Cannon Films is back for this week’s B-Movie Enema review and they are bringing one of their biggest stars with ’em!

It’s hard to believe this is only the second time I’ve done a Charles Bronson movie on this site. To think, he has all those Death Wish movies. He’s got some cool-ass-sounding thrillers and action flicks in the 70s. With all that, the best I could do is Assassination? Well, it’s time to do better, and, this week, I do have one that is better.

Remember when I did the Chuck Norris 1982 thriller Silent Rage? That was this cop thriller that also had some horror and even some science fiction elements. That was part of a time in which crime thrillers were still a big deal, but horror was on the rise big time. If we were to add to that the fact that Norris was becoming a rising star who was just a couple years away from becoming the other “Chuck” at Cannon Films, it’s hard to not kind of tie all of this into this week’s movie that is getting the review treatment, 10 to Midnight.

Maybe it’s a little bit of a stretch to tie it all together but come on… Charles Bronson had just joined the Cannon Films roster the year before with Death Wish II. He would basically spend the rest of the 80s as a marquee element of Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus and their studio that produced highly polished schlock. While you could argue most of Chuck Norris’ best work was prior to 1984, his most explosive, high-profile movies came in the 80s after he signed on with Cannon. Both actors had a thriller/horror-themed tough-guy cop flick in the early part of the decade. So, yeah, the trajectory of the actors and the timing of the two movies being compared is hard to ignore.

10 to Midnight is directed by J. Lee Thompson who also directed the aforementioned Assassination in 1987, but he also directed a couple other really interesting movies. He worked several times with Bronson including St. Ives, The White Buffalo, Caboblanco, The Evil That Men Do, Murphy’s Law, Death Wish 4: The Crackdown, Messenger of Death, and Kinjite: Forbidden Subects. He also made the really interesting 1975 psychological thriller The Reincarnation of Peter Proud. Before that, in 1972 and 1973, he made the final two films in the original Planet of the Apes series, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes and Battle for the Planet of the Apes. The former of those I covered on this blog back in 2017. Earlier in his career, though, he got an Oscar nomination for directing The Guns of Navarone. He followed that up by directing the original, 1962 version of Cape Fear. Despite some of the Bronson films made for Cannon which can often get some jeers and sneers, Thompson is a well-regarded director throughout his long career behind the camera.

Before we dive into 10 to Midnight, I find this funny… I grew up always thinking of this as a deeply disturbing thriller with an absolutely bonkers guy doing pretty fucked up things to his victims. It has indeed picked up quite the cult following through the last 40 years thanks to home video and cable appearances. However, upon release, my main man Roger Ebert gave it zero stars and asked what Bronson is doing in “garbage disposal” like this movie. Now, this is where it gets kind of funny. On the other side of the aisle (as it were), his colleague and rival, Gene Siskel, gave it a positive review.

Considering 10 to Midnight does not appear in any of Ebert’s books featuring his least-liked movies (I have all three volumes: I Hated, Hated, Hated This Movie, Your Movie Sucks, and A Horrible Experience of Unbearable Length), maybe he softened on the movie over time.

Right out of the gate, we meet Leo Kessler (Bronson). He’s typing up a counter-review of this movie to compete with Roger Ebert. He’s got a crazy old man raving on and on about killing someone to get arrested. A reporter comes up after the old man is escorted out. This reporter is sniffing around for a story. However, the last time he got on from Leo, this guy, Jerry, didn’t bother to mention his name in the story. Leo wants to cut him off. We get all we need to know about Leo Kessler when he tells Jerry that the press may be seeking a story, but Leo is a mean son of a bitch looking to catch a killer.

Speaking of killers and one that Leo will most definitely be interested in catching before the end of this movie’s runtime, we are shown Warren Stacey. He’s a kind of dweeby, but he’s got a hell of a mean streak in him. You see, when he makes advances on women, they typically reject him. Out of his sexual insecurity, inadequacy, and frustration, he stalks them and then kills them for rejecting him.

Now, far be it for me, a perpetually single (and happy about it) dude, to criticize how he goes about seeking sex, but I think Warren goes about it the wrong way. As he watches his next victim, we see what happened to lead to this moment. She was standing and drinking her coffee. Warren approached from behind and just unzipped the back of her dress. Surprised by this advance, she turns around and tosses her coffee in his face.

Okay, so… Warren? Mr. Stacey? Let’s review what you did wrong and how we can do better, okay? Sex, and, better yet, companionship, is gained from having a personality. You talk to people, particularly women, like you would any other person. If you have a personality, and you don’t put a great deal of pressure on the concept of getting your dick wet, you will usually be able to find yourself having conversation after conversation. The more conversations and a comfortable personality that you show, the chances will increase that one or more of these conversations will lead to potential dick wetting. You don’t have to be a creep and just start taking people’s clothes off FOR them before you’ve established that a) you are a decent dude, b) you foster chemistry between you and that potential mate, and c) you let your physical attraction and desire for intimacy to naturally progress through smaller gestures (i.e. holding hands, stroking of an arm or, I dunno… hair or something).

Got it? Good. Let’s continue with the movie.

Okay, so Warren is a fucking creep. He goes home and showers. He then walks around in his apartment for a bit in his bikini briefs before finishing getting dressed, complete with a switchblade, and seeks his next shot at getting laid. This brings him to the movies where he checks out a revival screening of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Warren can’t even stand in line to buy a ticket for the movie without being a total creep. He basically stands so close to the lovely lady with the (at the risk of sounding like a creep myself) massive knockers that he could almost be butt-fucking her.

Inside the theater, he sits right next to the girl, named Tina, and comes on way too strong. She asks him to sit somewhere else, but he refuses. He then tries to offer them popcorn and she pushes his hand back causing it to go all over the place. The two girls get up and find another seat. He goes into the bathroom and puts a pair of latex gloves on. He then sneaks through a window that leads into a service area and up to the roof. He jams something into the window to prevent it from closing all the way.

He then drives out to the lake where the girl he was watching earlier is fucking her boyfriend in the back of his van. He throws open the van’s door, stabs the boyfriend to death, and chases the girl into the wooded area. He eventually catches up to her and kills her as she begs for her life. Oh, did I mention that he does this naked? Anyway, all of his hitting on the two girls and being an outward creep to them at the theater was so they remembered him to give an alibi when the victim’s last known acquaintances and such are questioned.

The next day, we are back with Leo Kessler at the scene of the murders. Captain Malone (played by Wilford Brimley) is there and going over things with a fine-tooth comb, as is Kessler. We learn that Kessler is a pretty by-the-book kind of guy. His new partner, Paul McAnn (Andrew Stevens), spit his gum onto the ground. Kessler picks up the gum and puts it in McAnn’s pocket, then reminds him that they are looking for evidence and he’s fuckin’ the shit up there.

Kessler is also quick to realize that the crimes are not inherently sexual. The brutal nature of the stabbings caused both victims to die by way of disconnecting the intestines from the rest of the digestive tract. The coroner says that there was no indication of forced sexual penetration so the girl was not raped. Kessler, dispassionately, says that the knife itself was the killer’s penis.

Unfortunately, Leo soon realizes that the victim, Betty Johnson, was a close friend of Leo’s daughter, Laurie. It’s a rough conversation to have with Betty’s parents. It’s a crack in his tough exterior just after he attempted to coach McAnn on the concept of separating his feelings from the job – which might include telling parents their child has been murdered and having to ask difficult questions.

Their next stop is Betty’s apartment to talk to her roommate, Karen. Karen’s played by Jeana Thomasina (Keough). She was one of The Beach Girls which just recently appeared on B-Movie Enema: The Series. Later, at Betty’s funeral, we meet Leo’s daughter, Laurie (Lisa Eilbacher). She and McAnn have a brief conversation while Warren eavesdrops. Laurie has a little bit of a tough exterior like her father, but the two of them are estranged.

Warren gets spooked by two things that happen at the funeral. First, he overhears Betty’s parents mention a diary she kept that would have the names of everyone she ever dated in it. That might be an odd thing for her father to be aware of, but whatevs… Girl’s gotta get hers I suppose. The other thing is Laurie approaches Warren and claims to recognize him but she can’t seem to place him. He beats cheeks and goes straight to Betty and Karen’s apartment to try to find the diary. As he searches for it, Karen comes home from the funeral. Karen’s boyfriend calls to tell her he’s going to come take her out to help her get over her friend being murdered, but she declines saying she wants to lay low for a couple hours to rest. That’s not the right move. While she makes herself some food, Warren goes nude and stabs her in the kitchen before going back to work to find the diary.

When he finds a box that says “My Diary” on it, he opens it to find there is no diary there.

Freaked out about the diary being in the wild, not being able to find it, being recognized by Laurie Kessler, having to kill a second co-worker… Oh yeah, Warren worked with both Betty and Karen. So, you know, there’s another connection that leads right back to him. If all of that isn’t bad enough, he comes home from not finding that diary, killing Karen, and, I guess, stopping off at the Kroger for some groceries, he comes home to find Kessler and McAnn waiting for him so they can question him.

Seriously, I feel like any time between 1980 and the time he died, if you came home to find Charles Bronson wearing a suit that he could afford on a cop’s salary and wanting to ask you some questions, you were, at best, in super deep shit or, at worst, going to be killed by him with a bazooka.

Kessler and McAnn reveal they already have Betty’s diary. McAnn says she kept a rather graphic detail of the guys she dated. Kessler reads through some of the entries and comes to the part where she said that Warren was a creep and made her skin crawl. In fact, she writes several things about how many times he asked her out. My money’s on Kessler pulling out a bazooka and ending the movie after only 30 minutes. In fact, I’m rooting for it. Warren gives his alibi about who might have seen him at the theater, what movie it was, and who he talked to while there. Kessler asks to use the bathroom while McAnn asks about a bullfighting poster Warren has on his wall. He finds out that Warren can speak pretty fluent Spanish. You see, Karen told them that a man would call to talk to Betty and would speak Spanish. While they are there, Captain Malone calls to tell them about Karen being found dead by her boyfriend. Kessler believes, without a doubt, the killer has to be Warren.

Warren’s brought in for interrogation. During the interrogation, Warren maintains his innocence under Kessler’s intense scrutiny. But, uh oh… Kessler reveals he knows that Warren has a juvenile record. When he was 12, he cut a girl who lived next door. Then, when he got in trouble for that, he broke her window and threw a dead cat into her room. Kessler believes Warren has a definitive history of hurting women.

Kessler’s case has a couple temporary holes in it. The girls from the theater have come in to positively identify Warren as the guy they saw the night of Betty’s murder at the theater. Kessler does not believe any of the alibis that Warren has floated. He believes he meticulously set it up to protect himself. In fact, Kessler even says in the most Charles Bronson way possible, “I’m gonna get’em…”

Kessler wants another crack at Warren. Captain Malone isn’t so sure it’s a good idea. He defers to McAnn who thinks pushing against Warren is a bad idea. It would bring some legal pressure down onto the precinct. Meanwhile, Laurie has brought a picture to the precinct from the company picnic she was at with Betty, Karen, and Warren. She says that Betty talked about how freaked out she was by Warren. More, Warren would talk about being made fun of and how he’d get revenge on the people who did.

But, you see, Warren is no dummy. He knows from Betty’s funeral that Laurie is Kessler’s daughter. He decides to do his thing with her by waiting for her outside the hospital where she works and following her home when she gets off the clock for the night. He calls her phone at the shared apartment she has with other nurses. He says some pretty nasty things to say to her in Spanish and she hangs up on him. The next day, Kessler and McAnn visit Laurie. She invites McAnn to a party she and her roommates are throwing because she’s kind of sweet on the dashing partner. When she tells Kessler about that obscene phone call and the caller speaking Spanish, McAnn decides it would be a really good idea for him to be there at this rockin’ party with some equipment to help snag another call.

When McAnn brings Laurie home, they hear the phone ringing, and it’s Warren doing his Hispanic guy routine. He gets mad on the call and starts saying some potentially violent stuff. McAnn takes the call to Kessler who gets pretty pissed off over what has to be Warren messing with him and his daughter. Despite being a mostly by-the-book guy, Kessler goes to the police lab and draws some blood from one of the victims so he can plant it on Warren to make sure he gets busted for the murders.

After reviewing the tape of the call to Laurie and the interrogation room, it’s determined he is definitely the guy who is messing with Laurie. This also gets the warrant to pick up his clothes from the night of Betty’s murder. The lab discovers the blood on them from Betty. When McAnn learns about how Kessler went to the lab at 2 in the morning the same night that McAnn took the tape to him, McAnn begins to realize that maybe Kessler did something he really shouldn’t have. Still, Warren is arrested and is given counsel by Geoffrey Lewis playing a skeezy defense lawyer named Dante who believes a court trial will get delayed or possibly something they could win until Kessler comes in to tell them they found blood on his clothing and he’s now going to be booked for murder in the first degree. Warren loses his mind and claims he’s lying.

McAnn is a little concerned over Dante’s statement to the press saying the evidence is fabricated. He’s doubly frustrated over Kessler saying to not worry about what he has to say. Dante tells McAnn that he’s going to be called to the stand because there’s no way the evidence was there unless it was planted. Dante says that if McAnn lies about where the evidence came from, he’ll be committing perjury. McAnn tells Leo he’s going on the stand and he checked with the lab tech because he was worried Kessler planted the evidence against Warren. Leo admits that he did indeed plant the evidence. Ultimately, Leo admits to the prosecutor and judge that he planted the evidence and Warren is immediately released.

Kessler is also fired.

That night, Kessler gets a taunting call from Warren. Soon, Kessler begins following and taunting Warren. I’m telling you, this can only end one of two ways… Warren needs to turn himself in or he’s gonna get bazooka’d by Bronson. When Warren goes to work, he gets balled out by his boss for pictures from Betty’s crime scene hanging in his office where he fixes the secretary pool’s typewriters. His boss says she’s going to personnel to have him fired. He looks out his office window to see Kessler watching.

Outside Warren’s apartment, Kessler keeps a watch out for her safety. McAnn tells him that the police are aware that he’s messing with Warren and that he needs to be careful because his old partner is messing with a very dangerous guy. Finally, Warren gets his switchblade out of the hiding place he stashed it while the cops were pressuring him. Warren picks up a hooker and takes her to the hotel she normally performs her tricks. Kessler follows but gets there too late. The hooker is drugged, Warren’s ducked out of the hotel’s window, and goes to Laurie’s apartment.

He knocks on the door and uses flowers to cover his face. He convinces her roommate, Doreen (played by Kelly Preston), to open the door just as Kessler calls the apartment to tell them to not open the door. He forces his way in and kills Doreen. Laurie hides as he roughs up and questions Bunny, another of her roommates. He thinks Laurie is in the shower, so he forces the door open only to stab and kill the third roommate, Lola. Blaming Bunny for making him think Laurie was in the shower, he kills her too. Meanwhile, while racing to get to the dorm, Kessler calls McAnn so they can both get to the apartment to save Laurie.

Laurie hides under the bed while Warren walks around the apartment naked and looking for her. He eventually figures out she is under one of the beds and tosses it aside to get to her. She attempts to leave the apartment but can’t open the door due to Kelly Preston just lying there in the way. Dammit, Kelly, get out of the way!

We finally get to the big climax and the thing that almost everyone remembers from this movie. Laurie escapes out of the apartment just before Leo gets there. She’s being chased by a naked Warren down the middle of the street. Soon, Leo begins running and looking for them. All the while, there’s a police helicopter flying overhead. We think Laurie is cooked when maybe the most badass moment of Charles Bronson’s career happens.

God, that’s such a great shot. First, you don’t see him until the very last moment before Lisa Eilbacher runs into his arms. It’s perfectly angled and shot to have that big heroic moment. This is what a director like J. Lee Thompson can do for your movie. This is a movie that isn’t overly stylized in any particular way. It knows when to be brutal with the killings of Betty and her boyfriend. It knows how to be angled well like when Warren is terrorizing Laurie’s roommates. This is what a really good director can do. He can rein in the desire to go overly styled in the visual to give better attention to the noir feel of the police/murderer plot. But when it matters most, moments can pop like that exact moment when Lisa Eilbacher runs into Bronson’s arms and he holds Gene Davis at gunpoint to save the day.

But we’re not even over yet. Just then, McAnn arrives too. Now, you think, with McAnn here, he’s here to arrest Warren. But McAnn just takes Laurie away to safety. Warren, at first, pleads for his life. But then, as Kessler talks about how he killed so many girls, Warren changes his approach. As coached by his lawyer just before he was set free for Kessler’s misdeeds in the case, Warren begins saying he didn’t know what he was doing. He was out of control. He is unwell. That means he’s not going to be kept in jail for long due to his insanity. After all, it’s the law and that’s how it works now. He says when they let him out, everyone’s going to be hearing from him.

Kessler says they won’t be hearing from him, shoots Warren dead, and surrenders to McAnn immediately as Laurie is forced to look on.

10 to Midnight is a pretty damn good movie. Sure, it’s indicative of the hard-boiled crime thrillers of the era, but it’s slick too. I just spent an entire paragraph above talking about how it styles itself. Go read that one again if you need to. As for our two main forces in this movie – Charles Bronson and Gene Davis? They are pitch-perfect for this movie. Bronson is the quintessential modern-day grizzled cop. I love how he slowly deconstructs throughout the movie. At the beginning, he’s by the book. He’s good at his job. He wants to do the right things. Spit your gum out at my crime scene? The fuck is wrong with you? You want to badger me for a story? You better mention my name to send a message that I will get my man each and every time. But as he deals with these grizzly murders, he’s slowly growing tired of his own procedures. When that murderer starts to threaten his daughter, he can’t wait for the typical due process. Granted, he could already be teetering toward that kind of attitude toward catching killers before the movie even begins, but it’s clear he’s frustrated with some of the process.

As for Gene Davis, he’s great as Warren. Warren is not a bad looking guy. In fact, if he’s just sitting at a bar and not initiating conversations in the worst possible way, he’d probably do pretty well with the ladies. However, whenever you see him interacting with someone, there’s something very uneasy about him. He’s not really looking any different, but he oozes this uneasy vibe that makes you as a viewer very uncomfortable. We’ve all been in those situations before where someone just has this icky energy about them that, even if they are attractive or seemingly kind of friendly, you are not entirely comfortable around them. Davis does a really good job with this role and it’s no wonder that this is his most enduring performance.

We’re all done with 10 to Midnight. If there are any parting words that I could toss in here at the last minute, this is one of the best movies covered on this blog for the past year or so. So, for next week, let’s get a little sillier. Next time, we’re going to stop in for dessert as Karen Black feeds us some of Auntie Lee’s Meat Pies. So, be here next Friday for that review. Then, tomorrow, the newest episode of B-Movie Enema: The Series will be out and this week, I’ve got a classic that I first saw on Mystery Science Theater 3000. Join me as I host Track of the Moon Beast.

Now, get out of here and try not to be bazooka’d by a rogue Charles Bronson.