MIDNIGHT SON is the story of Jacob, a young man confined to a life of isolation, due to a rare skin disorder that prevents him from being exposed to sunlight. His world opens up when he meets Mary, a local bartender, and falls in love. Tragically, Jacob’s actions become increasingly bizarre as he struggles to cope with the effects of his worsening condition. Forced by the disease to drink human blood for sustenance, he must control his increasingly violent tendencies as local law enforcement narrow their focus on him as a suspect in a series of grisly murders.
Acting
Zak Kilberg's fragile, hungry physicality sells the impossible premise.
Practical Effects
Gross-out makeup that makes sunlight look genuinely terrifying.
Writing
Treating vampirism as chronic illness — weirdly specific and grounded.
Director
Scott Leberecht
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Part of the 2010s 'mumblegore' movement — microbudget horror focused on emotional authenticity over spectacle, popularized by filmmakers like Joe Swanberg and the Duplass brothers.
Director Scott Leberecht was a veteran visual effects artist who deliberately avoided CGI, using his industry connections to get professional-level practical effects on a sub-$100k budget.
US
