CULT HERO OF THE MONTH

JEREMY GARDNER

A busy actor with credits on interesting American indie genre fare (Bliss, The Mind’s Eye, Spring), Jeremy Gardner has written, directed and starred in two outstanding, distinctive, weird dramas (available in a handy Blu-ray package). The Battery, a baseball-themed slacker-buddy movie set during a zombie apocalypse, was a promising debut; After Midnight (above), codirected by Christian Stella, is his assured third film. Hank (Gardner) is troubled because a) his girlfriend Abby (Brea Grant) is absent without explanation, and b) a monster scratches at his door every night. The focus is on Hank’s obsessive behaviour, with the monster plot almost sidelined — only Hank really believes in the creature, and his chatter about werewolves and UFOS embarrasses his few friends — until a terrific jump-scare intrudes on a scene that seems to be resolving the credible, subtle human story.