Nigel P This giallo features more cigarette smoking than in any other I've seen. Never a scene goes by without someone lighting up, putting one out or going about their business with a casual ciggie clinging determinedly to their lips. Also, as is often the case for this genre, the females are not only the victims, but are also far more decent and respectful than the men – certainly Stefano (Pietro Martellanza) is brazenly patronizing and awful to Valentina (Nieves Navarro, or Susan Scott for English audiences) at every opportunity, and his male co-stars aren't much better. I really hoped I wasn't going to be asked to believe in him as any kind of hero. The best of this rotten bunch is probably Gio (Simón Andreu), another chain smoker notable for constantly running out of matches.Valentina, with her incredible mane of red hair, whilst under the influence of an experimental drug, has a vision of a young woman being brutally murdered by a villainous-looking character with a spiked glove. This shades-sporting felon appears to her from then on, many times. Is it a product of her addled mind, as bone-headed Stefano arrogantly suggests, or is the truth more sinister? One thing is certain – any answers don't come easily in this convoluted, beautifully shot Italian thriller.In a way, you hope that the villain is purely in her mind. The alternative, of a highly suspicious mac-wearing effeminate looking man in outsize sunglasses always lurking in an almost pantomime manner, not being seen by anyone but Valentina, becomes absurd.Also absurd, in a thoroughly appealing way, is the somewhat formulaic way the villain (or villains), when unmasked, then take the time to gloat and explain how they got away with their fiendish plan. Here, these revelations precipitate a glorious climactic physical fight that only ends after a series of last-minute, life-saving shocks and surprises.A little slow in places, and possessing some appallingly chauvinistic behaviour, this is nevertheless great fun and another pleasing addition to the genre.

bensonmum2 During an experiment with a hallucinogenic drug, model Valentina (Nieves Navarro aka Susan Scott) sees a woman being brutally murdered by a man wearing a spiked iron glove. But when no body is found, she can't seem to get anyone to believe her story. She begins to see the killer everywhere she goes. She's sure her life is in danger and is unable to convince her friends or the police that she's being stalked by a vicious murderer.I had high hopes for Death Walks at Midnight having just seen and enjoyed Death Walks on High Heels. The two movies have so much in common that it seemed like a sure thing. While not being a sequel, the two movies share a director, a number of actors, and a convoluted plot. But while I found the twists and turns in Death Walks on High Heels a joy to watch unfold, Death Walks at Midnight is a little too convoluted for its own good. Story lines are introduced and almost dropped immediately with no resolution. These story tangents have nothing to do with the plot other than muddying the waters. Characters are introduced with no background information and almost immediately forgotten about. Too many of the characters never seem "real" or fleshed-out and are not effective red herrings. And, I almost get the feeling that much of the movie is weird for the sake of being weird. There's no real purpose for many of the unusual events, people, places, etc. in Death Walks at Midnight other than adding some bizarreness to the proceedings. For example, why even have the asylum scene? It adds nothing to the film. The problems with the plot are really disappointing because not only did I enjoy the first movie, but Death Walks at Midnight's screenplay was written by Sergio Corbucci. Corbucci directed some of my favorite Spaghetti Westerns. But here, he's written what I'll describe as a spastic script that tries too hard to be different.That's not to say the movie was a total waste of time. There are a number of things I really enjoyed about Death Walks at Midnight. First would have to be Nieves Navarro. As I said when writing about Death Walk on High Heels, Navarro is excellent in this kind of film. She's a natural playing the "Woman in Distress". Navarro has a real, undeniable screen presence. Second would have to be the spiked glove. It's as nasty a murder weapon as you'll see. Finally, I like the overall look of the film. Ercoli had a real eye for some interesting visuals.In the end, I can't wholeheartedly recommend Death Walks at Midnight to anyone other than a die hard Giallo fan. There are far better, more entertaining examples of the genre that might appeal more to the casual fan.

Prof-Hieronymos-Grost Valentina(Nieves Navarro or Susan Scott as she is billed) is a fashion model who agrees to take an hallucinogenic drug for a medical experiment. The experiment is being recorded by Valentina's journalist friend for an article he is going to write,but under the influence of the drug Valentina somehow gets some extra sensory vision of a savage murder of a girl by a middle-aged man who kills her with a spiked metal glove. Valentina only participated on condition that her identity is kept secret but the journalist publishes the whole story and now Valentina's life is in danger from the killer.Valentina is then plagued by the killer every where she goes but unfortunately for her nobody else sees the killer.This trend continues as the body count rises the corpses that she sees disappear before the police get there and so nobody believes her fantastic story. One reason the police don't believe Valentina is that there was such a killing but the killer was caught and has been in a mental institution for six months and fob her off as a nut.Valentina goes to check out the killer but when she gets there the killer is not the man in her vision.Is she going mad ?Is she still feeling the effects of the drugs? is she being set up? Beautifully shot with a nice but sparsely used score this Giallo is a huge disappointment, from the offset we are lead to believe this might just be a classic of the genre with the opening kill, but this film dies a death after its opening gambit.The beautiful Navarro and Simón Andreu have a little chemistry but its not enough to save the film from being quite dull and unimaginative, there are no spectacular kills or set pieces to excite us and the distinct lack of suspense puts the final nail in this baby's coffin, added to that a propensity for silly comic characters in silly situations is just plain annoying.The sound on the Mondo Macabro DVD is also patchy and quite tinny and with a lot of hiss at times which is infuriating.I do hope the No Shame release next year is better.For Giallo completists only.

MARIO GAUCI Yesterday I watched a couple of giallos by Luciano Ercoli and starring Nieves Navarro (billed as Susan Scott) and Simon Andreu (of THE BLOOD-SPATTERED BRIDE [1972]) - DEATH WALKS ON HIGH HEELS (1971) and DEATH WALKS AT MIDNIGHT (1972). I was pleasantly surprised by the former but hugely disappointed by the latter; anyway, here's my take on both films.The meaninglessly-titled follow-up, DEATH WALKS AT MIDNIGHT, was pretty silly and tedious by comparison making use of dreary plot mechanics and wasting its two leads - Navarro (Scott) and Andreu.The film's most intriguing elements – violent images from the past materializing as drug-induced hallucinations, and the murder method itself (the spiked glove) – are thrown away as red herrings in an attempt to liven up a pretty tired formula crime-thriller, i.e. it's more than just a giallo but, unfortunately in this case, the whole emerges to be a good deal less than the sum of its parts!Unlike DEATH WALKS ON HIGH HEELS, the supporting characters of this one are often sleazeballs and therefore we are never involved in their actions and the motive behind them. A subplot involving a couple of oriental kids is, once again, irrelevant – padding the story for no reason at all – and the almost farcical fight sequence at the climax is not merely out of place but also rather badly staged! The music score (this time around composed by Gianni Ferrio) is OK under the circumstances but still nothing special, in my opinion.I don't think having watched the film panned-and-scanned (as opposed to DEATH WALKS ON HIGH HEELS' original Technsicope format) had anything to do with my low estimation of DEATH WALKS AT MIDNIGHT; actually I'm surprised that Mondo Macabro decided to release this on DVD (albeit in a compromised version, as it is both dubbed in English and cropped!) over its vastly superior – if still basically unremarkable – predecessor which, in view of its plentiful nudity (of which this has none!) and a far more engaging plot, I think would have made for a more popular title!In any case, I'm interested in catching up with more obscure giallos now and, as such, I especially regret having missed out on Sergio Pastore's SETTE SCIALLI DI SETA GIALLA aka CRIMES OF THE BLACK CAT (1972) just a couple of days ago! I also look forward to Blue Underground's 'Giallo Collection Vol. 2' Box Set which, incidentally, should include Luciano Ercoli's FORBIDDEN PHOTOS OF A LADY UNDER SUSPICION (1970).