Overrated and overhyped

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

This is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Although Lina Romay is girl-next-door cute, which is a rare and desirable quality in porn films, and the actress who dubs her (in the English version) does an equally enthusiastic job, "Midnight Party" is little more than a succession of boring, repetitive and mostly unappetizing striptease/sex/orgy scenes. Jess Franco, using the pseudonym James Garner, was in this phase in his career where he had decided to abandon the idea of a plot in his movies altogether. He does have one original - for the genre - idea: Romay frequently winks and speaks directly to the viewer, breaking the fourth wall. He also has a bad idea: to give himself a sizable acting role. * out of 4 as a film, but maybe *** if you love Romay.

There are several different edits of this movie and if the version you happen to view does not last for 90 minutes, then it is not the definite version. The original version does not start with the night club act but with a lengthy prologue where Lina Romay, writhing on a bed, talks at length to the camera/spectators, saying that she hopes we'll like her and if the movie becomes successful, she'll be signed for three more movies, etc., etc. Several times during the course of the movie, she also turns towards the camera during the action and addresses the spectators, commenting on the action. At one point, Franco himself, who also acts in the movie, does the same. The plot of the movie is thread-bare and has got to with a stripper and escort girl at a night club, Romay's character, involuntarily getting involved with a bunch of spies. There are loads of fairly explicit sex scenes. The humor may appeal to some and not to some, but the movie is interesting, if not for anything, for the deliberately Brechtian interludes.

Midnight Party (1976) ** (out of 4) Strange tale of a dancer (Lina Romay) who leaves her husband and rock star boyfriend at home when two playboys invite her to a midnight party. Once at the party she has a threesome with a couple and then wakes up the next morning to find both of them dead in bed with a knife in their back. Soon Romay finds herself kidnapped and on a strange voyage where she keeps showing up at various locations. This is a rather strange film because a lot of the time it has Romay looking at the camera and talking to the viewer as well as telling them jokes. There's no doubt this was meant as a comedy or even a spoof of sex films because there are a lot of jokes running throughout. Some of these jokes work but the majority of them don't. The film starts off pretty fast and loose but quickly wears out its welcome and in the end it really starts to drag going on for 90-minutes. Romay is charming as ever and the fact that she runs around naked for the entire movie is only a good thing. Monica Swinn is good in her role and Franco himself appears with a wooden leg. The best joke in the movie deals with Romay being a working woman while her husband sits out home and does housework. This leads to some pretty funny scenes where the husband plays what would normally be played by a woman. In the end this film certainly isn't among Franco's best but it's not nearly one of his worst.

It all begins with Lina Romay dancing in chromed pants on a stage in some cheap bar. She hooks two playboys and ends up with an invitation to their midnight orgy. Her communist rock star bearded lover shows up in her dressing room and starts shouting slogans. Her husband pays her a visit. And then she talks directly to the camera, explaining to the viewer she has to get dressed for the party.Definitly one of Franco's numbest and most chaotic feature,s where he plays a sadistic wooden-legged private eye with his trademark black sunglasses. You can see all you want from Romay, who spends most of the movie running around naked. The plot doesn't seem to be very important and the jokes fly low. If you like Franco you'll laugh to death watching this one but if you're a newcomer, you may wonder where the hell can we get some drugs as effective as the ones they used to write this.