fantasies.” 4 out of 4, Movie Reviews 101
” …a very bleak, very twisted look at love, sex and relationships; in a film that gets darker and more perverted as it goes on, ending with a brilliant morally nihilistic conclusion. A conclusion that speaks not only to the film but also to the current socio-political climate, where the rich get richer off the backs of others – their suffering, their torment – without so much as a consideration for their actions or the consequences thereof.” ★★★★★ Nerdly
“Gaudily stylised as an endless come-on to viewers, Midnight Peepshow also presents a very ugly picture of their (our!) passing trade. For Graham’s walk on the wild side is also all at once a dark journey down memory lane and (implicitly) an OD-induced guilt trip, where the nexus of all those affected by this investor’s past decisions comes back to haunt him in his final moments on the Soho back-alleys. Here, sex sells, money talks and looks can kill.” Projected Figures
“Each story makes the viewer complicit in its nastiness. Like the websites alluded to in the movie, by watching we are both taking part and taking pleasure in what’s occurring. That’s not to say the filmmakers are moralising – far from it, this is exploitation pure and simple, but it still allows for a little food for thought when it comes to the more extreme elements of cinema.” Starburst
“Everyone has sex with their clothes on, and violence tends to be off-screen or toned down as if the filmmakers were embarrassed by the material and were backing away rather than embracing it. Between that and neither of the other segments being able to match the impact of the opener, Midnight Peepshow ends up being too tame to really satisfy as an exploitation film and not well enough written to excel as mainstream horror.” ★★★½ Voices from the Balcony
YouTube reviews:
Trailer:
Release:
In the US, Midnight Peepshow was released by Dark Star Pictures on Digital and DVD on February 13, 2024.
Technical specs:
1 hour 37 minutes
