(1962/USA)
(aka. PSYCHOMANIA, BLACK AUTUMN)
CAST: Lee Philips, Jean Hale, Shepperd Strudwick, Lorraine Rogers, Margot Hartman, Dick Van Patten, James Farentino, Kaye Elhardt, Sylvia Miles, Mike Keene, Day Tuttle, Sheila Forbes, Mike O'Dowd, Allen Joseph, Molly Scott, Ruth Volner, Marianne Marshall, Betty Walker
Review By-Devin Kelly
DIRECTOR: Richard Hilliard
PRODUCER: Del Tenney
Victoria Films, Inc.
RUNNING TIME: 92 min. 30 seconds
DVD SOURCE: Dark Sky Films
The summer is gone and the leaves are brown,
The summer is gone and the leaves turn brown,
Before the first snow I'll be dead in the ground,
Come home my love and see me die,
Come home my love and see me die,
Lift your innocent face, see me hang in the sky
-Black Autumn
For avid lovers of seldom seen cinema, discovering a gripping sleeper previously unknown to them is always the icing on the cake. Whatever the genre, year, or even country, unearthing those films you've never heard of stirs up a certain excitment. New rising name in the DVD movie revival game - Dark Sky Films - has given us a taste of that anticipation with a number of select titles perhaps not always remembered today...until now that is. The Del Tenney produced, VIOLENT MIDNIGHT (1962) (more widely circulated theatrically as PSYCHOMANIA, and briefly as BLACK AUTUMN) is one of those pleasant surprises, and a very intriguing one at that.
An attention holding, for the most part, well written, and surprisingly somehwhat uninhibited for it's time, suspense thriller, VIOLENT MIDNIGHT is good late night viewing. We open with a pre-credits hunting trip gone awry as family tragedy strikes at the hands of an unseen shooter, obviously not aiming for a hopeful partridge dinner. The result is a bullet in the face demise for the head of the wealthy, Freeman family - son Elliot (Lee Philips) and daughter Lynn (Margot Hartman) on hand among the group to watch daddy die. A freeze-frame of shock up close on Elliot's face leaves us already anxious for more as we go into the credits.
From here we're taken into Elliot's isolated present, where the now master painter and ex-Korean war vet has tucked himself back in a well covered, upper class Connecticut hideaway, painting beautiful topless babes and generally avoiding the world. The only person other than his sultry models whom he allows to keep in touch is his dapper, Igor-like butler accompanied attorney, Adrian Benedict (Shepperd Strudwick). Elliot doesn't even really care for him though, either. He's a man jaded by his life experiences and the world around him.
Maybe the soon to be arrival of his half-sister, Lynn (Margot Hartman) will be just the thing Elliot needs to put his life into a little more perspective. Of course, the constant reminder of his father's supposed accidental death doesn't help matters and the memories remain fresh. Even worse yet, when one of his posing ladies, Dolores (Kaye Elhardt), gets angry with Elliot after he brushes off the deep-seeded love she has for the artist, she not only suddenly claims she's pregnant with his child, but throws out insults about the deceased father. This enrages Elliot, causing him to get violent for a second time that night (the first at a local bar where he has a run in with Dolores' ex, Charlie), wacking Dolores hard across the face. Unfortunately for Dolores however, a black-gloved, trenchcoat wearing stranger waits in the shadows for an opportunity to do far worse things to the pretty brunette.
The next day, Elliot arrives at the train station to meet his sister, who's coming in for her stay with plans of enrolling at Belmont College For Women and living in the area full time. Elliot however, will have serious matters to attend to when two police officers investigating the grisly slaying of Dolores - Lt. Palmer (Dick Van Patten) and Inspector Grey (Mike Keene) - bring him in for questioning. "You know, a killing like that doesn't satisfy an appetite, it only wets it", Grey tells Plamer. Elliot however stands his ground, stating he has nothing to do with it, although Lt. Palmer still has an inner suspicion based on his knowledge that Freeman snapped while in the Korean war, after having seen one of his mates blown away. The only other person in as much hot water as Elliot right now, is Dolores on again, off again squeeze, Charlie Perone (James Farentino) - but he's got himself an alibi. With the possibility of another murder looming high - especially with a college full of skinny dipping, whiskey drinking girls ripe for the picking nearby - the cops are keeping all eyes on Elliot. Is he the maniac they think he is, though?
VIOLENT MIDNIGHT, as I said, turned out to be an unexpected treat and works to it's advantage with a slower paced build-up. Gradually we are introduced to some of the central characters, learning of the Freeman's traumatic pasts, before anything unnerving in the present time even occurs. Past and current sitauations are woven together to create some excellent tension and the potential for a climax with multiple revelations. Towards the finale, it especially all falls together well. The red herrings and variety of character types in the film (the greaser rebel, the desperate bar floozy, the perverted school principal, the easy whore, etc.), as well as the presentation of the killer (black leather gloves, trenchcoat, shots of the killer's feet) give the film the aura of an early replica of the Italian giallo. Although it would have benefited from one or two more killing's, VIOLENT MIDNIGHT could easily have been a picture used as a blueprint for thrillers to come.
The cast is really entertaining here, with everyone giving it their all and each developing their own discernible traits. Lee Philips - a veteran television actor of many shows, such as THE FUGITIVE, THE OUTER LIMITS, THE TWILIGHT ZONE, PERRY MASON, THE WALTONS - is great as the unhinged Elliot and is very convincing and even a little scary when snapping at the drop of his father's name. Something about a seemingly normal guy losing his cool really works - especially here. Shepperd Strudwick (THE MONITORS '69) - another old pro of TV work - stands out as one of the best actors of the bunch, while future star Dick Van Patten (BEWARE! THE BLOB '72, SPACEBALLS '87) is enjoyable as the pushy Lt. Palmer. James Farentino (THE POSSESSED '77, THE FINAL COUNTDOWN '80) is fun with his old school bad boy qualities as a poor man's James Dean who lets love and lust create trouble, and some of the ladies - Jean Hale, Margot Hartman (CURSE OF THE LIVING CORPSE '64), Lorraine Rogers, Kaye Elhardt (NAVY VS. THE NIGHT MONSTERS '66) - not only don't do at all shabby with their roles, but also succeed in looking delicious. In fact, the women no question, carry this film. As a note of interest, Margot Hartman, who plays Lynn, was then and is still to this day, the wife of producer/director Del Tenney.
VIOLENT MIDNIGHT will surprise many with it's risky shedding of clothing, nude frolicking among the co-eds, and suggestive sex. At the time of it's shooting, the movie could have easily been classified an exploitation picture, even though much of the skin being shown was added afterwards at the distribution company's urging to be more sexy. I can't argue that it didn't work though, as the lovely ladies showing a little of this and that (particularly Kaye Elhardt's jaw-dropping pose at the start, and the way Lorraine Rogers throws around her stunning self) can certainly make it happen without much effort here. Also, the bloodshed for time, while scant, has a certain visceral impact when it spills out.
Although Richard Hilliard is credit as director and did have a good portion to do with the final result, in the audio commentary included in the extras, producer/writer/director, Del Tenney, reveals that he had much to do with the direction of the actors as Hilliard was not experienced at handling them. Quite the humble man, Tenney chose to leave the credit to Hilliard, but perhaps by the sounds of it, had even more of a hand here than he let on originally.
The entire disc from Dark Sky is really a nice package for such an unknown flick - and I think it will shine through to fans of this kind of cinema that this is the standard with these guys, no matter the title. The picture is amazingly crisp for a 44 year old film and the sound is above average as well. The exras are a nice tribute to Mr. Tenney, with a relaxed and candid audio commentary with Del - who clearly just loves to make films and accepts doing what he can with what he has - as well as a short but sweet pair of good time trailers for Tenney's other B horror atrocities (which should only be taken here as a good thing) - THE HORROR OF PARTY BEACH and CURSE OF THE LIVING CORPSE (both of these 1964 Tenney classics can be purchased as a Dark Sky double bill). Also, as a bonus topper, we have a gallery of VIOLENT MIDNIGHT press material and lobby cards, both under that and the PSYCHOMANIA title.
This first trip into the DVD releases of Dark Sky Films left an awesome impression on yours truly and I like the catalogue they've been putting together a lot so far. I'd seriously recommend heading over to their website and grabbing this excellent film that they've opened my eyes to and taking a scan through a few other titles while you're at it. Worthy stuff from Tenney and Dark Sky alike.
"Thousands of eyes will be exploring you, appreciating your
beauty...even long after you're dead."
-Shepperd Strudwick (Adrian Benedict)
STORY: 4/5 BITCH SLAPS
PICTURE: 5/5 BITCH SLAPS
AUDIO: 4.5/5 BITCH SLAPS
EXTRAS: 3.5/5 BITCH SLAPS
OVERALL FILM: 3.5/5 BITCH SLAPS-or-
© 2006 cinema-nocturna.com
