10 to Midnight (1983)

Director:

J. Lee Thompson

Writers:

J. Lee Thompson (story)
William Roberts (writer)

Release Date:

11 March 1983 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Back in town... with a vengeance!

Plot:

A serial killer gets his kicks by knifing his victims while naked. A veteran cop, Leo Kessler believes...

Plot Keywords:

Serial Killer | Revenge | Female Frontal Nudity | Bare Breasts | Nudity

Cast

Charles Bronson	...	Leo Kessler
Lisa Eilbacher	...	Laurie Kessler
Andrew Stevens	...	Paul McAnn
Gene Davis	...	Warren Stacy
Geoffrey Lewis	...	Dave Dante
Wilford Brimley	...	Captain Malone
Robert F. Lyons	...	Nathan Zager (as Robert Lyons)
Bert Williams	...	Mr. Johnson
Iva Lane	...	Bunny
Ola Ray	...	Ola
Kelly Preston	...	Doreen (as Kelly Palzis)
Cosie Costa	...	Dudley
Paul McCallum	...	Lab Technician
Jeana Tomasina	...	Karen
June Gilbert	...	Betty

Also Known As:

Bloody Sunday (USA) (original script title)
Ten to Midnight (USA) (alternative spelling)

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Argentina:18 | Australia:R | Iceland:16 | West Germany:16 (f) | Finland:K-18 (uncut) (2004) (self applied) | USA:R (Certificate #26973) | New Zealand:R16 | Finland:K-18 (cut) (1983) | Norway:18

Filming Locations:

2000 S Pisani Place, Venice, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Cannon Group

Trivia:

(At 1:33:07) Warren Stacy picks up the police radio and it says, "Code 6, Florence and Normandie". Nine years later the largest riot in Los Angeles' history--also known as "The Rodney King Riots--would break out at that very same intersection.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Laurie slides under the bed to hide from Warren, the soles of her feet point into the camera and are clearly bare; but when Warren flips the bed up to reveal her she suddenly has pump slippers on, which remain for the rest of the film.

Quotes:

Leo Kessler: [referring to a masturbatory device found in Warren's apartment] You know what this is for, Warren? It's for JERKING OFF!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Repo Man (1984)

Cheesy 80's thriller

When Andrew Stevens is the most interesting character and best actor you know something is wrong. The title of this routine cop movie is totally senseless and hasn't any significance to this cheep thriller. By the 80's Bronson was losing his edge. He was looking old and puffy. Gene Davis is the pretty boy psycho-killer on the loose. Davis' acting is so over the top that you can't really take him seriously. He just comes off as a regular preppy dude who acts crazy and annoying. He's rather small in stature and doesn't have any menacing feature except for his icy neurotic visage that seems plastered on his face throughout the picture.

He's a serial killer who has a fetish about killing his victims while being completely nude himself. Okay, we understand he's disturbed and creepy. But that's about as far as this tale takes his character. He acts so creepy from the beginning of the picture as it establishes him as a loner that his character has nowhere to grow. That is why I fell asleep halfway through this tawdry flick. The problem here is that this is a Bronson film. And in all Bronson films we know he will most likely be the victor over the villain. So the killer here seems too vulnerable and ineffective to be a worthy adversary. He may be able to shuffle his way out of legal authority to a degree, but he is hardly elusive in his stalking method by running around naked without anyone really noticing him carrying a knife.

This movie also has some really bad acting, especially from the pretty babes who were cast only for their hot bodies. Bronson himself seems bored and jaded by this and does not elicit enough of his individual appeal to make this interesting. Andrew Stevens does the best job in the movie by playing the rookie detective under Bronson's supervision. The party scenes look so lame and contrived that they are worth laughing at. Do people in their 20's and 30's dance around in a small apartment non-stop wearing t-shirts? If a few were grooving to the tunes that would look more natural, but everyone in the pad?

Watch this only if you have nothing better to do and you are in the mood to scoff at the bad 1980's acting, clothing and film direction.