Night After Night After Night is a 1969 British horror thriller film directed by Lindsay Shonteff from a screenplay written by Dail Ambler. The movie stars Jack May, Justine Lord, Gilbert Wynne and Linda Marlowe.
A serial killer is keeping Chief Inspector Rowan busy late at night, much to the frustration of his young wife, Jenny. After being picked at random in a police lineup, self-styled lothario Pete Laver is arrogant and disdainful to Rowan, and he even makes crude remarks about Jenny when she stops by her husband's office. Pete is released for lack of evidence, and that evening, Jenny is slashed to death by the killer while showering. Choked with rage, Rowan shadows Pete relentlessly, hounding him night and day until he can catch him in a mistake. The maniac strikes again, murdering a prostitute, and Pete is stuck without an alibi, so it appears that the crime has been solved. Judge Lomax, long known to be tough on crime and social decay, presides over the case.
Tropes after Tropes after Tropes:
- Blood Is Squicker in Water: In a scene very reminiscent of Psycho, Jenny's blood mixes with the water in her shower when she is stabbed to death.
- Creepy Crossdresser: The killer disguises himself in drag to evade the police after he is almost caught, and the presence of wigs, makeup and women's clothing in his lair indicates that this is not a new activity for him.
- Deadly Bath: Jenny is slashed to death by the killer while showering.
- Dirty Harriet: WPC Josie March poses as a prostitute in an attempt to lure the serial killer.
- Disguised in Drag: The killer disguises himself as a woman to evade the police cordon.
- Disposable Sex Worker: Several of the Serial Killer's victims are prostitutes. However, there is no indication that the police are treating their deaths any less seriously than the killer's other victims.
- "Double, Double" Title
- Hanging Judge: Judge Charles Lomax is a “modern witchfinder” obsessed with putting a stop to “the filth and horror of the age”. He hands out grotesquely disproportionate sentences to defendants he views as morally unsound and has a near breakdown after delivering each verdict.
- Hellbent For Leather: The Serial Killer dresses in black leather and a Beatles wig when he goes out hunting.
- It's Personal: The case becomes this for Chief Inspector Rowan when the killer murders his wife Jenny.
- Mugging the Monster: The killer dresses in drag to evade the police but then encounters some queer bashing youths who he swiftly turns the tables on.
- Non-Protagonist Resolver: The Serial Killer is shot and killed by an unnamed police sniper after suffering a Villainous Breakdown.
- Pretty in Mink: One of the killer's victims is a stripper who is wearing a fur coat when she is stabbed to death outside the strip club.
- Serial Killer: A crazed moral crusader – dressed in black leather and a Beatles wig – is killing prostitutes, au pairs and assorted young dolly birds in London, Jack the Ripper style, after judging them “depraved”.
- Serial Killer Baiting: Fair Cop WPC Josie March goes undercover as a prostitute in an attempt to lure out the serial killer.
- Shoot Him, He Has a Wallet!: After suffering his Villainous BSoD, the killer attempts to turn himself in to the police who are advancing on him, and extends his gun to one them for him to take. However, he extends it barrel first and is shot by a police sniper who thinks he is about to shoot the officer.
- Villainous Breakdown: The killer has been undergoing a progressive Sanity Slippage over the course of the film. After the police nearly catch him, he snaps completely. After escaping back to his lair, he first starts kissing the pictures of naked women plastered to the walls, and then stabbing them. He eventually suffers a Villainous BSoD and winds on his knees on the banks of the Thames, begging the police to help him.
- Villainous BSoD: After undergoing a Villainous Breakdown, the killer seems to realise exactly how mentally ill he actually is, and he winds up on his knees on the banks of the Thames, begging the police who trying to arrest him for help.
