User Reviews

Even with the inclusion of several red herrings and an implausible motive, I still managed to guess the identity of the murderer in Lamberto Bava's The Midnight Killer way before the end of the movie. Maybe I've just seen too many giallos and have come to expect the unexpected, but I figure that the reality is that this just isn't a great example of the genre.

Nicola, a policeman who discovers his wife is having an affair, is suspected of murder after his adulterous spouse turns up dead in her shower, having been stabbed with an icepick. After another victim turns up, killed with the same weapon, things do not look good for the poor copper, and he goes to his colleague Anna, a criminologist, for help. Anna believes Nicola to be innocent and suspects that the man really responsible is in fact Franco Tribbo, a murderer who supposedly died in a fire several years before...

Despite some great cinematography, a fabulous pulsing score courtesy of Claudio Simonetti, and an attractive selection of young women destined to die nasty deaths, The Midnight Killer still manages to be something of a disappointment. For a giallo, the death scenes are relatively free of gore, the story is not nearly as complex or as clever as it might be, and there is a distinct lack of nudity.

Worst of all, the film attempts (very poorly) to cheat its audience: at the end of the movie, the killer is revealed to be wearing a rubber mask in order to hide their true identity—despite the fact that their face is visible earlier on in the film and is clearly flesh and blood, even scowling and grimacing during one frenzied attack.

The Midnight Killer is a decidedly average effort that will be of little interest to anyone but the most ardent fan of Italian horror cinema.

Having found the last two Gialli that I have seen of Lamberto Bava (A Blade In The Dark and Body Parts-both also reviewed) to be fun,easy going,films,I decided to take a look at this near forgotten Giallo of his,which despite Bava's clear dislike for the final movie, (Bava is credited as John Old Jr) looked like a Giallo worth taking a midnight ramble with.

View on the film:

For the first 30 minutes of this smooth Giallo,screenwriters Lamberto Bava and Dardano Sacchetti keep the film moving at a very speedy pace,with Bava delivering some eye-catching stylized shots in Nicola and Sara's flat during the rough looking fight,whilst also giving sneak peaks at the motives and face of the killer.

Whilst the rest of this Giallo is far from bad,Bava seems to lose most of the excitement that he has for the movie once it crosses the 30 minute mark,which with the exception of one or two unique moments, (such as a girl attacking the killer with a whisk) ends up feeling like a middle of the road TV episode,with an almost too terrible to watch Scobby Doo pulling off the mask "twist".

I'll be honest. Other than Demons, which I attribute more to Argento than the director himself, I've never been a big fan of the films of Lamberto Bava. However, I've been wanting to give him another shot and this week's Jack the Ripper theme allowed me to watch another of his films. After all, I did enjoy his first movie and initial giallo, Macabre.

Lamberto has always stated that he's uneasy making giallo, saying "I find doing scenes where women get stabbed to death repugnant. Dario Argento does it so well, but I feel sick as soon as I see the knife in the murderer's hand." That doesn't stop him from going all in with the gore in the very first scene!

Otherwise known as You Will Die At Midnight, this is very much an Argento style giallo. That's not a bad thing. There's plenty of stalking suspense, including a great chase through a museum that feels very much like Bird with the Crystal Plumage.

Nicola is a policeman who learns that his wife is having an affair. They have a brutal fight where he leaves her bruised after trying to drown her in the kitchen sink. Sick at what he's done, he runs from their home. As soon as he's gone, a killer brutally stabs her in the shower.

Nicola is now the prime suspect in a series of murders, but his colleague and ex-girlfriend Anna (Valeria D'Obici, Moon Grey from Escape from the Bronx) thinks that this is the work of the Midnight Ripper, a serial killer that everyone believes has been dead for years.

Lamberto Bava is not afraid to present homages - or outright steal - from the greats. There's a shower scene ala Psycho. A character sits and reads from a giallo novel with art referencing Argento's Tenebre (it's actually the Italian poster art for the Coen Brothers' Blood Simple, but it steals a face from the Argento film!).

Even major plot points and the final chase have liberal elements lifted directly from The Bird with the Crystal Plumage and Torso. At least Lamberto shows sense of style here as he stitches together this quilt of giallo influences.

There's also plenty of sexualized elements to the Midnight Ripper's murders. Whomever it is - notice me being cagey about gender? - forces women to wear outfits before they murder them and uses handmixers on their dead bodies. Yeah - giallo really isn't concerned with being politically correct, I guess. There are also a lot of bad 80's outfits - or great ones, there's such a fine line - in this movie.

Lara Wendel from Tenebre and Ghosthouse shows up, as does Paolo Marco, who played the therapist in The New York Ripper, Bob's dad in The House by the Cemetery and the vice-president in Escape from the Bronx. Plus, with Claudio Simonetti providing the soundtrack, you know this is going to be a movie that sounds great.

I've gone on and on about the look of Italian cinema in my many reviews, about how the color is just perfect. Midnight Ripper is another film that fits in well with my love of bright hues and dark edges. I wouldn't recommend this as the first giallo anyone watches, but if you're well-versed in the genre, this has nice moments that will remind you of other films while keeping you interested throughout.

Have I reevaluated my feelings on Lamberto Bava? Somewhat, yes. Perhaps the downturn in his films neatly mirror the sad fate of the Italian horror industry in the 1980's and 90's, when even his mentor Argento's work began to suffer.

In any industry, I think it's always hard to follow in the footsteps of your father. It must be especially tough though if he's an outright legend that's credited with not only defining a genre, but also launching one. No matter how well you and your dad get along, there's always going to be a little bit of friendly rivalry. Plus you can virtually guarantee that critics will always compare the works of a senior with that of his son. That's why it must've been hard for Lamberto Bava to escape the consistent comparisons and make his own name in Italian cinema. But Morirai a mezzanotte (Midnight Killer) goes someway to showing that talent certainly ran thickly through the genes of the Bava family. It's just a shame that Mario was not alive to witness his son's worthy addition to the category that he created.

Now in all honesty, despite being extremely knowledgeable about the slasher cycle, I must admit that I have spent very little time researching the giallo. But I have still thoroughly enjoyed the likes of Mystery in Venice, Eyes without a Face, Too Beautiful to Die and Blood and Black Lace. It wasn't until after I'd been impressed with this rarity that I began tracking down other genre classics. So you could say that Midnight Killer was something of a turning point for me…

It opens with a middle-aged woman shopping for some lingerie in a bustling town centre. Her husband Nicola (Leonardo Treviglio) sees her walking the street and begins following her. He buys a flower and waits outside the shop to give her a charming surprise. He certainly didn't expect to see another man enter the changing rooms and he is even more shocked when they sneak out of the rear exit and shoot off in the mysterious stranger's car. Later that night when she finally returns, the couple has a violent argument, which ends with Nicola storming out of the flat. After he has left, a black gloved assailant creeps into the apartment and brutally murders the promiscuous female with an ice pick. Inspector Pierro Terzi (the essential Paolo Malco) immediately suspects Nicola as the killer and so he enlists a psychological profiler named Anna Berardi (Valeria D'Obici) to help him crack the case. Berardi is a good friend to the Detective and she also teaches his daughter's college course. She doesn't think that Nicola is the guilty party, instead she suspects Franco Trebo – a serial murderer that was supposedly killed in a fire eight years earlier. As the bodies begin piling up round the city, it's looking more and more like Trebo is back from the grave. The most worrying thing for inspector Terzi is that this bizarre maniac seems to have a viscous taste for his youngest daughter Carol (Lara Wendel). Will he be able to stop the ruthless psychopath before he tracks down his daughter?

Many critics have been disappointed with Lamberto Bava's directorial work since his debut feature (Macabre) pretty much flopped on release in 1980. But I believe that it's only because they always compare his filmography to the seminal works of his father. It's a shame that this murder mystery was not distributed to a much wider audience, as it is a little seen gem that deserves recognition. This is mainly due to a fantastic score from Brazilian composer Claudio Simonetti (of the Goblin fame) and some truly chilling set locations. The killer stalks his way through a neglected theatre, a sinister museum and a vacant hotel with relish, and the atmosphere-engrossing musical accompaniment helps to create some decent suspense. He also looks extremely menacing in a rubber facemask and his victims usually suffer at the hands of a stylishly directed set piece. The acting is fairly good from the leads and credit to Bava for enlisting Lucio Fulci-favorite Paolo Malco to join a comfortable cast. Many previous Italian giallos (Eyes without a Face/Massacre) have suffered from inept and poorly translated English voice-overs. Fortunately that's not the case with Midnight Killer, which was dubbed with considerable thought for non-Italian viewers.

Fans of Italian gore cinema may be disappointed at the minuscule amount of the old gooey stuff. Also the lack of any nudity will probably switch off exploitation buffs that have been spoilt over the years by the likes of The New York Ripper. The mystery-aspect is not as complex and intelligent as many of its genre forefathers have proved to be either, which may cause bedroom Agatha Christies to search in the opposite direction. But still this is a refreshing and fairly absorbing entry that deserves to be seen by a wider audience. I do agree that Lamberto is a much better screenwriter than he is a director, but Midnight Killer is good enough to make his father proud if he had been alive to see it. Recommended