By 1972 the Giallo was already well established and quite popular. Mario Bava had created its template and Dario Argento had perfected it, but by this stage, many others had begun to play in that particular sandbox.

Quite a few of the directors now making Giallo weren’t necessarily interested in the genre, but they made whatever types of films they could get financed. These workman-like filmmakers went where the money was. As such the films aren’t always the best, sometimes they are pretty awful, to be honest, but a good filmmaker can make something interesting out of genres he’s not necessarily interested in.

There were quite a few directors during this period who would make a couple of westerns, a couple of Gialli, and then maybe a couple of action-packed crime thrillers.

Luciano Ercoli was that kind of director. He made some comedies, a couple of drams, some gritty crime thrillers, and three pretty good Gialli.

Death Walks at Midnight was his last foray into the genre, and arguably it is his best. It still has that workman-like sensibility to it, but it has style. And one of the best weapons in all of Giallo.

Fashion model Valentina (Susan Scott) agrees to drop a bit of LSD while her boyfriend and journalist Gio Baldi (Simón Andreu) photographs her and documents her experience. The agreement is he will not use her name and she’ll wear a mask so her identity will not be known. But as soon as the drug takes effect all bets are off, Gio removes the mask and ultimately uses her name to sell more newspapers.

While in the midst of her trip, she witnesses a gruesome murder in the flat across the street. A man dressed in black and donning a metal spiked gauntlet on his hand, smashes in the face of a beautiful, young woman.

Nobody else sees the murder and because she’s high as a kite on hallucinogens no one believes her. Later she learns a woman was murdered by a similar weapon in that very flat several months prior. But they caught the killer for that incident. He was found next to the body and confessed to the crime.

Perhaps Valentina witnessed that crime at the time, but it was so brutal, so awful, she repressed the memory. And then the drug resurfaced it. Or maybe the drugs unlocked some psychic ability and she was able to see into the past.

But then why does the killer from her vision look nothing like the man who confessed? And why does a man who looks just like the killer in her vision keep following her around town? And who is that other guy who keeps showing up to tell her she’s in danger?

Naturally, she begins her own investigation which leads her down all sorts of twists and turns. For the most part, Ercoli is pretty straightforward in his direction. The mystery is front and center. Except, it isn’t really a mystery as the film shows us who the killer is from the start. There is no mask in this one. He’s not hidden in shadows, and we don’t see things from his point of view. We know what he looks like, but we don’t know who he is. Or why he killed in such an awful way.

It is a fine story, told well. Periodically Ercoli infuses it with real style. The murder is especially well-shot. We see part of it reflected in his sunglasses. In another moment the screen splashes red with blood. But mostly, and I’m sorry to keep using this word, the direction is workmanlike. It is good. It is well done. But it isn’t all that memorable.

Except for that crazy gauntlet. That thing is cool.

I previously reviewed this movie and another Ercoli Giallo, Death Walks on High Heels for Cinema Sentries.