Director: Luciano Ercoli
Year: 1972
Country: Italy/Spain
Alternate Titles: La morte accarezza a mezzanotte; Cry Out in Terror
Genre: Giallo
Plot:
Undertaking an experimental drug test, a fashion model who believes she saw a murder committed during that time tries to convince others of the incident which only provokes the killer out of hiding into targeting her and forcing her to solve the killer's identity to stop him.
Review:
This was quite the exceptional and thrilling Giallo. Most of what makes this one so much fun is the fact that this one goes for a rather intriguing and impressive setup that gives this one a truly enjoyable feel. The fact that this one goes for the ever-familiar genre setup of the main murder being witnessed by an unfamiliar source, here the novel idea of a person under the influence of drugs when the crime occurs, gives this a wholly unique starting point that falls in line with the usual tropes of the genre. This becomes a great launching pad for the investigation as the desire to prove them wrong puts this at a great overall tone, leading her into some rather fun scenes here of her going through the mystery.
It keeps this one going along nicely as the race to not only uncover the man's identity, as well as the apparent connection to the past crime spree, gives this one the kind of enjoyable setup to unravel that the film is quite suspenseful during these scenes as the constant confusion over the seeming series of threats to her as they continually run into the killer despite everyone saying otherwise. This makes the film engaging and far more intriguing than it otherwise would be as these are used in place to hold off the body count as there's a lot of fun to be had with her trying to track down the clues to it all in a much more active manner.
Given that the film still contains a few enjoyable stalking scenes, from the encounter in the empty apartment to the foot chase through the crowded city streets and the great scene on the highway where they meet up by chance only for the oblivious driver to force her into a compromising situation that lets the killer go free. There's also a lot to like here about the killer and his killing method, with the spiked metal glove being a truly terrifying weapon while the strong scenes of it ripping at the face, shredding off strips of skin, and bringing forth oozing bloodletting in the few on-screen kills shown leave quite a strong lasting impression here, and take center stage in the gruesome finale with all the fantastic stalking featured there as this all gives the film plenty to like.
These here are more than enough to hold this one over its few minor and barely detrimental flaws here. The biggest issue is the fact that her continual exploits in solving the case are often at the complete detriment to the police who are solely made out to be fools simply for her to be proved right as there's little reason why they would be this clueless in the face of the evidence presented. Likewise, the incessant gathering of clues does tend to slow this one down a touch as there's a section where the killer doesn't really strike all that often and instead resorts to taunting her rather than targeting her, bringing down the chance for a couple of extra kills. These don't really hurt the film much but do drag it down slightly.
Overview: ****.5/5
A highly enjoyable and thrilling Giallo without too much really wrong with it, this one comes off incredibly well and is just a notch below the upper echelon of the genre as a result due to these issues. Those who enjoy this type of style of giallo, are big Eurohorror fanatics, or are fans of the creative crew will be the most likely to enjoy this one while most others that don’t enjoy any of these factors should heed caution.
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