VIOLENT MIDNIGHT
AKA Psychomania AKA Black Autumn
*** out of *****
Reviewed by Jarrod Baker

Genres
Horror

1964
Directed by
Richard Hilliard
Written by
Richard Hilliard (story)
Robin Miller
Cast
Lee Philips .... Freeman
Shepperd Strudwick .... Adrian Benedict
Jean Hale .... Carol Bishop
Lorraine Rogers .... Alice St. Clair
Margot Hartman .... Lynn Freeman
Dick Van Patten .... Palmer
Sheila Forbes .... Janet (Lolita) Terhune
James Farentino .... Charlie Perone
Kaye Elhardt ....     Dolores Martello
Silvia Miles .... Silvia

Richard Hilliard, the director of Violent Midnight only directed 6 movies during his decade-long career (at least only 6 movies that IMDb knows about). Having not seen any of his other work, it's hard to say why; Violent Midnight is a competent and entertaining low-budget thriller, good enough that it's a little surprising that it's not more widely known. Of course, given that it was called Psychomania on its original release – presumably to cash in on the success of Psycho (1960), a film to which it owes a significant debt, it's possible that this film was simply lost in a sea of copycats.

Violent Midnight borrows several techniques from Alfred Hitchcock's film, which at the time were probably fresh, but now seem a little clichéd. Nevertheless it's still a reasonable film in its own right – albeit one that was probably fairly shocking at the time, with a moderate amount of nudity and violence.

The story centres around Freeman (Lee Philips), a Korean War vet turned artist, who as far as we can see seems to specialise in painting nudes. His latest model, Dolores (Kaye Elhardt) is stabbed to death by a mysterious assailant, not long after Freeman is involved in a bar fight with her ex-boyfriend, Charlie (James Farentino – later the star of TV's Blue Thunder! (1984)).

Freeman is immediately under suspicion for the murder, and this suspicion is raised even further when a young art major from the local Women's College – who had been aggressively pursuing him sexually – also turns up dead. Hot on his trail is Detective Palmer (Dick Van Patten in his first film role) from the local police.

The film provides us with several twists and turns, with many red herrings and potential suspects. Could it be Freeman, with his war record and family history of mental illness? Could it be Charlie, the violent and possessive ex-boyfriend? Could it be Professor Melbourne (Day Tuttle), a lecturer at the Women's College who seems to take a greater interest in his students than is strictly professional? Violent Midnight leads you to believe that all of the above options might be possible, right up until the final reveal – and this is part of what makes it worth watching.

Of course the film has its flaws – its low budget shows in several areas, particularly with regard to audio. Some of the foley is particularly laughable, and like many films of the era it has dated somewhat. But it is interesting how Violent Midnight's titillatory treatment of the Women's College students foreshadows the somewhat hypocritical approach of the modern slasher or stalker film, as epitomised by Halloween (1978) or Friday the 13th (1980) – teasing the viewer with nudity and sexuality, before hitting you with the message that the promiscuous meet a bloody end.

Violent Midnight is certainly no Psycho (1960), despite its efforts to the contrary. It's perhaps understandable why in the shadow of that earlier film it didn't receive a whole lot of attention – and why its director's career was apparently not an extensive one. But it's not a terrible film either, and will certainly provide you with a decent afternoon's entertainment and a few cheap thrills. Recommended.

Jarrod Baker's reviews also appear on DVD Compare, where they include details of the DVD release. For this review click here.

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