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Saturday, January 24, 2015

Death Walks at Midnight

LA MORTE ACCAREZZA A MEZZANOTTE
CRY OUT IN TERROR
Italy 197
D: Luciano Ercoli
P: Luciano Ercoli & Alberto Pugliese for Cinecompany S.R.L. & C.B. Films Produccion S.A//St & Sc: Sergio Corbucci, Ernesto Gastaldi & May Velasco//DP: Fernando Arribas//E: Angelo Curi//M: Gianni Ferrio//Art D: Francisco Di Stefano & Juan Alberto//Costumes: Barbara Pugliese//Makeup: Irma Bacciardi
Cast: Susan Scott, Simon Andreu, Peter Martell, Ivan Staccioli, Carlo Gentili, Luciano Rossi, Claudie Lange, Claudio Pellegrini, Fabrizio Moresco, Alessandro Perrella, Elio Veller.



Valentina agrees to take a new hallucinogenic drug so her boyfriend, reporter Giovanni Baldi, can do a story on its effects for his paper. During the experience, Valentina "witnesses" a brutal murder. Once the story is published, her reputation is ruined and she's fired from her job. A former love, Stefano, shows up and saves her from the man she saw as the murderer during her drug hallucinations. It turns out that a murder did take place where Valentina claims she saw it, but it happened six months earlier. Valentina realizes this wasn't the crime she witnessed as the victim was not the same person. When that woman turns up dead, killed in a drug deal gone sour, the mystery deepens even more. Finally, with the help of Giovanni, Valentina discovers Stefano'r real reason for returning to her place and what part she is to play in the murders.


This film could be referred to as a "Just say no" Giallo since it involves drug trafficking and the ill effects such illegal substances have on their victim's lives. We even get a lecture from the police commissionar about the evils of narcotics. The film suffers from being too talky and with a minimum of exploitable staples, such as nudity (there is none) and gore (a few splashes of blood), one could quickly deem this film as unworthy. There must have been a heavy influence exerted on the film by its Spanish producers as this is one of the tamer entries in the Genre by director Luciano Ercoli. When you watch Ercoli's DEATH WALKS IN HIGH HEELS you know he has no qualms when it comes to nudity and gore. If you can overlook these flaws however, you're in for a real treat in other ways. Susan Scott (Nieves Navarro), the wife of director Ercoli, gives a Hell of a performance, probably the best of her career. She's on screen for almost every minute of the film's running time and never once wears out her welcome. Surrounded by non-believers, led on wild goose chases, hit on by creepy truck drivers; you name it. Scott has to work overtime to overcome her incompetant lover, dimwitted police men and psycho drug dealers (check out Luciano Rossi's non-verbal crazy, he's the king of creeps when it comes to Italian genre cinema. The amazing Kier-la Janisse even wrote a short softcover book devoted to this singular unique actor!)) to solve the crime. It's a whirlwind performance that deserves a better film. If you're in the mood for a strong role model to meet the demands of your feminist significant other, here it is.

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