Past Midnight is a 1991 Neo-noir

Neo-noir

Neo-noir is a style often seen in modern motion pictures and other forms that prominently utilize elements of film noir, but with updated themes, content, style, visual elements or media that were absent in films noir of the 1940s and 1950s.-History:The term Film Noir was coined by...

 thriller film (with slasher

Slasher film

A slasher film is a type of horror film typically involving a psychopathic killer stalking and killing a sequence of victims in a graphically violent manner, often with a cutting tool such as a knife or axe...

 connections) starring Paul Giamatti

Paul Giamatti

Paul Edward Valentine Giamatti is an American actor. Giamatti began his career as a supporting actor in several films produced during the 1990s including Private Parts, The Truman Show, Saving Private Ryan, The Negotiator, and Man on the Moon, before earning lead roles in several projects in the...

, Tom Wright

Tom Wright (actor)

Tom Wright is a television and theatre actor. He was born in Englewood, New Jersey and attended West Chester University in West Chester, Pennsylvania....

 and Clancy Brown

Clancy Brown

Clarence J. "Clancy" Brown III is an American actor and voice actor. He is known for his roles in live action as The Kurgan in the cult classic film Highlander, Byron Hadley in the award-winning The Shawshank Redemption, Brother Justin Crowe in HBO's critically acclaimed Carnivàle, and Career...

 alongside leads Rutger Hauer and Natasha Richardson

Natasha Richardson

Natasha Jane Richardson was an English actress of stage and screen. A member of the Redgrave family, she was the daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave and director/producer Tony Richardson and the granddaughter of Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson...

.

Synopsis

Parole

Parole

Parole may have different meanings depending on the field and judiciary system. All of the meanings originated from the French parole . Following its use in late-resurrected Anglo-French chivalric practice, the term became associated with the release of prisoners based on prisoners giving their...

e Ben Jordan has spent the past fifteen years behind bars for his pregnant wife's murder. He is monitored by his parole officer Lee Samuels and social worker Laura Mathews after he is released. Mathews begins looking into his case and becomes convinced that he was convicted under circumstantial evidence

Circumstantial evidence

Circumstantial evidence is evidence in which an inference is required to connect it to a conclusion of fact, like a fingerprint at the scene of a crime...

 and starts becoming convinced of his innocence in the crime. Before long she starts falling for him, but this is far from wise, since even if he is innocent, Mrs Jordan's real murderer may soon come a calling.

Trivia

After Quentin Tarantino

Quentin Tarantino

Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...

 significantly re-wrote the script, Catalaine Knell shared her associate producer credit with him on the film (his first official screen credit). The film features a number of Tarantino's trademark pop cultural references. For example, in reference to a Peeping Tom-like recording of a murder, Tom Wright's character says "It makes Nightmare on Elm Street look like Charlotte's Web."

Release

Originally intended for a theatrical release, the film aired on the USA Network

USA Network

USA Network is an American cable television channel launched in 1971. Once a minor player in basic cable, the network has steadily gained popularity because of breakout hits like Monk, Psych, Burn Notice, Royal Pains, Covert Affairs, White Collar, Monday Night RAW, Suits, and reruns of the various...

 on December 16, 1992. Before, the film was shown at the American Film Market

American Film Market

The American Film Market is a film industry event held each year at the beginning of November in Santa Monica, California. About 8,000 people attend the eight day event to network and to sell and acquire films...

 and at the Vancouver International Film Festival

Vancouver International Film Festival

The Vancouver International Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada for two weeks in late September and early October...

 in October of the previous year. The movie was released on videocassette and laserdisc on April 21, 1993 by Columbia TriStar Home Video, and was released on DVD by the same company on August 17, 2004, in widescreen.

Cast

Actor / Actress	Character
Rutger Hauer	Ben Jordan
Natasha Richardson Natasha Richardson Natasha Jane Richardson was an English actress of stage and screen. A member of the Redgrave family, she was the daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave and director/producer Tony Richardson and the granddaughter of Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson...	Laura Mathews
Paul Giamatti Paul Giamatti Paul Edward Valentine Giamatti is an American actor. Giamatti began his career as a supporting actor in several films produced during the 1990s including Private Parts, The Truman Show, Saving Private Ryan, The Negotiator, and Man on the Moon, before earning lead roles in several projects in the...	Larry Canipe
Clancy Brown Clancy Brown Clarence J. "Clancy" Brown III is an American actor and voice actor. He is known for his roles in live action as The Kurgan in the cult classic film Highlander, Byron Hadley in the award-winning The Shawshank Redemption, Brother Justin Crowe in HBO's critically acclaimed Carnivàle, and Career...	Steve Lundy
Tom Wright Tom Wright (actor) Tom Wright is a television and theatre actor. He was born in Englewood, New Jersey and attended West Chester University in West Chester, Pennsylvania....	Lee Samuels
Guy Boyd Guy Boyd Guy Boyd may refer to:*Guy Boyd *Guy Boyd...	Todd Canipe
Charles Boswell	Carlton Daniels
Ernie Lively Ernie Lively Ernie Lively is an American actor.Lively was born Ernest W. Brown in Baltimore, Maryland. In 1979, he married talent manager Elaine Lively and took her name. They are the parents of actors Blake Lively and Eric Lively, and he is stepfather of her children from her previous marriage Lori Lively,...	Detective Allan Tobias
Kibibi Monie	Dorothy Coleman
Dana Eskelson Dana Eskelson Dana Erika Eskelson is an American television, film, and theatre actress.-Filmography:*Singles *Exiled: A Law & Order Movie *Cold Creek Manor *The Brave One -TV series:...	Kathy Tudor
Ted D'Arms	Bill Tudor
Krisha Fairchild	Dr. Zastoupil
Sarah Magnuson	Gerrie Graymark
David Frederick White(as Dave White)	Cop
Brian Finney(as Brian T. Finney)	Delivery Man
Sue Morales(uncredited)	Social Worker