One of my favorite things in the world is low-fi sci-fi, so Mr. Eff’s (no, not this one) “Midnight Predator” video is right up my alley, creating an entire world, an entire backstory, an entire mystery within the single encounter depicted. No exposition needed, this thing wraps itself around your imagination, pushing all the pleasure buttons while denying easy answers. Part of that’s Eff’s effortless synthwave score, for sure, but the combination in execution is thrilling.
Remind you of another “Midnight” special, at all? I mean, of course, Midnight Special (duh), one the most surprisingly interesting films of recent memory, which clearly inspired “Midnight Predator,” what with its cult-members-on-the-run-from-other-cult-members storyline. The YouTube page’s description of “Midnight Predator” simply says “A man searches for a defected member of a snowy cult” (that’s obviously a Minnesota license plate on the car, and Eff himself is a Minneapolan), and as dusk becomes darkness across the wintry landscape, a lone female figure all in white bearing a torch runs from a man also in white tailing her in a car. There’s even a “dispatch” who communicates with the man via walkie-talkie. How very analog.
Strains of Stranger Things and, heck, Repo Man also creep in, vibes Mr. Eff is fully in tune with. Indeed, his debut album The Parallel on Giallo Disco is chock full of soundtrack castoffs and visions of imaginary films, compositions that would slide in effortlessly on playlists containing tracks by S U R V I V E, Yves Malone, or Torn Hawk. But if you’re searching for a single, 5-minute short to sate you while you wait for the next great Hollywood mind-trip, look no further.
Stream The Parallel in full below for more synthtastic action.
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