Customer Reviews

10 to Midnight [Region 2]

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

10 TO MIDNIGHT

(USA - 1983)

Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Theatrical soundtrack: Mono

A world-weary LA cop (Charles Bronson) plants evidence on a young man (Gene Davis) suspected of the serial homicide of several beautiful women, but the plan backfires and Davis subsequently targets Bronson's grown-up daughter (Lisa Eilbacher)...

One of a series of gritty urban thrillers inspired by the success of DEATH WISH, J. Lee Thompson's 10 TO MIDNIGHT was produced by the Cannon studios in 1983 and is fairly typical of the company's commercial output. Though he'd worked in a variety of genres since the early 1950's, Charles Bronson became synonymous with the kind of tough-but-sympathetic vigilante character he plays here, this time seeking a handsome young psychopath who strips naked before murdering his (primarily female) victims. Indeed, Gene Davis' extensive nude scenes provide the film's only significant trump card, leading to a number of curious plot developments (because he was naked when he committed his crimes, Davis knows that Bronson must have planted blood on his clothes, but he can't admit to it without... well, you get the picture), though cinematographer Adam Greenberg (GHOST, RUSH HOUR, the 'Terminator' series) turns visual cartwheels in an effort to avoid full frontal nudity (and a potential X rating).

Thompson - who gravitated towards Hollywood after forging a successful career in his native UK, where he directed a number of popular mainstream entries like YIELD TO THE NIGHT and THE GUNS OF NAVARONE - takes enormous pleasure in foregrounding the more exploitable elements of William Roberts' lively screenplay, though an unpleasant sequence near the end of the film evokes queasy memories of Richard Speck's true-life killing spree in 1966, when several nurses were slaughtered in a Chicago townhouse in a fashion similar to the killings depicted here. However, these sensationalist components are deployed in the service of a right-wing narrative in which the criminal justice system is rendered weak and ineffective by Davis' scumbag killer and his equally sleazy lawyer (a typically scene-stealing turn from Geoffrey Lewis). When Bronson confronts his nemesis during the inevitable climactic showdown, the audience is literally compelled - through dialogue and editing - to invite brutal retribution on Davis' irredeemable bad guy. It's cheap, manipulative and cynical, but it's also undeniably effective, and Bronson's closing line of dialogue is guaranteed to arouse guilty fascist impulses within even the most liberal viewers.

Davis is the spitting image of his actor brother Brad (the late and much lamented star of MIDNIGHT EXPRESS) and is quite effective in a difficult role, though his subsequent career appears to have gone nowhere, which is a shame. Co-star Andrew Stevens made a brief splash in movies like this one (including Brian DePalma's THE FURY) before becoming a producer on a wide range of Hollywood pictures (everything from 'erotic thrillers' such as NIGHT EYES to blockbusters like DRIVEN and BALLISTIC ECKS VS. SEVER, etc.), and Lisa Eilbacher enjoyed a momentary spotlight on the big screen before returning to TV (where she had begun her career in the likes of "The Texas Wheelers" and "The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries") before fading from the business altogether. Word has it that the title 10 TO MIDNIGHT (a meaningless phrase) had been announced by Cannon for another film which ultimately failed to materialize, but someone obviously liked the sound of it and simply re-used it here! The 'TV version' is a laff riot, with alternate takes featuring Davis in black briefs. On DVD, however, you get to see (almost) every inch of his fabulous, sculpted body. Drool, slobber...

Of all the career ending movies Charles Bronson made for Cannon films in the mid-to-late eighties, 10 to Midnight is the best. He plays a cop trying too hard to catch a smart, handsome, and devilishly twisted psycho killer (Gene Davis). When the game of cat and mouse eventually snags the cop's daughter (Lisa Eilbacher), he takes a desperate gamble to catch the crafty murderer. Director J. Lee Thompson masterfully blends the Dirty Harry Rogue Cop thriller with some slasher film moments of brutal terror that will have viewers squirming in their seats. A real nail biter, highly recommended.

Charles Bronson vigilante film has the familiar premise that sometimes deadly force is needed to protect society from a madman. This film features a (typically) magnificent performance from a young Lisa Eilbacher (as Bronson's daughter, a student nurse, whose apartment ends up victims of the killer). Well worth a look...better than most in the genre...perhaps the only true sequel, besides Magnum Force, to Dirty Harry...

What do you do when you have a naked psychopath running around in the buff killing girls that turned him down? Well, if you're Bronson, you get Bronson on his behind! Coz Chuck isn't a nice person, he's a "mean, selfish S.O.B." You may want a story, but Chuck wants a killer, and what he wants comes first! He hates quiche, and coleslaw makes him sick! Well, after unsuccessfully trying to put this creep in the slammer by bending the rules a tad, Bronson's thrown off the force. Well, we all know that never stopped him before, so he continues to go after the killer(a wonderfully pathetic, yet creepy performance by Gene Davis). But guess what! The killer goes after Bronson's daughter(naturally), and it becomes personal. Well, I won't give it all away(not that I need to, this is a Bronson movie here), but I'd recommend this one. It's harmless cheap thrills-a little bit of tough guy action and a little bit of slasher flick. What more could you want? Perfect late night viewing.

Ten to Midnight is one of those movies I pop in the dvd player at least once a year.
I love revenge movies and I love Bronson, and uber handsome Andrew Stevens who plays his sidekick. Gene Davis" plays a sexually repressed psychopath whom of course has "mother issues" he kills women while he is nude,so killing while naked was fashionable way before Christian Bale's "Patrick Bateman" did it.This film has elements of the Richard Speck story "Chicago Massacre" but still stays original.

You could call it a slasher because the killer does slash his victims and there are some good kill scenes, but it's basically a psychological thriller..
The story is good and the action is nonstop.Bronson is on top of his game in this movie especially since the character that plays his daughter "Lisa Eilbacher" lives in the student nurse dorm that is being terrorized by the naked killer. It also has a good kill scene with "Ola Ray" the girl from the Michael Jackson Thriller Video.

Police detective Leo Kessler (Charles Bronson) can't seem to get any evidence on a suspected serial killer (Gene Davis). This guy is sleazy, kinky, and smart - he murders in the nude and creates airtight alibis. He starts to taunt Bronson and stalk his daughter (Lisa Eilbacher). Bronson's frustration with the situation leads him to plant evidence on the killer to get him off the streets, but this move backfires. Intriguing Bronson vehicle made all the more interesting by Gene Davis' performance as the psycho. He's good-looking, well-built, but his obvious rage against women (which really isn't explained) keeps him from having a normal relationship with one.

A young man starts killing women who will have nothing to do with him. But he kills them with his clothes off. I didnot understand this, wouldn't you still get blood on your clothes when you put them on? But Bronson wants him put away, and does what ever it takes. He breaks the law, gets fired and turns vigilante.

Every few months I find myself lamenting the passing of Charles Bronson. He died in 2003, and it is only in the last year or so that many of his memorable films have started to arrive on DVD. I suspect most viewers will consider that a bad thing, especially concerning his "Death Wish" films and the other low budget boilerplate actioners he made under the Cannon banner in the 1980s. Not me; I love watching the stone faced Bronson mow down waves of street scum in a vain attempt to rescue America from the forces of decadence lurking within. Arguably the apogee of this type of Bronson film is "Death Wish 3," an almost cartoonish romp that sees Chuck running through the streets of a New York City slum spraying rounds from a belt fed machine gun. You'd be hard pressed to find a Clint Eastwood film that tops any of the later "Death Wish" entries. They are all out on DVD, along with several other marvelously seedy films. You can now watch "Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects" on DVD, for instance, as well as "10 to Midnight," a wallow in the muck actioner/slasher film hybrid that was one of the first Bronson/Cannon collaborations.

Bronson plays a cop (duh!) named Leo Kessler whose lengthy years on the force have instilled a deep and bitter loathing for a legal system that allows obviously guilty criminals to walk free. His latest case only serves to reinforce his despair: some nut followed a gal and her boyfriend out into the woods and hacked them up with a knife. We soon learn that the nut in question is one Warren Stacy (Gene Davis), a fairly good-looking guy whose memories of past rejection lead him to prey on women he finds desirable. Stacy is a clever criminal, a man capable of carefully plotting out his crimes and his alibis. In the case of the abovementioned crime, Warren goes to a movie theater and makes certain that several employees and a couple of girls see him before and after the film. During the feature presentation, however, he sneaks out a bathroom window and follows his victims into the woods. Understanding that blood tends to leave stains on clothing, Stacy makes sure to disrobe before committing his heinous crimes. Yep, that's right--what we've got here is a serial killer who likes to hunt down his prey while wearing nothing but his birthday suit. Warren runs into a bit of difficulty when he hears his victim's roommate tell Kessler and his hotshot partner Paul McCann (Andrew Stevens) about a diary that might mention him by name. More bloody violence ensues.

In the process of trying to cover his tracks, however, Warren Stacy opens himself up to investigation by Kessler and McCann. Down to the police station the three go, and it's not too long before Kessler has it in for this hateful young man. Our hero is absolutely convinced Stacy is the man behind the murders, so much so that he will eventually break the law himself to put this killer behind bars for life. I won't mention what Kessler does exactly to send Warren to the slammer, but it's safe to say that it goes against everything a young cop like Paul McCann believes in. He launches a covert investigation of his own and learns what Kessler did and then confronts his partner with the findings. Needless to say, our murderer walks and threatens to resume his previous activities. With no rules and regulations to inhibit his actions, Kessler goes after Warren Stacy in an effort to provoke a response. Does it work? You bet it does! It works so well that Leo's daughter Laurie (Lisa Eilbacher) moves to the top of the victim's list. Cue a heavy dose of slasher mania as Stacy stalks Laurie and her roommates at a local nursing school. Blood splatters across the screen as our unclothed killer slashes and stabs his way closer and closer to the hapless Laurie. Will Leo Kessler arrive in time to save his flesh and blood? Will the disgraced cop put an end to the nightmare that is Warren Stacy?

If you don't know the answer to these questions, you haven't been diligently studying Bronson's filmography. "10 to Midnight" is fairly typical Cannon action fodder: extremely conservative on the issue of law and order, viciously bloody, and enormously entertaining to watch. It's not as nasty as "The Evil That Men Do" or "Death Wish 2," but it's close. As proof of this assertion I offer up the scene where Kessler discovers several unseemly items in Warren Stacy's bathroom and later confronts the killer with them down at the precinct house. Yuck! Then there are the over the top obscene phone calls Stacy makes to Laurie Kessler. Yuck again! The killings are quite brutal yet by the numbers for slasher fare: close up shots of screaming faces contorting in pain as the dastardly deed occurs. The acting is much better here than in later Bronson/Cannon films. Eilbacher is a cute, sassy little chick who is fun to watch, Bronson shows more range as Leo Kessler than he ever did in his other '80s action flicks, and even Andrew Stevens puts forth some real effort. Gene Davis hits a homerun as the memorably narcissistic, raging serial killer Warren Stacy.

It's fun to revisit this potboiler on DVD. What isn't amusing is the dearth of serious extras. None of these Cannon era films recently released by MGM contain more than a trailer or two as extras, and "10 to Midnight" is no exception. I just about fell over in shock to see a widescreen picture transfer with this film since many of Bronson's (and by extension Cannon's) films usually get a fullscreen release. If you can't get enough of seamy, low budget 1980s thrillers, "10 to Midnight" is right up your alley. Check it out.

The completely nude serial killer is about the only thing that makes this movie stand out. Otherwise it is a pretty middle of the road, `80's action picture. The oh-so `80's music and some of the camera work almost make this feel like a parody of those movies. And the ridiculous dénouement practically screams Reagan-era conservatism.

All this may sound like I didn't like the movie, but I did. It is no classic, but it's not a bad little time-waster.

In a career filled with too many bad movies, 10 to Midnight may well be a low point even for Charles Bronson. Shamelessly cashing in on his Death Wish reputation, he's yet another jaded cop who thinks "The way the law protects these maggots out there you'd think they were an endangered species" on the trail of Gene Davis' naked psychotic misogynistic serial killer and willing to bend the law to put him behind bars. When that doesn't work out because of a sudden attack of integrity and the machinations of Geoffrey Lewis' corrupt lawyer ("We can always plead insanity later"), the loon naturally goes after Bronson's semi-estranged daughter (Lisa Eilbacher), who luckily has enough scantily-clad roommates to keep him and his `penis-substitute' knife occupied until the cavalry can arrive in time for one last pre-kill one-liner.

It's genuinely sleazy and seedy (Bronson even gets to wave a sex toy around in one interrogation scene), and not in a good way, revelling in its clumsily voyeuristic slasher movie aesthetic while getting on its high-horse for crude bumper sticker moralizing - "I remember when legal meant lawful. Now it means some kind of a loophole" and "Forget what's legal and do what's right." It's also, Bronson aside, almost uniformly badly acted and shoddily made: this isn't guilty pleasure bad, just bad bad, and dreary with it. Shoddy stuff.