Director: Lamberto Bava
Year: 1986
Country: Italy
Alternate Titles: Moriai a mezzanotte; Midnight Horror; Midnight Killer
Genre: Giallo
Plot:
While trailing his wife, a man comes across the fact that she’s been killed which fingers him as the main suspect and tries to clear his name with a police detective and his daughter investigating the case only to learn that the theory of a long-dead serial killer returning might be the true culprit.
Review:
This was a rather enjoyable genre effort with a lot to like. Among its better elements is a strong enough set up to offer a logical means of investigating the crimes. As the first half here introduces us to his wild and crazy outbursts which are incredibly difficult for him to get away from in terms of being the kind of incriminating evidence to paint him as guilty when she gets killed right after he goes crazy on her, setting up the kind of proper need for his investigation to keep going. The introduction of the investigator and his assistant who are looking into everything while we also get to see him meet up with the private investigator who’s trying to put the crimes on the returning serial killer that was executed but the series of clues dished out match up with the suspect already thought to have committed everything which makes everything come off rather nicely for a general setup.
This allows for some rather fine stalking scenes to come about once the bodies start dropping. The main stalking scenes here, namely the opening scenes of the killer taking out the wife as she goes about trying to take a shower or the victim who gets attacked going into her car that leads her into the set piece inside the local warehouse, serve the film rather nicely with some immensely fun sequences bringing about some tense stalking, creepy camera angles, and a brutal stabbing death as well. Later encounters like the killer trapping a department store worker inside or tailing the one girl back to her house that turns into a dream sequence offer up the kind of great sequences that have lengthier, more involved sequences full of high-quality stalking alongside the great kills. It’s also here where the film goes for a strong addition to the investigation where the daughter comes across as the focal point following up on the idea of it not being the suspected resurrected killer but a human one as she and her friends give this a strong wrap-up with some fun sleuthing and a couple of fun deaths that leave this really fun overall.
There are some drawbacks to be had with this one that hold it back. The main drawback here is the film’s bizarre shifts in focus that leave the film immensely difficult to get a handle on the investigation. Since this tends to bring up the varying points of view between the abusive husband that’s hard to sympathize with, a detective trying to look into the connection with the long-dead serial killer and then turns into the daughter's area to prove the killer is human which continually shifts everything along into different viewpoints and storyline tangents. There’s some unexpected work here shifting it along as the characters disappear for long periods due to the change in focus that happens here, and also manages to give this the proper lead-in for the other issue here in the underwhelming resolution that tries to tie everything up with each of these disparate storylines but ends up bringing about some confusing work to make it come together with any kind of sense but never does anything with the material. These features are more than enough to bring it down somewhat.
Overview: ****/5
An immensely enjoyable giallo effort, there’s quite a lot to like here that helps to make for a solid underrated gem of a feature that doesn’t have much holding it back. Those who are intrigued by this kind of feature, appreciate Eurohorror in general, or are fans of the creative crew will want to give it a shot while most others might want to heed caution with it.
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