VIOLENT MIDNIGHT (1963)

We open with a flashback to an incident in which a man is shot in the face in a hunting accident that his son blames himself for. Years later, Elliot, the son, is a famous painter who is still haunted by his father's death, and by his experiences as a particularly brutal soldier in the Korean War. We meet his lawyer Adrian, the lawyer's mute chauffeur Max (basically a creepy red herring spook figure), and Elliot's current model Dolores who poses in the nude. She and Elliot had a brief fling some time ago, though now she keeps company with the short tempered leather hood Charlie. One night at a bar, Elliot and Charlie get in a fight and even though Charlie pulls a knife, Elliot kicks his ass. Dolores tries to trap the wealthy Elliot into marriage by claiming she's pregnant by him, but since their affair took place over six months ago, he knows that's not true. Later, Dolores is brutally killed by a knife-wielding figure and Elliot becomes a suspect. The next day, Elliot's sister Lynn arrives in town to attend a girls boarding school where she makes friends with the slutty Alice and the wholesome Carol. Alice flirts with Elliot and later makes out hot and heavy with Charlie—who wastes little time mourning Dolores as he also seems to be sexing it up with Sylvia, a rode hard and put away wet townie but a good gal anyway. Meanwhile, Carol and Elliot get interested in each other. One night at the bar, Charlie gets his revenge and beats Elliot up so badly, he thinks Elliot might be dead, but that doesn't stop him from taking Elliot's car on a joyride with Alice to a skinny dipping spot. Later, Alice winds up dead and when Sylvia suspects Charlie, she calls the cops which leads him to smack her around. Adrian, the lawyer, who acts a bit like a suspect himself, tries to forcibly commit Elliot to an institution in Boston. One other suspect pops in and out of the movie: a nebbishy school employee who is a bit of a peeping tom. The effective climax occurs at night during a storm with possibly two stalker figures in action.

This film was obviously inspired by Hitchcock's PSYCHO (the first killing, presented in silhouette, has some Psycho-shower style shots) and may have been an inspiration to the later Italian giallo films (killers in trench coats and gloves). Produced and unofficially co-directed by cult figure Del Tenney (THE HORROR OF PARTY BEACH), this low-budget horror-mystery is actually pretty good on its own terms. The script could have used another draft—I don't think it was ever made fully clear what went on during the opening hunting accident—but the nighttime cinematography and solid acting kept me with it. Handsome Lee Philips (from the original Peyton Place movie) is nicely low-key as Elliot; he is sympathetic while he remains realistically suspicious. James Farentino (Charlie), in his first film role, is convincingly sexy and dangerous; Sylvia Miles is fun as the most mannish looking straight woman  you've ever seen—and if this had been made a few years later, it probably would have been a full-on genderfuck role. Jean Hale (Carol), Kaye Elhardt (Dolores) and Lorraine Rogers (Alice) are all good, as is second-billed Shepperd Strudwick as the lawyer. There’s a tiny bit of nudity but this is definitely a notch or two above the typical drive-in/grindhouse films of the era. Also released as PSYCHOMANIA. Pictured at top are Miles and Farentino; at right is Philips. [DVD]