Other reviews:
“You wouldn’t expect such a soiled sex boiler to be so well made or enjoyable, but here we are. While He Kills Night After Night After Night never gets overly explicit (some blood, lots of leering nudity, but little presented sexually), the tone remains consistently grimy. The nearly black-screened killings even take place in the gutters! Now that’s dirty. Still, the film pulls out the hot spots when it comes to the technical side of things, which adds insulation to the dingy atmosphere.” Bleeding Skull!
“The film gives the impression that the makers wanted to say something but ended up shoehorning in as many topless women as their budget would allow (it certainly didn’t stretch to decent lighting or sound). Still, the great dialogue and astonishing tastelessness of the proceedings makes up for any such shortcomings, although at times it’s difficult to follow just which topless blonde is being stabbed to death this time…” British Horror Films
” …the movie embarks on an endless array of scenes of scantily clad women, leering perverts, double entendres, make-out sessions, voyeurism, etc. etc. etc.. Now, I can appreciate how some of this may be essential to understanding the characters and the situation, but this movie is so incessant with it that it comes fairly close to soft-core…” Fantastic Movie Musings and Ramblings
“The low budget is most evident in the courtroom and police station scenes, both of which feel somewhat cramped through their emphasis upon medium shots and close-ups to the exclusion of establishing shots. Shonteff’s direction is more agreeable when style comes to the fore, whether within the stalking and slashing stuff or the maniac’s freakouts. A decent time-passer.” Giallo Fever
Main cast and characters:
- Jack May … Judge Charles Lomax
- Justine Lord … Helena Lomax
- Gilbert Wynne … Inspector Bill Rowan
- Linda Marlowe … Jenny Rowan
- Terry Scully … Carter
- Donald Sumpter … Pete Laver – The Black Panther
- Peter Forbes-Robertson … Powell – Island of Terror; The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires; Scream… and Die!
- Jacqueline Clarke … Josie Leach
- Jack Smethurst … Chief Inspector
- Michael Nightingale … Martingale – Solicitor
- Simon Lack … Endell’s Q.C.
- Shirley Easton … Stripper #2
- John Gabriel … Counsel
- Carol Haddon … Prostitute #1
- April Harlow … Stripper #1
- Bernard G. High … Witness
- Gary Hope … Counsel
- Walter Horsbrugh … Doctor
- Elizabeth Murray … Marion Brown
- Yvonne Paul … Prostitute #2
- Roy Skelton … Counsel
- Philip Caton … David Endell [uncredited]
Continental version:
Most people have seen Night, After Night, After Night via its pre-cert UK video releases which were all derived from the British cinema version which had been cut for an ‘X’ certificate in the late sixties by censors the BBFC.
However, the version released on Dutch video is an “overseas” version of the film, containing some extra sex scenes, sequences were the actors are wearing far fewer clothes than in the British version, stronger inserts during a few scenes, and a murder scene with nudity that’s even more unpleasant than the one in the Euro version of Corruption.
All the additional footage was clearly shot the same time as the original film, either by Shonteff himself, or someone who the producers hired to do ‘X’-rated inserts.
The comparisons between the two versions start right at the beginning, with the Dutch version boasting a pre-credit sequence of the killer (wearing his Beatles wig and nothing else) in the bedroom of a prostitute watching her undress before the two of them end up in bed together. The Dutch version then cuts to a scene that takes place around 46 minutes into the British version, in which Pete Laver separates from his friends in Hyde Park and a prostitute is murdered in the killer’s car. At which point the credits roll in the Dutch version (there is no pre-credits scene in the UK version).
Around eight minutes in there is a huge chunk of narrative footage missing from the Dutch version after Judge Lomax passes sentence on the sex offender: gone are scenes of the Judge’s wife discussing her marriage with a friend, Rowan meeting his wife at the police station, the Judge reacting in disgust at seeing his wife in lingerie, the Judge and Rowan meeting at the restaurant, and finally, Rowan questioning Laver (the Dutch version resumes halfway through this scene with Laver remarking “why don’t you call your little dolly bird back?”).
Approximately 19 minutes in: the sex scene between Rowan and his wife was shot in two versions, in the British version she is merely topless, while in the dutch version she is fully naked, and the sex scene goes on slightly longer.
Around 21 minutes in, the sex scene between Laver and the girl in the park was similarly sexed up with inserts of Laver playing with her and she plays with him too, although curiously through his underpants!
Roughly 26 minutes in, the stripper’s routine, as watched by the Judge’s clerk is longer in the Dutch release with full nudity and the kinky clerk afforded more of an eyeful than in the UK version.
Around 36 minutes in after the scene that gives us our first look at the killer’s sleazy hideaway, the overseas version cuts to a scene unique to the “overseas” version of him visiting a prostitute who greets him with “Hello Peter, you’re early today, I was just having a cup of coffee, would you like some”.
Clearly he wouldn’t, and as to not further trouble the actress with more dialogue, they’re soon in bed together, in a scene distinguished by the killer stripping out of some leopard skin Y-fronts, revealing a very hairy arse (I’ll spare you screenshots of that) and a shot of the girl finishing off her coffee framed between the killer’s legs.
Around 45 minutes in, another “overseas” version only scene in the Euro version, with the killer once again visiting a prostitute, who greets him with “its five pounds for a short time, ten pounds for all night and twenty for the special treatment” After he hands her a fiver she complains “make it ten, I’m tired”. After the usual shots of our man’s hairy arse and some pussy rubbing, things take a violent turn, with the killer chasing her around the room with a knife and stabbing her to death.
Approx. 1 hour 7 minutes in: the scene in the flat between the judge and the prostitute was shot in two versions, in the UK version she’s topless while in the Continental version she is fully nude. The Judge’s rant at her is mostly delivered in a close-up of his face in the British version but is played out over naked shots of her in the Dutch edit, which also includes extra shots of her being menaced by a knife and the judge’s monologue is much longer. The British version ends with him remarking “so evil” while in the Euro version he goes on to say “you should not bear children, I must protect, you must die, you’re the murderer, you shall die”. A clapper board is very visible in the overseas version of this scene.
UK “knickers on” version:
Euro “knickers off” version:
Finally, the ending is shortened in the export version, eliminating the policeman’s last line to Rowan and all of the credits. It merely finishes with the policeman approaching Rowan, opening his mouth and then cuts to an abrupt “ends” card.
Whilst the European version makes for an interesting discovery, and includes full versions of scenes that were obviously trimmed slightly by our self-appointed moral guardians, the BBFC, I personally prefer the British video version.
The “additional” scenes don’t really add much to the film, other than sleaze. In fact, they seem to contradict the original film, given that the killer judge appears at several points in the film to be repulsed by female sexuality (especially the scene in which his wife puts on lingerie and the scene in the prostitute’s flat at the end of the film) it seems hard to believe he’d be merrily jumping into bed with prostitutes at the same time.
Interestingly, in the additional scenes, one of the girls refers to the killer as “Peter” indicting that the killer’s Beatles wig/leather jacket disguise is an attempt to impersonate Pete Laver and frame him for the crimes. This is something that chronologically would make no sense in the original film (as the killer adopts this garb before Laver is introduced in the film, or even comes under suspicion), which presumably is why the Euro edit moves the scene of Laver in Hyde Park to the start of the film.
Night, After Night, After Night has always seemed like a murky hybrid of both a sex and horror film, with a question mark hanging over what genre it really belongs to, so I suppose it’s entirely appropriate then, that there was a version that plays like a horror film (the UK release), and another that plays like softcore smut with a psycho-thriller subplot (European release).
Gavin Whitaker, Gav Crimson Blogspot
Filming locations:
Shepherd Market, Mayfair, London, England
Working title:
Evil Is
Some images are gratefully reproduced from Mounds and Circles, Giallo Fever and Attack from Plan B
