Morirai a mezzanotte

Midnight Killer is exactly what you would expect from Lamberto Bava.Full of suspense,thrills,twists,turns,red herrings.But also people (mostly women acting stupid). Some of the victims act in such an illogical manner that at one point you begin to think."Don't tell me she is that stupid.Go ahead,kill her already". The pace is really good and you are constantly wondering who the killer is. At one point you can deduce it for yourself. Although I must admit that Lamberto successfully made me doubt a couple of times. He uses some clever tricks to put you off the trail.And in this case I simply loved that.Of course the ending might be too far fetched for some especially since the explanation is fast and short.It did not matter to me since it was effective.Overall Midnight Killer is a very decent giallo that delivers.

Even though the truly golden years for the Italian giallo had passed since quite a while already, the decade of the 1980's still brought forward a handful of decent & memorable efforts. Two directors in particular kept this magnificent sub genre alive, namely Dario Argento (with his "Tenebrae" and "Opera") and Lamberto Bava. His best known giallo may be "A Blade in the Dark" but this "The Midnight Ripper" is arguable his best effort, alongside "Delirium: Photos of Gioia". Whatever the film lacks in originality and plausibility, it makes up in sheer suspense and gory good killings! When the adulterous wife of a police officer is found brutally stabbed in her apartment, her husband Nikola immediately becomes the prime suspect because he's an alcoholic and doesn't have an alibi. But when more murder occur in the city, a female police psycho-analyst points out that the nature of these killings strangely resemble the style of notorious Italian serial killer. The only problem is that this killer, nicknamed the Midnight Ripper, died in an arson more than ten years ago. No, sadly the plot of this film isn't as convoluted as those of 70's gialli, but it surely holds your attention and Lamberto Bava at least attempted to add some typical red herrings. The musical score is absolutely staggering, thanks to composer Claudio Simonetti (the main man behind the successful cult band Goblin). Ah yes, and then there are the murders.... Anyone who's familiar with other Bava titles such as "Demons" or "Macabre" knows that our director isn't afraid to stuff his films with sadistic violence and graphic gore. The gruesome murders in "The Midnight Ripper" are committed by ordinary kitchenware, such as knives, an ice-pick (eat your heart out, "Basic Instinct"!) and even a blender. It's a very cool film and I'm sure that every fan of Italian horror cinema will love watching it.

'You'll Die at Midnight' also known under other titles such as 'Midnight Ripper' & 'Midnight Horror' is a rather cheesy and quite enjoyable Italian made for TV Giallo/slasher flick from the 1980's directed by Lamberto Bava. This movie's plot is fairly routine and oddly structured and given its time period its lacking some much needed stylish visuals and interesting set-pieces that could have elevated things.

The plot begins with a man named Nicola (Leonardo Treviglio) who discovers his wife is cheating on him and after a violent argument she is murdered and he becomes the prime suspect. Soon more young women begin to die at the hands of the maniac, is Nicola the killer or is it someone else?

Trying to find a classic Giallo flick from the late 80's onwards is a hard task, and you'll have to look through a lot of lesser efforts just to find anything decent. But sadly, this movie isn't quite a lost gem waiting to be discovered, instead this is a by the numbers Giallo that has been forgotten for a reason. The lack of suspense and violent or interesting death scenes really hurts this film and given that it was a made for TV production I can't fault the director on that one. Instead we get a mystery that isn't very compelling and a bunch of flatly written characters and wooden performances.

Overall 'You'll Die at Midnight' is certainly not the worst Giallo out there, it's just very average at best.

This film begins with police officer "Nicola Levi" (Leonardo Treviglio) discovering that his wife, "Sara Levi" (Barbara Scoppa), has been having an affair. Enraged, they get into a fight when she comes home, nearly leading to her being killed after she stabs him with an ice pick. Fortunately, Levi pulls himself together and leaves the house at the last moment, first going to see a psychologist named "Anna Berardi" (Valeria D'Obici), whom he trusts completely. While he's there, someone enters his wife's house and stabs her to death with the same ice pick she previously used against Nicola. Needless to say, he immediately becomes the prime suspect, even though Anna is convinced that he is entirely innocent. Not only that, but she also believes the killer will strike again soon. However, when he does, rather than clearing Nicola, the police continue to list him as their prime suspect, which makes things even more difficult for all concerned. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will simply say that this was an okay slasher film that benefited greatly from the mystery surrounding the actual identity of the killer. On the other hand, I thought that some of the scenes were a bit too unrealistic, and other scenes could have used a little more gore or intensity. But that's just my opinion. In any case, although certainly not one of the better horror films during this particular era, it managed to pass the time reasonably well, and I have rated it accordingly.

A police officer, Nicola, violently argues with his rich wife, Sarah, because of her affair with a man, and goes to his female friend, Anne, a psychologist/ professor. But Sarah was murdered in the bathroom of the house, and most parts of the police think Nicola is the primary suspect, except Piero, an inspector of the case, who realises that what the still-unknown-murderer really wants is his daughter, Carol who is one of the students of Anne... If one expect something cinematically new in this film, (s)he will be disappointed strictly because there is almost nothing new. But (s)he is a fun of Giallo films, I think (s)he can love this because whole the film consisted of selective elements of Giallo films, notably of Dario Argento's TENEBRE and FOUR FLIES ON GREY VELVET. For instance, the music composer of this film is Claudio Simonetti of the GOBLIN (and he does an excellent job here), and Lara Wendel of TENEBRE's youngest victim, Maria, plays the short-haired fair heroine, Carol (and her boyish attractiveness adds a fresh atmosphere to the film). But above all, particularly with the regard to the plot, the influence of FOUR FLIES ON GREY VELVET is much stronger, and one can even say this film is a post-TENEBRE remake of it.