10 to Midnight (1983)

It's easy to forget that in the 80s, action movies were every bit as violent as horror films and 10 to Midnight is pretty harsh. It feels like they're attempting to make both a Friday the 13th and a Death Wish movie AT THE SAME TIME!Charles Bronson plays a tough cop dedicated to his job. He stumbles onto a serial sex killer and obsessively hunts him down only to have the system fail him leading to a truly shocking bloodbath at the finale. 10 to Midnight is Cannon film, thus it's over-the-top with lots of sex and violence. It's also through and through a Bronson film so there's a lot of tough guy grandstanding and complaints about a broken legal system that values the rights of the accused over those of the victim. The positives of this movie are that it has a truly solid cast. Bronson actually seems to care about his performance (not always the case in his later films), the villain is creepy and frightening (he likes to attack his lady victims while he is totally nude), and the kills are intensely effective. The negatives are that the movie is just a little too slow. There are too many cop movie cliches and I didn't care at all about Bronson's partner. Honestly, I feel that this movie would have worked much better as a straight forward giallo film. This is a cop movie that occasionally turns into a slasher film which leaves a movie that can't find a consistent tone. Fans of slashers and cop flicks are both likely to be put off by the movie but it is unique enough that I get why it has a cult following. It's an above average latter day Bronson film and probably at least worth a look for fans that don't mind a little (or a lot!) of bloodshed.

"10 to Midnight" is my favorite Bronson film - next to "Death Wish". I often think of how this movie scared me when it came out - I was 11 years old at the time. Why did "10 to Midnight" horrify me so much? I was just starting to "look a boys" at 11 years old (coming-of-age era) and thought about being hurt or worse by the person I may date one day.This movie is very thrilling and may frighten women more than men to watch due to the nature of the film. Although the scenario in the movie has been rehashed several times over each of this type has it's on uniqueness about it - and "10 to Midnight" is no exception.If you like crime-thrillers and have not seen this movie - try it one night you may like it! 8/10

This serial killer has a habit of tracking down pretty young girls while totally nude. This would ordinarily seem to be a disadvantage in the city of Los Angeles. And actually it's never clearly explained how he can sneak through a hospital dormitory full of people while wearing only a grim smile. Oh, he could get through the STREETS of Los Angeles naked. Anybody can do that. There are no pedestrians in Los Angeles, just drivers and they keep their eyes on the road. Day or night, you can stand on a sidewalk in a residential neighborhood and look down to the vanishing point without seeing a living human being -- no strollers, no runners, no children playing. Once in a while you may glimpse a shadowy figure dash from his house to his car, or the other way around.Sorry for the digression but it's important that you understand that in Los Angeles a naked man in public shouldn't attract your notice. He should be paid what sociologists call "civil inattention." Just ignore him and he'll go away.Bronson is a cop, and Stevens is his partner. They get involved in the killer's business because Bronson's daughter, Lisa Eilbacher, knew one of the victims and becomes suspicious of the murderer, Davis. Bronson tries to plant evidence on Davis. This annoys Davis so he attacks Bronson's daughter. He gets into the hospital by posing as a boy delivering flowers -- a completely naked boy delivering flowers.At one point, Bronson is fired or suspended from the police force. But J. Lee Thompson is a seasoned, professional director, responsible for some epic adventures, and has the good taste to spare us the scene in which Bronson must turn over his gun and his shield.Bronson is his usual self. He was in his 60s when this was shot and was a bit moon faced, not that it's his fault. "Ripeness is all." The killer, Gene Davis, has an equally important part. He looks like a discomfiting nodus of Steven Railsback, Martin Sheen, Christian Bale, and James Dean. He's supposed to be killing all these young women because he can't seem to get them interested in him. I don't know why not. He looks as handsome and fit as Andrew Stevens, the young cop. But it's hard for me to tell when a man is handsome or not. It's much easier to tell that Lisa Eilbacher is kind of cute without being stunningly beautiful. And she's a far better performer than Gene Davis. In fact, nearly everyone is a better actor than he is. It's a major problem for the movie when the most interesting character in it can't act. He has an effeminate lisp but that could have been worked into the character. He's given probably the best lines too, but he simply can't handle the role. You or I could have done equally well. In fact, I've done better in the movies, but my scenes didn't get on film.Anyway, you shouldn't go out of your way to see this -- unless you want to see a lot of blood and nudity, including an overdose of Davis's buns.

I was married to someone who liked Charles Bronson, a gifted actor who worked in master works and this film. This is not a good film. It is cliché to cliché of set pieces and violent pornography. Clint Eastwood played in films that resemble this one, except that those films worked.One aspect of many Bronson films produced by Mehahem Golan and Yoram Golbus is that often backgrounds are badly overexposed. I have no idea why. I have no idea how many of these Adam Greenburg filmed. Some of J. Lee Thompson's Bronson films are quite entertaining and clever. "Murphy's Law" is one of these. Just as Bronson was a gifted actor, so was Thompson a gifted director, who made the outstanding "Tiger Bay". Why this film is as bad as it is baffles me.For some reason, this film never feels plausible or realistic. The blood and gore is not really the problem or even over-the-top. The film fails at some other level that I cannot define.