Midnight Blue (1979) * 1/2 (out of 4) Yet another Italian rip-off of Wes Craven's THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT. This one here has three girls heading off to a private beach to spend the weekend relaxing. Three men end up showing up so they're added to the weekend party that includes sex and alcohol. Soon the women learn that the men are escaped prisoners and they then turn violent.You know, if you're going to rip-off a notorious violent movie it might be a good idea not to tame the subject down. MIDNIGHT BLUE is perhaps one of the least known rips and that's probably due to the fact that there's really not too much that happens here. Horror fans love the countless rip-offs that Italy has to offer but I think it speaks volumes that this film isn't known.The biggest problem is that the first forty minutes or so are nothing more than softcore sex scenes between the girls and the bad guys. They laugh. They talk. They have a good time and this stuff just drags on. Once the secret of who the guys are finally gets out there's still not much that happens. Once the "revenge" aspect starts its rather tame and there's not a single shocking thing that happens. The screenplay really doesn't offer up anything interesting except for the two dumb cops, another thing that was ripped from the Craven movie.

This is a cheap looking Italian drama about three girls who are taken hostage by three criminals. It really isn't that interesting, although there are a couple of enjoyable moments. The girls take revenge and kill the dudes cold, but that isn't where it ends. The final sequence is one of the only parts that leave an impression.I stumbled on this movie by accident and watched it once. There were some lengthy sequences that did not keep my attention. It was gritty and poorly lit, and not very scenic.It starts out kind of carefree, as the three girls are on a vacation bus with a group, but stay behind from the rest to hang out at a beach house. They meet three men and it's kind of cozy for a while. The movie changes tone midway when the girls find out the men are wanted.

There! One quick glimpse at this user-comments subject line and experienced horror/cult cinema fanatics immediately know what type of exploitation movie we're dealing with here! Wes Craven's horror landmark "Last House on the Left" spawned a copious amount of cheaply made and rapidly edited imitations (mainly Italian ones) and "Midnight Blue" is easily the most forgettable one of them all. Actually this film already righteously resides in oblivion and only crazed smut-freaks, like myself, are stupid enough to dig it back up. "Midnight Blue" features the exact same story lines as all the other revenge films, except one of the female rape victims in this film is a practicing javelin thrower so you already know beforehand which attribute she'll use to extract her vengeance. Three young girls (not the world's sexiest ones, I may add) unwisely separate themselves from the rest of their group of touring athletes to spend extra vacation time in a house near a private beach. Whilst sunbathing topless, three men approach them in the hope to score a bit of random and casual sex and they do; even though two of them are old and downright hideous looking. Numerous gratuitous sex-sequences later, one of the girls coincidentally discovers the three are in fact fugitive criminals who needed a hideout place. When her attempt to signal the police fail, the three reveal their true malignant nature. Physical abuse, violence, humiliation and – eventually – retribution inevitably ensues… Not much to speak about here, "Midnight Blue" is completely mundane and by-the-numbers late 70's exploitation product. There's not even the slightest at building up tension, the cinematography looks ugly and the girls have more hair on their intimate areas than the average gorilla has over its entire body. Director Raimondo Del Balzo's input (who?) is entirely unnoticeable and none of the cast members has any other significant movie title on their repertoires. Not too hard to see why that is.

Three college girls out of a group on a tour decide against advice to detour for a weekend at a relative's posh villa. While on their private beach they are accosted by three young men. Since two of them Pier Luigi (Cantafora) and Bruno (Prete) are good-looking the girls unwisely invite them to stay for the weekend. It soon transpires that these men are not as well-behaved as they at first seemed. On a trip to the market one of the girls buys a newspaper and on the front page is an article showing the three men as escaped convicts all convicted of violent offenses, including murder. But Pier Luigi catches her trying to phone a warning to the other girls back at the villa. When they return to the villa the ugliness, violence and abuse begin. But these girls are in training for women's Olympic events: one of them throws javelins, so they have a few moves of their own in store for the vicious thugs. Midnight Blue is an improvement over the similar but much nastier "Last House on the Beach" of the previous year. It is still an unsettling and uneasy film to watch with tense fascination. You will want to know how it all turns out. Cantafora and Prete are memorable, as usual, even in these unlovely roles.