[yasr_overall_rating]
After Valentina, a beautiful fashion model, takes an experimental drug as part of a scientific experiment, she 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.
I used to think that Dario Argento’s “Suspiria” was the gateway for getting into giallo. And before some of you readers start thinking I’m talking about gelato, I should probably explain what I’m talking about. Giallo is an Italian film sub-genre that contains elements of mystery, slasher, supernatural, and crime films. I don’t think I have seen enough giallo to be able to say anything more precise than that. But, whatever giallo is or is not, “Suspiria” is the watershed version of the sub-genre and “Death Walks at Midnight” is giallo’s mildly attractive daughter. If you can tell me exactly how much you like “Death Walks at Midnight,” I can tell you exactly how much you will like the giallo movement.
I know next to nothing about Italian film so I have attempted to do very little research as far as “Death Walks at Midnight.” I know that the film was Luciano Ercoli’s third and final film in the series. (I’m aware of the 1973 Spanish film “Death Carries a Cane” but do not consider that film part of the series seeing as it was not directed by Ercoli.) I know “Death Walks at Midnight” is loosely connect to the other two Death Walks films. I know that Ercoli cast his wife, Nieves Navarro (billed as Susan Scott), in the main role as Valentine. What does “Death Walks at Midnight” have to offer?
- 4 hallucinogenic visions
- 1 grown man playing with a doll
- 1 trip to an asylum
- 1 prominently featured J&B bottle
- 1 man who hilariously dies from falling
- 1 gruesomely killed cat
- 1 tumbling graveyard statute
- 1 lady killed by a spiked glove
- 2 men shot to death
The story opens on Valentine, who is willing to gamble with her mental wiring by injecting herself with experimental drugs for a fistful of dollars. Gio Bialdi (Simon Andreu) records Valentine after she is injected with the experimental drug. During her drug high, Valentine sees the image of a woman being murdered by a man who wears a medieval spiked glove.
After a magazine is published detailing Valentine’s drug trip, Valentine is fired from her position at a local office. (I think Valentine was supposed to be a journalist, but I’m not sure and the film does not openly explain this.) Angered at losing her job, Valentine ends up throwing a rock through a window.
She ends up hallucinating about the man with the spiked glove. These hallucinations lead Valentine to a surreal trip through the adjacent apartment building and she soon discovers that the woman she saw killed was actually murdered six months ago.
After hallucinating again, Valentine goes to the authorities, who don’t believe her. So she begins to research things on her own. She goes to the asylum to see the man who committed the murder. Unable to speak, the man sits peacefully in the asylum. Valentine tries to go home, but is nearly raped by “Van Driver” (Alessandro Perrella).
Things take a turn for the worst when Valentine is almost injured when someone cuts the rope holding a graveyard statue. A series of murders soon occurs but the authorities still don’t believe her.
Valentine’s boyfriend, Stefano (Peter Martell), begins acting suspicious and she learns second-hand, that Stefano is going to Switzerland and he also starts becoming physically abusive with her.
Valentine eventually sees the killer she has been hallucinating about. The killer is being beaten by the drug smugglers, Juan Hernandez (Raul Aparici) and Hans Krutzer (Luciano Rossi). Eventually, the smugglers end up murdering the killer and tying up Valentine. Stefano appears to tell Valentine that he never loved her. In a convoluted backstory, Stefano tells Valentine that he actually has a complicated plan. He pinned a couple of murders on her, for which Stefano was really the one responsible and he only started dating her because her apartment was directly across the street from the building that he was watching. The nearly comatose man was framed by Stefano and he then tries to kill Valentine but she is saved by Gio.
There is a final fight on the rooftop involving Valentine, Gio, Stefano, and the drug smugglers. One of the smugglers falls off the roof and the second smuggler is shot to death by the police and Valentine emerges as the heroine triumphant, by shooting Stefano.
I didn’t find much to enjoy in “Death Walks at Midnight.” The plot is remarkably convoluted and ultimately resolved by the film grasping at a handful of straws. I meant what I said about the film being a giallo litmus test, though. Checking out the film’s score on the highly recommended GialloScore website, furthers this point. There is not much tone to be found here, though. The film isn’t scary, funny, or atmospheric at all. I’ve read several reviews of critics who found this film hard to write about, which I’m almost certain is not because there’s anything difficult to process about the film. Instead, I think it’s hard to talk about “Death Walks at Midnight” because while the film is not very good, the film is also not bad enough to hate. The film is remarkably mediocre and highly forgettable. If you find anything memorable to this film, it’s a good indication that you’re interested in giallo.
Available now on Blu-ray & DVD as part of a 4-Disc Limited Special Edition Boxset
