|
|
 |
Violent Midnight
R0 - America - Dark Sky Films Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak and Jarrod Baker (26th June 2006). |
|
The Film
 Richard Hilliard, the director of Violent Midnight only directed 6 movies during his decade-long career (at least only 6 movies that IMDB knows about). Having not seen any of his other work, it's hard to say why Violent Midnight is a competent and entertaining low-budget thriller, good enough that it's a little surprising that it's not more widely known. Of course, given that it was called Psychomania on its original release, presumably to cash in on the success of Psycho (1960), a film to which it owes a significant debt. It's possible that this film was simply lost in a sea of copycats. Violent Midnight borrows several techniques from Alfred Hitchcock's film, which at the time were probably fresh, but now seem a little clichéd. Nevertheless it's still a reasonable film in its own right, albeit one that was probably fairly shocking at the time, with a moderate amount of nudity and violence. The story centres around Freeman (Lee Philips), a Korean War vet turned artist, who as far as we can see seems to specialise in painting nudes. His latest model, Dolores (Kaye Elhardt) is stabbed to death by a mysterious assailant, not long after Freeman is involved in a bar fight with her ex-boyfriend, Charlie (James Farentino - later the star of TV's Blue Thunder! (1984)). Freeman is immediately under suspicion for the murder, and this suspicion is raised even further when a young art major from the local Women's College - who had been aggressively pursuing him sexually - also turns up dead. Hot on his trail is Detective Palmer (Dick Van Patten in his first film role) from the local police. The film provides us with several twists and turns, with many red herrings and potential suspects. Could it be Freeman with his war record and family history of mental illness? Could it be Charlie, the violent and possessive ex-boyfriend? Could it be Professor Melbourne (Day Tuttle), a lecturer at the Women's College who seems to take a greater interest in his students than is strictly professional? Violent Midnight leads you to believe that all of the above options might be possible, right up until the final reveal - and this is part of what makes it worth watching. Of course the film has its flaws - its low budget shows in several areas, particularly with regard to audio. Some of the foley is particularly laughable, and like many films of the era it has dated somewhat. But it is interesting how Violent Midnight's titillatory treatment of the Women's College students foreshadows the somewhat hypocritical approach of the modern slasher or stalker film, as epitomised by Halloween (1978) or Friday the 13th (1980) - teasing the viewer with nudity and sexuality, before hitting you with the message that the promiscuous meet a bloody end. Violent Midnight is certainly no Psycho (1960), despite its efforts to the contrary. It's perhaps understandable why in the shadow of that earlier film it didn't receive a whole lot of attention - and why its director's career was apparently not an extensive one. But it's not a terrible film either, and will certainly provide you with a decent afternoon's entertainment and a few cheap thrills. Recommended.
Video
Presented in a ratio of 1.33:1 this full screen transfer, which as far as I can tell is the film’s original theatrical ratio. This print does have some flaws, I did notice there were some compression artefacts evident in the transfer; grain is evident in certain shots and more prominent in some than other shots. I also noticed slight jagged pixilation, and a moiré effect in some costumes with lines and also in the scenes that take place in the outdoors, which was occasionally distracting. On the plus side the print has little damage, contrast between black and white is good, and blacks are deep and bold and are not as muddy as I was expecting them to be for a film of this age.
Audio
Only one audio track is included, the film’s original English Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono track, which could use a lot of work. The film’s low budget is pretty much exposed here in the audio track. The sound lacks depth, is often hollow and includes problems such as the occasional drop out in between scene transitions, thee is some minor hiss and crackle at the start and end of the film. I also found the music mixed too high and was overbearing, I found myself lowering the volume during musical cues and increasing the volume once finished to hear what was being said. The dialogue is generally clear, which was the only thing this track did right. None of these problems are those of Dark Sky’s, they are the inherent flaws with the film’s original track. Optional subtitles are also included in English.
Extras
First up we have a feature-length audio commentary by the film’s producer Del Tenney who appears to be accompanied by an interviewer who goes unnamed in this track. Tenney gives us a rundown of his career, as well as informs us the premise of this film is based on an experience his wife had in College. He also discusses the alternate titles this film has been given and the reasoning behind that, working with small budgets and creating commercial films that will sell is another topic he touches on as well as kind words spoken about the cast. He provides some interesting information on the production as well as his knack for finding fresh young up-and-coming talent, the track as I mentioned includes an unnamed participant that asks the producer questions as the film progresses to fill the time, there are occasional gaps of silence but the interviewer keeps it moving as best as possible. Also included on the disc is a photo gallery that includes 9 images of lobby cards and publicity photos. Rounding out the extras are two bonus trailers for: - The Horror of Party Beach which runs for 1 minute 30 seconds. - The Curse of the Living Corpse which runs for 1 minute 16 seconds.
Overall
|
|||||
|