Dead by Midnight (Y2Kill)(2022)

Submitted by Evan B

This anthology film follows a streaming show airing in Hell narrated by The Temptress (Hannah Fierman). Throughout, the new CEO of Hell named The Mistress (Erin Brown) works on finding a way to get the show to go viral on Earth so that it will encourage more people to die (and therefore get more souls to Hell). Eventually, the pair decide to use the AI tech from one of the commercials to more effectively spread their Hellish message throughout the world (featuring a cameo by Linnea Quigley). The AI drives people to madness and soon after, death. The movie is comprised of shorts and various fake commercials.

The Commercials
There are ads for 1) Murderol, a prescription that helps people repress their murderous rage (cameo by Kane Hodder as himself); 2) a PSA noting that nobody puts drugs in Halloween candy because drugs are too expensive to waste; 3) a company selling bags of dicks delivered to the enemies of the viewers; 4) an incompetent AI machine that poorly does all your household chores (and is later used by the Mistress to bring Y2Kill to Earth); 5) Gut Cruncher power bars (helping viewers get as strong as the mighty demon, Gut Cruncher); 6) Clean Slate – the #1 brand of evidence remover spray; and 7) a political ad for Jerri Dandridge – a vampire – for mayor.

Hellevangelist
An elderly woman has given a lot of money to a faith healer in hopes the healer would help her husband recover from his illness. After her husband doesn’t recover, she sneaks into the healer’s office, drugs him, and harvests his organs for donation. Notably, her husband gets the healer’s pancreas and makes a full recovery.

Jasper
The adult daughter of a famous cartoonist is having a tough time. She is depressed over the apparent suicides of her parents, has become an alcoholic, and her wife is threatening to divorce her. It is revealed that her father’s animated hit character Jasper (voiced by Bill Moseley), a cartoon cat, is a real entity. Jasper kidnaps the daughter’s spouse and tries to kill her. The daughter saves her wife and learns that Jasper actually killed her parents. The pair seemingly kill Jasper in an explosion, but are killed themselves when the still-alive cartoon drops an anvil on them.

Clean your Room
An immature young man still lives at home, barely able to function without his mom. One night, the mess of clothes, food and filth that has been collecting on his bedroom floor gains sentience and comes to life. The monster eats his mother as the man flees. The monster hunts the man down and eventually devours him too.

Heroes of Time
Four friends playing a virtual reality video game end up getting stuck inside. One of them becomes convinced that if they die in the game, they will die in real life. When the group is attacked by the game’s boss, the boss kills two of the players. The boss then asks the third player to join him as the third player has achieved top-10 status. She agrees to join the boss in exchange for the game allowing her last living friend to log out. When the friend logs out, he sees the players that died in the game are indeed dead in real life and that his third friend (the top-10 player) has disappeared. Depressed, the player logs back into the game.

Gut Cruncher
Three teens that are failing gym class have to report to a weekend make-up session. There, the gym teacher says they will pass only if they can survive a round of wrestling with a muscular demon named Gut Cruncher. Although the demon kills one of the teens, the others manage to barely survive the wrestling match alive (and gain a bit more self-confidence as a result).