Midnight FM focuses on Sun-young, a late night radio host who attempts to complete her final show. However, an overzealous fan with a sinister plan isn’t making it easy. So what happens when an obsessed fan threatens to kill her family if she doesn’t do exactly what he says? Find out in my review!
This week, I decided to check out the South Korean suspense thriller Midnight FM. It’s Sun-young’s final show before she moves to the US for her daughter’s operation. Unfortunately for Sun-young, it isn’t going to be that easy! On the night of her last broadcast, she receives a disturbing call from an obsessed fan, Dong-soo, who claims to have broken into her loft and is holding her sister, daughter and niece hostage. At first, Sun-young is hesitant but quickly has a change of heart once Dong-soo’s threats prove to be credible. From there, Sun-young understands that Dong-soo is truly a maniac.
What does Dong-soo want? Money? Love? Nope. He simply demands that she follow his instructions while on air or he will murder her sister. His bizarre instructions are requests for songs from the past along with Sun-young saying the exact words to introduce songs as she did years earlier. What makes this situation even more frightening is that Sun-young isn’t allowed to tell her producers what’s going on or why she’s constantly making changes to the schedule while on air.
Midnight FM is a classic cat and mouse tale but with a beautiful, opinionated radio host who is stalked by one of her crazed fans. The entire film from start to finish oozes with the perfect ingredients for a thriller. The storyline is very engaging with plenty of twists and turns that kept me on the edge of my seat! I originally was only going to watch the first 30 minutes of the film before I called it a night, but I was hooked and couldn’t get away. The film starts off with a fast pace and doesn’t slow down until the end credits start rolling. Even though Sun-young spends the majority of the film trapped in a booth, I couldn’t keep my eyes off the screen. The director keeps the viewers gasping with the suspense and tension.
The main actress and actor were completely phenomenal and it’s clear that the greatness of the film was due, in large part, to their performances. The actress Ae Soo (Sun-young) is an amazing leading lady. She’s completely believable but at the same time far from a damsel in distress. She’s a woman who is desperately willing to do whatever it takes to protect her family. The actor who played Dong-soo, Yoo Ji-tae, is great as a psycho. He even dressed like one with his gigantic fur coat and tight red pants! Fashion police, anyone? His personality and rage is insanely explosive. I absolutely loved when he widened his eyes and went off in full melodramatic fury. Sun-young’s daughter did an amazing job as well! I was completely blown away by her performance.
Overall, Midnight FM is filled with thrills and can be pretty violent, therefore I absolutely recommend it. The film is well thought out and has a few surprises here and there. Midnight FM is streaming on Netflix, so please check it out!
WICKED RATING: 7/10
Director: Kim Man Sang
Writer(s): Kim Man Sang, Kim Hwi
Stars: Ae Soo, Yu Ji-tae, Ma Dong-seok
Year: 2010
Studio/ Production Co: Weekend Cinema
Budget: KRW 7,000,000,000
Language: Korean
Length: 106 Minutes
Sub-Genre: Crime, Mystery, Thriller
