You'll Die at Midnight (1986)


Unlike his father Lamberto Bava is not a fan of the giallo films.  While he seems comfortable with the wild, anything goes style of something like Demons he has admitted to being uncomfortable with movies featuring women getting stabbed.  I think a good part of that is the reason You'll Die at Midnight, the movie he made between the two Demons films, is pretty much forgotten, as despite its lurid poster art it is quite tame and a rote exercise in formula.

Nicola (Leonardo Treviglio) is a police officer who finds out his wife (Barbara Scoppa) is cheating on him.  After the two have a violent argument in which he almost kills her an actual murderer enters the house and does the job.  Since Nicola is nowhere to be found he becomes the prime suspect for Inspector Piero Terzi (Paolo Malco).  Where Nicola did go was to his former lover Anna (Valeria D'Obici), a criminal psychologist that assists the police.  

Anna believes that Nicola is innocent while Terzi initially thinks he did it.  That is, until the attacks become quite personal against Terzi, targeting his daughter Carol (Lara Wendel) and her friends Monica (Eliana Miglio) and Gioia (Lea Martino), all of whom are students of Anna's.  Carol is working on a thesis about a deceased serial killer named Franco Tribbo (Peter Pitsch) who, it appears, may not be resting as peacefully as everyone thought.

Despite not being all-in on the genre at least Bava's gialli tend to make sense when they come to their conclusion.  I was pretty much able to guess who it was, although there are a few last-minute diversions to throw the viewer off.  The finale with students being stalked in a deserted hotel is rather suspenseful, as are the other kill sequences.  Despite what one would expect there is no nudity and none of the typical blood spray or exaggerated gore one usually gets from these films.

The problem is that what happens between is not that interesting.  Too many characters and plots are introduced only to be done away with.  Just when it feels that Anna may be the main character it switches to Terzi and then to his daughter, with each pretty much disappearing from the film until the plot calls them back.  It's fine for preparing set pieces but it does no favors in setting up a narrative structure.  

What I am also learning about Lamberto Bava is, without some of his friends like Dario Argento along for the ride, his directing style is often quite flat.  He doesn't have the skill with lighting or dynamic camera motions that his father did.  This often felt like a direct-to-video movie rather than a cinema release, which I'm sure it at least got in Italy.  

It's still not bad and is much more coherent than many other movies of its type, but it doesn't do anything to either make it stand out as a giallo or a police procedural, which it tries to straddle both.  There are a number of homages to much better films which, as always, has one wishing they were watching those instead.

You'll Die at Midnight (1986)
Time: 88 minutes
Starring: Valeria D'Obici, Paolo Malco, Leonardo Treviglio, Lara Wendel
Director: Lamberto Bava



 

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