Death Walks at Midnight (1972)

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Undertaking an experimental drug test, a fashion model who believes she saw a murder committed during the time tries to convince others of the incident which only provokes the killer out of hiding into targeting her and forcing her to solve the killers' identity to stop him.This was quite the exceptional and thrilling Giallo. Most of what makes this one so much fun is the fact that this one goes for a rather intriguing and impressive setup that gives this one a truly enjoyable feel. The fact that this one goes for the ever-familiar genre setup of the main murder being witnessed by an unfamiliar source, here the novel idea of a person under the influence of drugs when the crime occurs, gives this a wholly unique starting point that falls in line with the usual tropes of the genre. This becomes a great launching pad for the investigation as the desire to prove them wrong puts this at a great overall tone, leading her into some rather fun scenes here of her going through the mystery. It keeps this one going along nicely as the race to not only uncover the man's identity, as well as the apparent connection to the past crime-spree, gives this one the kind of enjoyable setup to unravel that the film is quite suspenseful during these scenes as the constant confusion over the seeming series of threats to her as they continually run into the killer despite everyone saying otherwise. This makes the film engaging and far more intriguing than it otherwise would be as these are used in place to hold off the body count as there's a lot of fun to be had with her trying to track down the clues to it all in a much more active manner. Given that the film still contains a few enjoyable stalking scenes, from the encounter in the empty apartment to the foot chase through the crowded city streets and the great scene on the highway where they meet up by chance only for the oblivious driver to force her into a compromising situation that lets the killer go free. There's also a lot to like here about the killer and his killing method, with the spiked metal glove being a truly terrifying weapon while the strong scenes of it ripping at the face, shredding off strips of skin and bringing forth oozing bloodletting in the few on-screen kills shown leave quite a strong lasting impression here, and take center stage in the gruesome finale with all the fantastic stalking featured there as this all gives the film plenty to like. These here are more than enough to hold this one over it's few minor and barely detrimental flaws here. The biggest issue is the fact that her continual exploits in solving the case are often at the complete detriment to the police who are solely made out to be fools simply for her to be proved right as there's little reason why they would be this clueless in the face of the evidence presented. Likewise, the incessant gathering of clues does tend to slow this one down a touch as there's a section where the killer doesn't really strike all that often and instead resorts to taunting her rather than targeting her, bringing down the chance for a couple extra kills. These don't really hurt the film much but do drag it down slightly.Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence, Language and drug use.

For so many this is pure cult and now that the Blu ray release is on it's way it was time to go pick it up. I must admit that I'm not a big fan of the Giallo genre. Some are stupid and are clocking in at two hours, way too long. And the script itself is sometimes hilarious as I mean, the conversations. Let this on be a perfect example of it. The conversations were so dull that I lost track of the story and laughed it out sometimes. There isn't that much going on, oh yes, the glove is there, and the killings are all linked and you will be fooled and you do see the killer in the first minute you think but overall this is the Giallo I don't like. I'm more fan of the sleazy Giallo's but most of them aren't released and are still OOP. If you want an example, Giallo A Venezia (1979). But Dario Argento I can dig too. Gore 0/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 0,5/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5

On the surface, director Luciano Ercoli's Death Walks at Midnight appears to be a rather straight-forward Giallo. You get to see the killer's face right at the beginning, his brutal murder of a woman named Dolores visually captured within the drugged out vision of fashion model Valentina(..luscious red-head, Nieves Navarro, her fiery personality a major attraction to this here Giallo fan)who agreed to have an experimental hallucinogen called HDS injected into her bloodstream(..I'm guessing it was essentially a drug like LSD). The one responsible for talking her into taking HDS was journalist for a rag mag Novello 2000, Gia, Valentina's on-again / off-again lover. Gia got a great article out of her revelations regarding the sickening violent attack of a maniac, with big black shades and an overcoat, burying his iron glove with spikes into the skull of a brunette. Gia reckons she read about, sometime ago, a similar murder of a stripper named Hélène, and is pulling his chain about actually seeing the act take place in vivid detail as it was being carried out(..although, his suggestion that she possibly saw it happen, "self-censored" the act in her sub-conscious, with the drug re-awakening the memory, is probably a more accurate assessment). When the killer discovers her article in the magazine, Valentina's life is in danger, but the plot doesn't stop here..it's far more complex and stretches it's tentacles beyond what she could possibly have imagined.You get everything a Giallo fan is accustomed to here and then some. The fashions, the exotic Milan setting, luxurious apartments, restaurants and clubs, a positively gorgeous lead actress, insanely convoluted plot with a plethora of characters coming out of the woodwork, a really nasty murder weapon which does some serious damage to a victim's face, a series of questionable suspects and colorful villains(..including a drug-dealing psycho who giggles), well orchestrated finale where Gia comes to Valentina's rescue, engaging in fisticuffs on top of an apartment complex with those planning to set her up in a murder / suicide scenario, with some fabulous set-pieces including methods of how Ercoli captures facial reflections and action up close and personal as bodies(..and blood as the iron glove "stabs the screen") fly toward the screen when characters are fighting. The twist is a good one.The plot really places poor Valentina in a difficult predicament for everyone doubts her as she tries her best to get the truth across to Inspector Serino(Carlo Gentili;who believes she's staging a publicity stunt with Gia), sculptor boyfriend Stefano(Pietro Martellanza;who always dismisses her rantings as a whole bunch of hullabaloo), and Gia(Simón Andreu;who believes she's seeking revenge against him for the HDS incident, and for restitution). After the article is published, Valentina is inadvertently involved with a mysterious woman named Verushka(Claudie Lange;whose sister was Hélène), Verushka's odd asylum doctor husband, Otto(Ivano Staccioli;whose role in the grand scheme of things is of consequence), Pepito(Fabrizio Moresco;a pale skinned weirdo with a red scarf, often confronting Valentino about their lives being in grave danger), and two drug dealers who are tied to a secret mastermind whose operating within Milan. Henri Velaq(Claudio Pellegrini), the infamous killer of the film, is only a piece in a larger puzzle regarding rival drug dealing groups. The empty apartment across from Valentina's pad where Delores was brutally slain is of great importance to the overall story and figures highly into how Valentina become(..and remains)involved in the story.Navarro proves to be quite a find for me as I make my way through the Giallo genre, her elegance and beauty certainly enchanting, as is her strength and tenacity when confronting those that question her validity regarding what she knows(..as Velaq stalks her, no one will take her seriously when she informs them of his actions, not to mention the other people who start entering the picture).

Valentina(Nieves Navarro or Susan Scott as she is billed) is a fashion model who agrees to take an hallucinogenic drug for a medical experiment. The experiment is being recorded by Valentina's journalist friend for an article he is going to write,but under the influence of the drug Valentina somehow gets some extra sensory vision of a savage murder of a girl by a middle-aged man who kills her with a spiked metal glove. Valentina only participated on condition that her identity is kept secret but the journalist publishes the whole story and now Valentina's life is in danger from the killer.Valentina is then plagued by the killer every where she goes but unfortunately for her nobody else sees the killer.This trend continues as the body count rises the corpses that she sees disappear before the police get there and so nobody believes her fantastic story. One reason the police don't believe Valentina is that there was such a killing but the killer was caught and has been in a mental institution for six months and fob her off as a nut.Valentina goes to check out the killer but when she gets there the killer is not the man in her vision.Is she going mad ?Is she still feeling the effects of the drugs? is she being set up? Beautifully shot with a nice but sparsely used score this Giallo is a huge disappointment, from the offset we are lead to believe this might just be a classic of the genre with the opening kill, but this film dies a death after its opening gambit.The beautiful Navarro and Simón Andreu have a little chemistry but its not enough to save the film from being quite dull and unimaginative, there are no spectacular kills or set pieces to excite us and the distinct lack of suspense puts the final nail in this baby's coffin, added to that a propensity for silly comic characters in silly situations is just plain annoying.The sound on the Mondo Macabro DVD is also patchy and quite tinny and with a lot of hiss at times which is infuriating.I do hope the No Shame release next year is better.For Giallo completists only.