La morte accarezza a mezzanotte

Plot

Fashion model Valentina (Susan Scott) agrees to help her journalist boyfriend Giò Baldi (Simón Andreu) research the effects of LSD. While under the influence of the drug, Valentina sees a man bludgeon a woman to death with a spiked gauntlet. Baldi publishes a report of her hallucinations; however, Valentina believes what she has seen is real. She begins to realise that the killer is stalking her, although neither Baldi nor the police will believe what she tells them.

Cast

Production

La morte accarezza a mezzanotte marks the third collaboration between director Luciano Ercoli and screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi, who had previously worked together on 1971's La morte cammina con i tacchi alti and 1970's Le foto proibite di una signora per bene. Ercoli's wife Nieves Navarro, credited here as Susan Scott, featured in several of his other films, often in similar roles as "tough, independent" women. The director's preference for this type of character has been noted as being inspired by fumetti, a form of Italian photonovel often featuring such roles.

Release

La morte accarezza a mezzanotte (Death Carresses at Midnight) was released in Italy on 17 November 1972. It has also been distributed under the titles Muerte acaricia a medianoche and Death Walks at Midnight. It was released under the latter title in English by NoShame Films as part of a box set with La morte cammina i tachi alti (aka Death Walks in High Heels), titled Luciano Ercoli's Death Box Set.

Reception

Writing for Allmovie, Robert Firsching gave the film one star out of five, calling it "laughably camp fun". Writing for DVD Talk, Stuart Galbraith described the film as having "an exciting knock-down, drag-out climax". Reviewing the film alongside La morte cammina i tachi alti, Galbraith felt that La morte accarezza a mezzanotte had "a stronger, less-predictable screenplay [and] a bit more visual flair" than its companion film; he ultimately rated both films together three-and-a-half stars out of five.