Taking a look on Ebay UK for auctions that were about to end,I was surprised to find an edition of Mondo Macabro's Death Walks At Midnight about to end with no bids.With having been after the Giallo for a good few years,I decided to take a walk at midnight.
The plot:
Working as a fashion model, Valentina accepts a job to try out a new drug.Meeting the scientist/inventor of the drug,Valentina is surprised by her journalist boyfriend Giò Baldi joining them.Taking the drug,Valentina starts to experience horrifying visions of a women being killed by a stranger with a weird object.As Valentina becomes entranced by the visions,Baldi begins to take pics of her tripping.
Telling the scientist and her boyfriend about the visions,Valentina soon discovers that along with secretly taking photos,Baldi alters the images so that Valentina's "visions" can be turned into a story.Getting told by Baldi that her visions are just from tripping,Valentina stars to fear that her subconscious has witnessed a murder.
View on the film:
Shot in 1972,director Luciano Ercoli & cinematographer Fernando Arribas sway their Giallo back to the 60's,as hyper-active spinning camera moves and dashes of brash reds and yellows swings this gialli to the stylish swinging 60's.Whilst Ercoli and Arribas give the title a light atmosphere,they do give the film some sharp Giallo spikes,as Valentina's deadly dream images wash across the screen in an eye-catching clipped manner,as a spiked gauntlet (!) smashes the yellow gialli pulp open.
Following Ercoli's direction,the screenplay by Mahnahén Velasco/Guido Leoni/Ernesto Gastaldi and fellow director Sergio Corbucci soak the Giallo in a peculiar comedic tint,with Vlentina finding a mental hospital with slobbering patients,and a mysterious cackling henchmen following Valentina's every step giving this Gialli a wonderful lightness on its feet.Looking stunning in the rather tight clothing, Nieves Navarro (who was married to Ercoli) gives a terrific performance as Valentina,thanks to Navarro displaying a real joy in diving straight into the strange situations that Valentina gets stuck in,and also cutting Valentina with a strong determination to unravel her "trip",as Valentina discovers that death walks at midnight.
The plot:
Working as a fashion model, Valentina accepts a job to try out a new drug.Meeting the scientist/inventor of the drug,Valentina is surprised by her journalist boyfriend Giò Baldi joining them.Taking the drug,Valentina starts to experience horrifying visions of a women being killed by a stranger with a weird object.As Valentina becomes entranced by the visions,Baldi begins to take pics of her tripping.
Telling the scientist and her boyfriend about the visions,Valentina soon discovers that along with secretly taking photos,Baldi alters the images so that Valentina's "visions" can be turned into a story.Getting told by Baldi that her visions are just from tripping,Valentina stars to fear that her subconscious has witnessed a murder.
View on the film:
Shot in 1972,director Luciano Ercoli & cinematographer Fernando Arribas sway their Giallo back to the 60's,as hyper-active spinning camera moves and dashes of brash reds and yellows swings this gialli to the stylish swinging 60's.Whilst Ercoli and Arribas give the title a light atmosphere,they do give the film some sharp Giallo spikes,as Valentina's deadly dream images wash across the screen in an eye-catching clipped manner,as a spiked gauntlet (!) smashes the yellow gialli pulp open.
Following Ercoli's direction,the screenplay by Mahnahén Velasco/Guido Leoni/Ernesto Gastaldi and fellow director Sergio Corbucci soak the Giallo in a peculiar comedic tint,with Vlentina finding a mental hospital with slobbering patients,and a mysterious cackling henchmen following Valentina's every step giving this Gialli a wonderful lightness on its feet.Looking stunning in the rather tight clothing, Nieves Navarro (who was married to Ercoli) gives a terrific performance as Valentina,thanks to Navarro displaying a real joy in diving straight into the strange situations that Valentina gets stuck in,and also cutting Valentina with a strong determination to unravel her "trip",as Valentina discovers that death walks at midnight.