A Morte Caminha à Meia-Noite

There is a lot of charm to early 70's European films that you don't find now. One of those charms is the music, and another is the way people used to dress, and their attitude. It was so quaint. The fact nobody relied on mobile phones back then and just ran to call boxes, and the turning dial phones was old fashioned and pleasant. Parts of the film here was just funny, the big smacks in the faces, the name calling insults, tantrums and the characters a bit goofy. Valentina, the main character has horrid visions of a scary man killing a woman after taking an experimental drug. Ever since then she's been followed and I always had suspicions. Pleasantly made gory crime film.

If you have a daughter make sure she's not dumb enough to end up with a partner like this. Valentina is a fashion model (this is a giallo, after all) whose journalist boyfriend manages to talk her into taking an experimental LSD-like drug for the sake of a magazine article. He assures her she'll be wearing a mask and a doctor will administer the drug, but once she's high as a kite he takes the mask off and starts taking pictures of her. While she's ripped to the nines and well muntered, larging it the 'nth' degree and chewing her cheeks, she also has some sort of vision where she sees a man punching a woman in the face over and over again with a spiked glove.

Thinking it was all part of the trip, the next day she gets sacked from her job and finds her face plastered all over her boyfriend's magazine. She also finds out the 'doctor' was a doorman, goes mental, and throws a brick through her boyfriend's window. Then she starts seeing that killer around the place, and it seems that not only did she not hallucinate a murder, but the drug might have triggered a repressed memory of murder she may have witnessed six months before – and it gets even more complicated than that!

We know the killer right from the start, but we have no idea who he is, what he's up to, or why someone is in a loony bin for a murder he seemingly committed! Many other characters turn up to badger Valentino, and two very shifty gentlemen, including a knife throwing, giggling Luciano Rossi, roll into town for some reason too. The police are pretty much useless in this one, so can she turn to one of her two boyfriends for help? That's right, two, and one of them is a sculptor looking after two Japanese kids, for good measure.

Just like Ercoli's previous film Death Walks on High Heels, this one is a bit too long, but the pay-off is well worth it! Just about every character that makes it to the end of the film ends up on the roof of an apartment block for a final fight/punch up/stabbing/gun fight, and this is where Ercoli finally unleashes the nastiness. One character even ends up splattered across the pavement with his brains lying next to his head and his cigarette holder poking through his face. Kinds of wakes you up a bit when that happens in a film.

So then, another good, solid, beautiful looking giallo from Ercoli. I can't wait to watch the next one: Open the Door, Get on the Floor, Death Walks the Dinosaur!

Italian/Spanish co-production dealing with a killing spree with several suspects . It concerns on Valentina (Nieves Navarro and Susan Scott) a gorgeous and spunky fashion model living in Milan . Valentina proofs an experimental hallucinogenic drug and while influenced by the doses , she has a vision of a woman being cruelly killed by an ominous murderous . Valentina finds herself pursued by the same murderer with a spiked glove . It begins with the mysterious death of a woman and continues spirals into the killing . Meanwhile a journalist (Simon Andreu) becomes companion and protector the cover-up who is being continuously stalked .

This Giallo contains suspense , thrills, chills , intrigue and plot twists . Luciano Ercoli's great success is compellingly directed with well staged murders plenty of startling visual content , though was submitted to limited censorship in Spain . This is a customary slasher where the intrigue, tension, suspense appear threatening and lurking in every room , corridors and luxurious interior and exterior . The picture packs atmospheric blending of eerie thrills and creepy chills combined with a twisted finale . It displays lots of blood but it seems pretty mild compared to today's gore feasts . It's a solid movie , a thrilling story plenty of suspense and intrigue in which the victims seem to be continuous . The staged killings are the high points of the movie , they deliver the goods plenty of screams, shocks and tension . The intriguing moments are compactly made and fast moving ; as the film itself takes place from various points of sights . It packs tension, shocks , thrills , chills and lots of blood . There're brief moments of gore as the killing with the spiked glove and a number of scenes that are quite thrilling , resulting to be definitely the spotlight of the film the surprising ending situation . Written by the usuals , Ernesto Gastaldi and Sergio Corbucci , a good director of Spaghetti Western . Good ambiance design and acceptable production design by Eduardo De La Torre Fuente. Luciano Ercoli's so-so direction is well crafted, here he's less cynical and more inclined toward violence and lots of killings . It's a co-production Italian-Spanish filmed in Alfonso Balcazar studios (Barcelona)and De Paolis (Rome) , for that reason appears Spanish actors as Nieves Navarro , Simon Andreu and Italian players as Ivano Staccioli, Luciano Rossi and the recently deceased Peter Martellanza or Peter Martell , both of whom ordinary baddies in Spaghetti Western . Colorful cinematography by Fernando Arribas who photographed splendidly city of Milan where is developed the action . However , the photography is washed-out and for that reason is necessary an urgent remastering . Atmospheric and commercial musical score by Gianni Ferrio .

The picture is regularly directed by producer/filmmaker Luciano Ercoli. Talented and versatile Ercoli has produced/directed a vast array of often solid and entertaining films in all kind of genres as horror, Giallo and Western, in a middling career . He produced a trilogy for Duccio Tessari formed by two Western as ¨A pistol for Ringo¨, ¨The return of Ringo¨ and ¨Kiss, Kiss , Bang , Bang¨ , the latter is set in modern times and deal with a heist . All of them are amusing and entertaining and starred by similar cast as Giuliano Gemma , Fernando Sancho , Lorella De Luca and Nieves Navarro who married the producer Luciano Ercoli . He also produced the Giallo trilogy starred by Simon Andreu and his wife Susan Scott formed by ¨Death walks on high heels¨ , ¨The forbidden photos of a lady above of suspicion¨, and ¨Death walks at midnight¨. Rating: Acceptable and passable , this is one imaginative slasher picture in which the camera stalks in sinister style throughout a story with acceptable visual skills though contains some flaws and gaps . This is a bewildering story , funny in some moment but falls flat and it will appeal to hardcore Gialli fans

During an experiment with a hallucinogenic drug, model Valentina (Nieves Navarro aka Susan Scott) sees a woman being brutally murdered by a man wearing a spiked iron glove. But when no body is found, she can't seem to get anyone to believe her story. She begins to see the killer everywhere she goes. She's sure her life is in danger and is unable to convince her friends or the police that she's being stalked by a vicious murderer.

I had high hopes for Death Walks at Midnight having just seen and enjoyed Death Walks on High Heels. The two movies have so much in common that it seemed like a sure thing. While not being a sequel, the two movies share a director, a number of actors, and a convoluted plot. But while I found the twists and turns in Death Walks on High Heels a joy to watch unfold, Death Walks at Midnight is a little too convoluted for its own good. Story lines are introduced and almost dropped immediately with no resolution. These story tangents have nothing to do with the plot other than muddying the waters. Characters are introduced with no background information and almost immediately forgotten about. Too many of the characters never seem "real" or fleshed-out and are not effective red herrings. And, I almost get the feeling that much of the movie is weird for the sake of being weird. There's no real purpose for many of the unusual events, people, places, etc. in Death Walks at Midnight other than adding some bizarreness to the proceedings. For example, why even have the asylum scene? It adds nothing to the film. The problems with the plot are really disappointing because not only did I enjoy the first movie, but Death Walks at Midnight's screenplay was written by Sergio Corbucci. Corbucci directed some of my favorite Spaghetti Westerns. But here, he's written what I'll describe as a spastic script that tries too hard to be different.

That's not to say the movie was a total waste of time. There are a number of things I really enjoyed about Death Walks at Midnight. First would have to be Nieves Navarro. As I said when writing about Death Walk on High Heels, Navarro is excellent in this kind of film. She's a natural playing the "Woman in Distress". Navarro has a real, undeniable screen presence. Second would have to be the spiked glove. It's as nasty a murder weapon as you'll see. Finally, I like the overall look of the film. Ercoli had a real eye for some interesting visuals.

In the end, I can't wholeheartedly recommend Death Walks at Midnight to anyone other than a die hard Giallo fan. There are far better, more entertaining examples of the genre that might appeal more to the casual fan.

DEATH WALKS AT MIDNIGHT (Luciano Ercoli - Italy/Spain 1972).

Before the DVD-age the only English title for this film I know of, is CRY OUT IN TERROR, after the soundtrack released on LP and later on expanded edition CD. This is not mentioned on the IMDb as the film never got a proper release in English-speaking regions, not even on video, to my knowledge. Adding to the confusion, this title was already hardly distinguishable from Ercoli's earlier DEATH WALKS ON HIGH HEELS (1970) (largely the same theme, cast and music) and I've noticed that in reviews on some sites, this is treated as a follow-up to Ercoli's first Giallo FORBIDDEN PHOTOS OF A LADY ABOVE SUSPICION (1970), clearly confusing this film with DEATH WALKS ON HIGH HEELS, which is Ercoli's second Giallo.

Written by six writers(!), among them Sergio Corbucci and Ernesto Gastaldi, the film is set in Milan. Valentina (Susan Scott or Nieves Navarro), a successful model, agrees to try a hallucinogenic drug as part of a scientific experiment. While under the influence she experiences some flashbacks of a man in sunglasses graphically murdering a woman with a spiked metal glove, quite an original murder weapon. Strangely enough, a woman was butchered in exactly the same manner in a vacant apartment. The killer lures Valentina into this apartment after which she narrowly escapes with her life. What follows are more attempts on her life and even more questions about the killer's identity. Mind-bending drugs and outrageous fashions with plenty of tacky '70s dance floor scenes abound in this in this convoluted murder mystery. I might have been a bit harsh in my judgement on Ercoli's DEATH WALKS ON HIGH HEELS but no matter how many reservations I have regarding his output, I've grown a bit fond of his work. This one is the weakest entry in his Giallo-cycle, but I cannot dismiss it either. It's rather disappointing because of its confusing plot and ridiculous finale, complete with a gang of giggling thugs. Gianno Ferrio's score is no patch on Morricone's scores in earlier Ercoli films, but its sheer luridness makes for some reasonably tacky entertainment.

Camera Obscura --- 6/10