NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Leoni Haney Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

gavin6942 Valentina, a beautiful fashion model, takes an experimental drug as part of a scientific experiment. While influenced by the drug, Valentina has a vision of a young woman being brutally murdered with a viciously spiked glove. It turns out that a woman was killed in exactly the same way not long ago and soon Valentina finds herself stalked by the same killer...We should note that other than the lack of Frank Wolff, this film very much has the same cast as "Death Walks on High Heels". In fact, this was the third collaboration between director Luciano Ercoli and legendary screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi. This makes the similar title appropriate, and even more appropriate still that Arrow Video has decided to bundle the films together."Midnight" draws inspiration from Mario Bava's "Girl Who Knew Too Much" (and both would be precursors to John Carpenter's under-appreciated "Eyes of Laura Mars"). Another scene is clearly an homage to Hitchcock's "Rear Window". Tim Lucas points out that this further makes the case for Ercoli being the Italian Brian DePalma, as DePalma is seen by many as the American successor to Hitchcock.Lucas notes that the film unusually "visually conservative" for a giallo, due very much to Ercoli's preference for script over image. Lucas calls him a "carpenter" in his approach. Indeed, it is interesting to see how Ercoli works compared to, say, Dario Argento, who filled every inch with color. Ercoli, who was above all else concerned with producing, keeps it all very simple, very sparse. this is not to say he is without the clever shot here and there, but it is not the visual feast we might expect.Stuart Galbraith has written that Midnight has "a stronger, less-predictable screenplay and a bit more visual flair" than its companion film, High Heels. I would say he is spot on with this assessment. Although both are great films, and High Heels probably has the better killer and soundtrack, Midnight seems to be overall the stronger of the two and has more complex characters.Arrow Video has blessed the genre community yet again with their Death Walks twice set. As noted in my separate review, "Death Walks on High Heels" is packed with extras, and so is this one! Another very informative Tim Lucas audio commentary really sells it for me, but we also have a brand new interview in which Gastaldi discusses "Death Walks at Midnight" and a career script-writing crime films. Oh, and a visual essay by Michael Mackenzie exploring the distinctive giallo collaborations between director Luciano Ercoli and star Nieves Navarro. Amazing!

Camera Obscura 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

The_Void It would seem that many fans don't consider 'Death Walks at Midnight' to be a good film, and while it's not a first class addition to the Giallo sub-genre; I rather liked it. The film is far less graphic than many Giallo fans will be used to, and there aren't many murders. The first and central murder leads you to believe that this film will feature more bloodshed as the film goes on; but the plot veers off-course often, and the film doesn't always focus on the murder themed plot. The first murder is so striking largely because of the murder weapon used; I've never seen a spiked glove before, and the murder scene is stylishly shot and gives the odd murder weapon a good environment to operate in. The plot is co-scripted by two prominent forces in Italian films; Sergio Corbucci ('Django') and more importantly, Ernesto Gastaldi who has a number of important Giallo classics under his belt, most notably Sergio Martino films such as Your Vice and The Case of the Scorpion's Tail. It follows a woman who tries out an experimental drug and while under its influence, witnesses the aforementioned graphic murder.The plot seems like an all too obvious excuse for a different perspective on the common Giallo theme of someone witnessing a murder, and as it isn't given explanation; it doesn't come off as being very credible. Director Luciano Ercoli makes up for this, however, with a constant stream of odd events and a good eye for striking cinematography, and although the plot soon becomes convoluted and often relies on coincidence; it's always engaging, and there's a lot of good ideas on display. The beautiful Susan Scott (a.k.a. Nieves Navarro), who has worked with Ercoli on films such as Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion and Death Walks on High Heels, heads an interesting cast, and does a good job of holding the film together. The fact that we know who the murderer is from the beginning ensures that there isn't a lot of mystery, but this is made up for by the way that there's always something new lurking just around the corner, and the script does a good job of implementing red herrings into the plot. The final twist can be seen coming a mile off; but the rooftop finale is a treat, and overall I've got to say that there's a lot to like about this not often seen Giallo.

HumanoidOfFlesh "Death Walks at Midnight" stars Nieves Navarro as fashion model Valentina,who experiments with a new hallucinogenic drug to help newspaper writer Gio with a story.Immediately,Valentina is overcome by a vision of a generously coiffed killer in dark glasses plunging a spiked metal glove into the face of a woman in the vacant apartment across the street.After coming to her senses,she demands to know if whole thing was simply imagined,or if the drug somehow set a repressed memory free.When Gio publishes his story,Valentina finds out that the murder did occur,and she must solve the killer's identity herself."Death Walks at Midnight" is fairly conventional giallo co-written by Sergio Corbucci of "Django" fame.It's not as sleazy as some of its contemporaries,but there are some stylish and sadistic flashback murder scenes.Give this tense thriller a look.7 out of 10.