USA/2013
Directed By: Richard Schenkman
Written By: Jesse Baget, Eric D. Wilkinson, Richard Schenkman
Starring: Noell Coet, Daniel Hugh Kelly, Charlie O'Connell
Color/86 Minutes/Not Rated
Region 1
The Film
Emily is a high school aged teen, left blind from an accident that left her mother dead. On this night, October 30th, the night before Halloween, Mischief Night, she has finally arranged a date for her dad after years of not dating since the loss of his wife. Emily is excited that her dad has agreed to let her visit her boyfriend's family's cabin for the weekend and is ready to enjoy a quiet evening while her dad gets back in to the dating game.
There are a few mischievous kids who egg the house as is commonplace on this night and it begins to creep out Emily a bit along with the feeling that Emily has that she is being stalked. And stalked she is, a man in a yellow rain jacket with black and white face paint/mask are stalking the in and around the house waiting for their perfect moment to attack Emily.
MISCHIEF NIGHT is a solid home invasion horror film featuring a few really creepy scenes and some quality suspense. The director does a good job creation tension with our blind lead and Noell Coet really pulls off playing the blind lead brilliantly. The movie suffers from a "been there, done that" feeling that we've seen this all before. The bit of a twist in the story that our lead girl is blind ends up being much less interesting in the grand scheme of than it could have been and most of the characters are fairly cookie cutter. That isn't to say it is a bad movie because despite it being anything exceptional, it is a well crafted home invasion film that is pretty entertaining. This movie is superior to The Purge which features a fairly similar premise and a much bigger budget.
The Audio & Video
MISCHIEF NIGHT receives a solid DVD presentation from RLJ Entertainment. The audio, which plays a large role for our lead character is mixed well and comes across very clean and clear. The mix between dialogue and sound effects and the score is well done and we're able to relate to what Emily is going through while enjoying being a viewer at the same time. The video side of things is mainly a strong effort with only scenes that are heavy in blacks suffering from blocking and compression issues. Luckily the film is darkly lit through almost all of it but lighting it well done to keep unnecessary black levels out of the picture which the disc benefits from.
The Extras
The disc's lone special feature is a 12 minute behind the scene's featurette that features some interview time with various cast members and a nice look at filming and what worked and what didn't with the writers and director.
The Bottom Line
The film would have been better suited for this title had there been a bit more Halloween and Mischief Night atmosphere as there was very little. As it sits it is a competent home invasion horror film with a very likable lead that performs better than many other films of this type from recent years.
MISCHIEF NIGHT is available HERE
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