10 to Midnight
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Movie Reviews of 10 to Midnight
Movie Review: More Bronson sleaze
Summary: 4 Stars
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.
Movie Review: Not fascist, just fed up!
Summary: 4 Stars
It's been said more than once that pop culture is simply a mirror of the society that creates it. If that's the case, the glut of "street justice" movies that appeared during the 70s and 80s can only point to an American public fed up to the eyeballs with an epidemic of street violence and a broken-down, back-logged criminal justice system which was incapable of either protecting the citizenry or punishing the criminals. Probably the most famous of the "street justice" flicks is Clint Eastwood's "Dirty Harry," but the actor who, round for round, shot the largest number of psychopaths, hopheads, drug dealers, rapists, muggers, gangsters, and all-purpose scum was Charles Bronson. By the time the "Death Wish" series alone was finished, there probably wasn't a single professional baddie in Central Casting who hadn't been bludgeoned, immolated or gunned down by Chuckie B. Good for him!
"Ten to Midnight" is not exactly that sort of flick, but the spirit is there. Bronson plays Leo Kesseler, a burnt-out LA detective whose faith in "the system" (as it is always referred to in this type of movie) has long since gone the way of mood rings, encounter groups, and all the other I'm OK - You're OK, now-let's-get-in-the-hot-tub-and-groove touchy-feely affectations of the early 1970s. What Kesseler has instead is the bleak reality of the early 1980s, when the big cities of our fair land all had extensive areas resembling downtown Stalingrad circa December 1942, and nearly as much shooting, and a good cop could hardly shoot a fleeing criminal between the shoulder blades without getting himself in hot water. Such is the legacy of all those "you're not evil, you're misunderstood" social experiments in the wake of the 60s.
One guy who really is evil, and not misunderstood, is Warren Stacy (Gene Davis), a smarmy, creepy narccisist and sociopath who despite his ripped pysique and boy next door good looks cannot get a woman due to his horrible personality. His release comes in a disgusting parody of the sexual act, when he strips naked and then uses a knife to obtain satisfaction with the ladies. Stacy, however, is no ordinary nut case but an extremely clever and calculating killer, who is careful have an iron-clad alibi during all his crimes. Nevertheless, his smug arrogance and general air of evil convince Kessler that he's behind the string of vicious murders. In the movie's most memorable (non-violent) scene, Kessler and his straight-arrow partner pigeonhole Stacy in a police interrogation room, confront him with some sex toys found in his apartment, and provoke him into a truly frightening display of rage, in which he is literally drooling and smashing things. Gene Davis deserves kudos for truly creeping me out during this scene: when Bronson cracks his icy veneer of superiority, out gushes the torrent of slime and pus in his brain. It's a horrible and compelling moment.
When Kessler realizes he has no hard evidence against Stacy, he plants some to ensure the sleazoid will never stab again. Like the torture scene in "Dirty Harry," however, it backfires; Kessler's evidence-tampering is found out and Stacey walks. Now begins the "cat-and-mouse" game between the suspended Kessler and the vengeful Stacy. Again, there are similarities to "DH," in which both men taunt and stalk each other, with Kessler getting the upper hand as the film goes on. Unfortunately for Bronson's Kessler, his plan to torment Stacy (not a very good plan considering his personality) backfires a second time when the killer realizes that Kessler has a sexy daughter of just the age Stacy likes to "date."
The end of the film, which I first saw on TV when I was a kid, scared the hell out of me. Without spoiling it, I will say that when a naked,knife-wielding, sexually twisted psychpath is unleashed in a nurses' dormitory in the middle of the night, only truly bad and disgusting things can ensue. Some people think of this as a rather generic potboiler, but it is unusual in the way it jumps around from detective story to slasher film, thriller to "street justice" fantasy. The negative chemistry between Bronson and Davis is also quite entertaining.
"Ten to Midnight" is not, however, a fascist or right-wing film. Neither, for that matter, are the "Death Wish" flicks. They simply reflected the mood of the period, in which most people were fed up with rampant crime and violence in our big cities and had lost faith in the police to do anything about it. Kessler's disgust with the impotence of his own system doesn't make him a Nazi; it simply reflects the frustration of somebody who became a cop to protect people from criminals and finds himself powerless to do his job. And as "Death Wish's" Paul Kersey would be the first to tell you, in a land where there is no justice, a man is compelled to make his own.
Movie Review: Bronson Tracks Nude Slasher=Great Movie
Summary: 4 Stars
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.
Movie Review: What's The Title Have To Do With Anything?
Summary: 4 Stars
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.Movie Review: 10 to Midnight, a Bronson Winner
Summary: 4 Stars
This is one of my favorite Charles Bronson movies. If you enjoy classic police movies like "Dirty Harry" then be sure to at least rent this one. It is well worth owning since Bronson does a fine job along with the rest the cast in pulling off their roles. Bronson plays a police detective looking for a serila killer that is abducting young women and then stabbing them to death. His partner and him feel they know who the murderer is but they can't prove it. Bronson finally resorts to other tactics to get him behind bars, but it lands him in trouble. Being a resourceful man he finds a way to still get his man. Very entertaining movie in this Cop movie genre. I recommend it. Good quality DVD with good replayability.