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I'd first seen 10 to Midnight (10tM) on a pan-and-scan VHS tape in the mid-80's. I always remembered the image of the slasher, naked except for a pair of surgical gloves; effectively scary especially if, like me, you were well below the rating age at the time. Having the film on blu-ray gives me a chance to revisit and see how well it holds up now.
This is another in the long run of movies leading man Charles Bronson made with J Lee Thompson. J Lee had at one point had made celebrated war films Ice Cold in Alex, Guns of Navarone etc. But he was at a different phase of his career when he took up 10tM - the projects smaller in scope and lower in budget. 10tM is lower-tier for both him and Bronson, but not without its points of interest.
Bronson plays the tough old detective Kessler, on the trail of a murderer of multiple young women. Early on, the killer is revealed to the audience. He is Stacey (Gene Davis), a creepy young man with sexual dysfunction / fragile ego issues who takes violent vengeance on the women that reject his advances. The film is mainly a cat and mouse game between crafty killer and dogged cop. The interest comes from the cop's willingness to plant evidence to lock up Stacey, purely based on his conviction that Stacey is the murderer (Of course, since this is Bronson, he confesses before the trial to the judge, leading to Stacey's acquittal). Later Kessler copies the killer's stalking MO, humiliating him at his workplace. This is referred to in the climax where Stacey, after he is captured, screams about how Kessler's illegal actions forced him into a further massacre that leads to the death of at least 3 women when he goes after Kessler's daughter. The film ends on a note of vigilante justice in which it is left for the audience to wonder if the rule of law works both ways.
10tM is pervaded by a sleazy mean-spirited tone - I can't wholly disagree with Roger Ebert's review in which he says, "What is [Bronson] doing in a garbage disposal like this?". I think Gene Davis does reasonably well as the psycho-killer even though the script and Thompson's direction do not ask for any nuance from him. Bronson coasts along as he did in a million of his latter-day tough guy movies. The supporting cast is either workmanlike or outright pedestrian. The potentially interesting aspect of the the cop's ethics are never seriously called into question. This is a Cannon Films production, and very likely, the budget was not a generous one. Apart from the climax featuring a major police hunt with squad cars and a helicopter, there are no 'big' scenes, and it has a distinct DTV feel.
A few words on the UK blu-ray from 88 Films:
88's release sources its feature presentation from the same 4K restoration that was used on Shout Factory's North American release and also licenses the extras from that one. The widescreen 1.85:1 image is healthy looking and nicely presents Adam 'Terminator 1&2' Greenberg's cinematography. The DTS-HDMA dual mono track is good enough for the film's modest thrills and Robert Ragland's interesting synth score. Extras include a commentary track by Bronson biographer Charles Talbot and several featurettes, all borrowed from the Shout release.
