10 To Midnight (1983) ***1/2
I wish I'd seen 10 To Midnight (1983) sooner, as I'm willing to go out on a limb and label it a minor sleaze classic. I really wasn't expecting the film to be as good as it is, but I'm sure the fact that J. Lee Thompson (Cape Fear (1962), The Guns Of Navarone (1961), and two of the 70s POTA films, including one of the very best, Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes (1972)) directed it has something to do with that fact.
I'd seen a few of their productions when I was younger, but for the most part I didn't grow up watching Cannon Group/Golan & Globus films, so it's been a real treat discovering their work in my 30s and now 40s (gulp). Their brand of exploitation is recognizable across genres and carries with it a certain mark of quality, despite the low to mid level budgets of their films. Of their films that I've seen, none are complete schlock and they are frequently and consistently entertaining. The production values always impress for the budgets utilized as well.
10TM is filled to the gills with outrageousness. There's Gene Davis, who plays a sexually frustrated proto-incel psychopath who kills in the nude and looks like a Kevin Bacon/Tom Cruise/Robert Bryan Wilson (of Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984) fame, my review here) mashup. His performance is stone-faced and wooden for the bulk of the movie, save for some choice moments where he goes absolutely berserk. The scenes where he's slaying in the buff strongly call to mind (and predate, both the book and film) Patrick Bateman from American Psycho (2000) (my review here). And there is of course Charles Bronson, the salty cop who is willing to break the law to ensure justice, when the system fails him.
Buried beneath the hilarity, insanity and slasher tropes is a well-made cult flick dealing with toxic masculinity, police corruption, and mental illness. How much you want to take stock in those themes and how much you want to sit back and enjoy the ride is up you. Either way, remember these key points: avoid hospital cafeteria food and don't leave your sex toys in your bathroom, lest police officers use them to embarrass you when you're brought down to the station for questioning.
I'd seen a few of their productions when I was younger, but for the most part I didn't grow up watching Cannon Group/Golan & Globus films, so it's been a real treat discovering their work in my 30s and now 40s (gulp). Their brand of exploitation is recognizable across genres and carries with it a certain mark of quality, despite the low to mid level budgets of their films. Of their films that I've seen, none are complete schlock and they are frequently and consistently entertaining. The production values always impress for the budgets utilized as well.
10TM is filled to the gills with outrageousness. There's Gene Davis, who plays a sexually frustrated proto-incel psychopath who kills in the nude and looks like a Kevin Bacon/Tom Cruise/Robert Bryan Wilson (of Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984) fame, my review here) mashup. His performance is stone-faced and wooden for the bulk of the movie, save for some choice moments where he goes absolutely berserk. The scenes where he's slaying in the buff strongly call to mind (and predate, both the book and film) Patrick Bateman from American Psycho (2000) (my review here). And there is of course Charles Bronson, the salty cop who is willing to break the law to ensure justice, when the system fails him.
Buried beneath the hilarity, insanity and slasher tropes is a well-made cult flick dealing with toxic masculinity, police corruption, and mental illness. How much you want to take stock in those themes and how much you want to sit back and enjoy the ride is up you. Either way, remember these key points: avoid hospital cafeteria food and don't leave your sex toys in your bathroom, lest police officers use them to embarrass you when you're brought down to the station for questioning.
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