''Midnight in the Switchgrass'' is a 2021 American

crime thriller Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, crime novel, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives or fiction that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professiona ...

film directed by

Randall Emmett Randall Ives Emmett (born March 25, 1971) is an American film producer and television personality. He is the chairman and co-founder of production company Emmett/Furla Oasis Films. Emmett is best known for pioneering the geezer teaser, a genre ...

in his directorial debut from a screenplay by Alan Horsnail. It stars

Megan Fox Megan Denise Fox (born May 16, 1986) is an American actress. She made her acting debut in the family film ''Holiday in the Sun (film), Holiday in the Sun'' (2001), which was followed by numerous supporting roles in film and television, such a ...

Bruce Willis Walter Bruce Willis (born March 19, 1955) is a retired American actor. He achieved fame with a leading role on the comedy-drama series ''Moonlighting (TV series), Moonlighting'' (1985–1989) and has appeared in over one hundred films, gaining ...

Emile Hirsch Emile Davenport Hirsch (born March 13, 1985) is an American actor. His portrayal of Chris McCandless in '' Into the Wild'' (2007) earned him acclaim and multiple award nominations. Other notable roles include '' The Girl Next Door'' (2004), '' ...

Lukas Haas Lukas Daniel Haas (born April 16, 1976) is an American actor and musician. His acting career has spanned four decades, during which he has appeared in more than 50 feature films and a number of television shows and stage productions. His notable ...

, Colson "MGK" Baker and Lydia Hull. It was released in limited theaters and

video-on-demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos, television shows and films digitally on request. These multimedia are accessed without a traditional video playback device and a typical static broadcasting ...

on July 23, 2021, by

Lionsgate Lions Gate, Lion Gate or similar terms may refer to: Gates *Lion Gate at Mycenae in Greece *Lion Gate, one of the entrances to the ancient Hittite city of Hattusa, now in Turkey *Lion Gate, one of the entrances to the gardens of Hampton Court Pala ...

and was critically panned upon release.

Plot

Based on the true story of

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

's most dangerous serial killer, the film has the dramatization translocated to

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

Agent Karl Helter and his partner, Rebecca Lombardo, are very close to busting a

sex trafficking Sex trafficking is human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Perpetrators of the crime are called sex traffickers or pimps—people who manipulate victims to engage in various forms of commercial sex with paying customers. Se ...

ring. When they realize their investigation has crossed the path of a brutal serial killer, they team up with

Florida Department of Law Enforcement The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) is a state-wide investigative law enforcement agency within the state of Florida. The department formally coordinates eight boards, councils, and commissions. FDLE's duties, responsibilities, and ...

Agent Byron Crawford, who has worked for years on the case. When Rebecca herself is abducted by their target and her life hangs in the balance, Byron, without asking for assistance from fellow law enforcement agents, has precious few hours to piece together the last clues and to put an end to the infamous " Truck Stop Killer". Peter Hillborough lives happily with his wife and daughter in a one-family house. At a gas station, he pretends to want to help a young woman (Tracey Lee) who has been sedated by a man. He takes her with him in his truck and locks her up in his garden shed. Hillborough meets Lombardo in a bar, adds knockout drops to her drink and also locks her in his garden shed. Lombardo encourages Lee to try to escape, who finds refuge with a neighbor, Georgia Kellogg. Crawford reviews the camera footage from a gas station and comes to the conclusion that Hillborough is the suspect and arrives there in time.

Cast

as Rebecca Lombardo *

as Karl Helter *

as Byron Crawford *

as Peter Hillborough *

Colson Baker Colson Baker (born April 22, 1990), known professionally as MGK (stylized in all lowercase) and formerly Machine Gun Kelly, is an American rapper, music producer, singer, songwriter, and actor. MGK released four mixtapes from 2007 to 2010 be ...

as Calvin *

Sistine Stallone Sistine Rose Stallone (born June 27, 1998) is an American actress, model and internet personality. She made her acting debut in the 2019 survival horror film '' 47 Meters Down: Uncaged'', directed by Johannes Roberts. She is the daughter of actor ...

as Heather *

Michael Beach Michael Anthony Beach (born October 30, 1963) is an American actor. He has appeared in the films '' Lean on Me'' (1989), ''One False Move'' (1992), ''Short Cuts'' (1993), ''Waiting to Exhale'' (1995), ''A Family Thing'' (1996), ''Soul Food'' (19 ...

as Detective Yarbrough *

Caitlin Carmichael Caitlin Carmichael (born 2004) is an American actress. Her credits include ''In the Motherhood'' (2008), ''Criminal Minds'' (2009), ''Shake It Up (U.S. TV series), Shake It Up'', ''iCarly'', ''Hot in Cleveland'', ''Law & Order: LA'', and ''Bag o ...

as Tracey Lee *

Alec Monopoly Alec Andon, professionally known as Alec Monopoly, is a street artist, and DJ, originally from New York City. His signature is covering his face with his hand or using a medical face mask to hide his facial identity. He is noted for using the Park ...

as Suspect / Tall Man * Welker White as Ms. Georgia Kellogg *

Jackie Cruz Jackie Cruz (born August 8, 1986) is a Dominican–American actress, singer and former model. She is known for her role as Marisol "Flaca" Gonzales on the Netflix original series ''Orange Is the New Black''. Early life Born Jacqueline Chavez in ...

as Suzanna

Production

On January 22, 2020, it was announced that film producer

would make his directorial debut on the film, with

set to star.

and

were cast on February 16, with filming beginning on March 9 in

Pensacola, Florida Pensacola ( ) is a city in the Florida panhandle in the United States. It is the county seat and only incorporated city, city in Escambia County, Florida, Escambia County. The population was 54,312 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...

. On March 12, 2020,

, Welker White,

, and

joined the cast of the film. On March 16, production on the film was halted because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Production on the film resumed on June 29.

Release

''Midnight in the Switchgrass'' had its world premiere on June 13, 2021, at the

Tampa Theatre The Tampa Theatre is a historic U.S. theater and city landmark in Downtown Tampa, Florida. Designed as an atmospheric theatre-style movie palace by architect John Eberson, it opened on October 15, 1926. The theatre features a wide range of i ...

, where it was the closing night film of the

Gasparilla International Film Festival Gasparilla International Film Festival (GIFF, stylized as gịff) is an annual independent film festival that takes place in Tampa Bay, Florida. The festival is run by the Tampa Film Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing film ...

. In attendance were Randall Emmett, Alan Horsnail, Timothy C. Sullivan, Lukas Haas, Emile Hirsch, Caitlin Carmichael, and Katalina Viteri. The screening was followed by a 40-minute Q & A moderated by Tyler Martinolich. The film was later released in limited theaters and VOD on July 23, 2021, by

. Megan Fox did not attend the film's Los Angeles premiere and cited concerns regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. Machine Gun Kelly did not respond, but on

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

, he mentioned that he does not talk about a movie if it is trash. In response, Emile Hirsch posted a screenshot of Machine Gun Kelly's tweet on

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

and stated, "We definitely disagree here, Colson! achine Gun KellyNothing but respect to you guys though - especially because you and Megan are so f#*king great in this movie."

Box office

As of April 18, 2025, ''Midnight in the Switchgrass'' grossed $97,518 in Portugal and Russia, plus $653,505 in home video sales.

Reception

Robert Kojder of Flickering Myth said that "the fact that ''Midnight in the Switchgrass'' is an all-around terrible movie comes as no surprise, but there is a sting since for star Megan Fox, it's coming off a career-best and physically impressive performance in '' Till Death.''" Jackie K. Cooper rated the film 5 out of 10 saying that "Megan Fox steals the show while Bruce Willis is missing in action." In his review for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', Ben Kenigsberg said that "the atmosphere is thoroughly sleazy without being distinctive, and everything about the movie - the emotionless line readings, the half-baked back stories - exudes a terse functionality." Waldemar Dalenogare Neto rated the film 2 out of 10 and stated that it is one of the "most generic thrillers of the year (...) I really don't know yet what the purpose of this film is other than the fact that it tries to profit from Megan Fox's image and Bruce Willis." In a positive review for the ''San Jose Mercury News'', Randy Myers said that "it's worth a watch if you like serial killer thrillers but don't expect to see anything revolutionary going on." Jesse Hassenger was less complimentary in his review for ''

Paste Magazine ''Paste'' is an American monthly music and entertainment digital magazine, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with studios in Atlanta and Manhattan, and owned by Paste Media Group. The magazine began as a website in 1998. It ran as a print publi ...

'' by saying that it looks like the filmmakers are trying to punish Megan Fox for her performance in ''Till Death'', and he concluded, "It's entirely because of Fox that ''Switchgrass'' stays compelling far longer than it should, raising vain hopes that she'll be able to work it into something pulpier and more defined. Despite the eventual disappointment, I hope she sticks with genre fare a bit longer, and finds some more shackles to break."

Accolades

Soundtrack

Notes

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 11656220 American crime thriller films 2021 directorial debut films 2021 independent films 2021 films Films directed by Randall Emmett Films produced by Randall Emmett Films set in 2004 Films set in Florida Films shot in Puerto Rico Film productions suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic 2021 crime thriller films MoviePass Films films Lionsgate films 2020s English-language films 2020s American films English-language crime thriller films English-language independent films