Movie Kumite: 10 to Midnight vs. Fear City

It has been a long while since two movies have entered the Movie Kumite here on Bulletproof Action. After a first time watch of 1984’s Fear City. I could not help but draw some comparisons to 1983’s 10 to Midnight and I knew it was only a matter of time until these two films battled it out in our cinematic slugfest…

POLICE WORK

Both movies competing in this edition of The Movie Kumite feature police detectives hunting down a serial killer that is targeting women. On the 10 to Midnight side we have young Detective Paul McAnn (Andrew Stevens, Death Hunt) teaming up with grizzled veteran Detective Leo Kessler (Charles Bronson, Death Wish 3). On the Fear City side Billy Dee Williams (Number One with a Bullet) played Detective Al Wheeler.

As you might expect Billy Dee’s “cooler than the other side of the pillow” Wheeler was in stark contrast to Bronson’s “rough around the edges” Kessler and Stevens’ “wet behind the ears” McAnn. This one would have been a tough call to make until Kessler tampered with evidence, blowing the case against Warren Stacy (Gene Davis) and disqualifying the 10 to Midnight side in this round, giving the duke to Billy Dee and Fear City.

10 to MIDNIGHT – 0 FEAR CITY – 1

VIGILANTE JUSTICE

Leo Kessler may have tarnished his reputation as a police detective, but you can’t deny that he could take the law into his own hands better than anyone else on the face of God’s green earth.. that includes Fear City’s Matt Rossi (Tom Berenger, Sniper) and Nicky Parzeno (Jack Scalia, T-Force). Rossi and Parzeno are talent managers that are desperately trying to find the psychopath that is targeting many of the dancers that work for their talent agency… while you have to applaud them for their efforts, there’s no way anybody (even Tom Berenger) is beating a vigilante played by Charles Bronson in this category.

10 to MIDNIGHT – 1 FEAR CITY – 1

THE KILLERS

Fear City made an interesting choice by never naming the killer in the film and the actor who played the killer isn’t even in the credits. The only thing we know about him is he has a thing for killing strippers and he likes to exercise in the buff.

There is little to no mystery about 10 to Midnight’s Warren Stacy who does all of his killing in the buff… which certainly makes him more of an exhibitionist than Fear City’s mysterious serial killer.

Stacy also wins in the obscene phone call competition when he calls Leo Kessler’s daughter Laurie (Lisa Eilbacher) using a Spanish accent and tells her his name is Pedro, which translates to Peter and that he has the biggest peter that she’s ever seen.

Fear City’s unorthodox approach to their killer costs them in this round against one of Charles Bronson’s most memorable foes.

10 to MIDNIGHT – 2 FEAR CITY – 1

SUPPORTING CAST

Both movies in this edition of the Movie Kumite boast all-star supporting casts…

10 to Midnight has the aforementioned Lisa Eilbacher (Beverly Hills Cop) as Laurie Kessler, who proves to be as tough and strong as her dear old dad as she becomes the target of Warren Stacy… Speaking of Stacy, Geoffrey Lewis (Double Impact) does a fantastic job as Warren Stacy’s sleezeball attorney Dave Dante… and then there’s Wilford Brimley (Remo Williams) who plays Leo Kessler and Paul McAnn’s boss, Captain Malone.

Fear City has two actresses that would go on to star in much bigger films in the years that followed, Melanie Griffith and Rae Dawn Chong (Commando)… but there is one supporting actor who in my eyes (and more accurately, my ears) tips the scales in favor of Fear City and that is Michael V. Gazzo. Gazzo plays the proprietor of a strip joint that does business with Matt Rossi and Nicky Parzeno… I could listen to Frankie Five Angels talk all day long.

10 to MIDNIGHT – 2 FEAR CITY – 2

OLA RAY

Ola Ray, who is probably best known for playing Michael Jackson’s girlfriend in the epic music video for “Thriller”, appears in both 10 to Midnight and Fear City. In 10 to Midnight, Ola is one of the victims of Warren Stacy when he comes after Laurie Kessler at the nursing school dormitory… Ola is actually the first woman to be victimized by the mysterious killer in Fear City, but there’s an important difference… in Fear City she survives (with a few less digits, but survives none the less) and in 10 to Midnight she does not.

Living > Dead. Fear City breaks the tie…

10 to MIDNIGHT – 2 FEAR CITY – 3

THE CRITICS

This battle of sexually charged action thrillers is going to come down to the critics and that means turning our attention to two of the most respected movie sites the Internet has ever known…

Over on IMDb, 10 to Midnight has a 6.3 rating beating out Fear City‘s 5.7 rating.

It is more of the same on Rotten Tomatoes with 10 to Midnight having a 50% audience score beating out Fear City and their 33% audience score.

FINAL SCORE: 10 to MIDNIGHT – 4 FEAR CITY – 3