Dead of Night

Before I get into the review, here are my ratings for the movie.

The story gets 1.25 out of 2: The Direction a 1.25: The Pacing receives a 1.25: While the Acting gets 1.25: And my Enjoyment level earns a 1.5 out of 2: This brings the total for Dead Of Night to 6.5 out of 10.

What a wonderful surprise this movie turned out to be. It's a basic story, filmed in an average style, with above-par acting. But it's so enjoyable. Dead Of Night is one of those films that has that particular indeterminable something, which you can't put your finger on, or name. I think it's the subtlety that oozes throughout the picture.

Charles, Christine, and Cathy Brooks are having dinner when the fateful knock comes at their door. It's the news they've been dreading. Their son, and brother, Andy has been killed-in-action in Vietnam. Charles and his daughter Cathy breakdown in grief while Christine fights to believe her son is still alive. That night, Charles and Christine awake to strange noises. Upon their nervous search of the property, they find Andy has returned and is waiting in the shadows. Everybody's delighted to welcome the returning hero. However, as the day's pass, it becomes evident that all is not right with Andy.

Alan Ormsby uses Andy's unfamiliar behaviour to create the eerie atmosphere. Brilliantly added to this are the perfect characterisations of the Brooks family. I know families like the Brooks. A strong father type. A mother who doesn't argue and stands by her family; until they do wrong. And, a sister who loves her parents and little brother: But who is realising her own decisions are becoming more important. These relationships keep you interested. You relate to them and become concerned in their lives. Ormsby drives in a nice deep wedge when Charles realises Andy isn't as good a boy as when he went to war. However, Christine is still trying to hide the truth from herself. These two opposite positions bring them to near all-out war. And, I know families like this too.

Bob Clark, does an okay directorial job on the story. For the most part, he keeps it average. Though, he does compliment the story perfectly with his shots. For example, when the lorry driver pulls in for a coffee, he informs the waitress that his hitch-hiker is a strange one. As this point, Clark gives us a shot out of the Pit-Stop's window at the cab of the lorry. We see a silhouette of a person, who is just a shadow in the darkness, sat high and starring unfalteringly forward. There's nothing iconic in the composition, and it's not a great shot, but it still makes your skin crawl. Most of the creepiness comes from imagery like this. The iconic and memorable footage comes when Andy dons his sunglasses. This guy is creepy at best, but in these black spec's he's freaky to the maximum.

Andy's weirdness comes from his characters resistance to talk and engage with others. Richard Backus was ideal for this role. As we progress through the story, Backus builds on Andy's traits, at first it's an unnerving slow smile. This builds to an unnerving slow smile with a growing deadness in his eyes. Then the madness starts to build within his stares, and his eyes haemorrhage. The thing I loved most about this was the slow evolving of Andy. When he first returns home, he's not evil. The wickedness comes on in slow waves. John Marley, who is the A-lister in this film, does a superb job of bringing Charles to life. The character fits him like a glove, and he is highly realistic in his portrayal. I felt a tad sorry for Anya Ormsby, who played Cathy, because in one scene Charles shoves his daughter away. And, he really does shove her away.

Lynn Carlin is great as Christine. Not only does she have one character to portray, but Christine's persona gets splintered and ripped apart, and Carlin handles it superbly. Though I will state that if you don't like high-pitched screaming and wailing women then be warned, there are a couple of scenes where Christine and Cathy get rowdy. Get the ear-plugs. Why does everybody in the horror genre think women act like this? It's the only unrealistic thing about the film. My mother would slap both of them for behaving so foolishly. I've never known a woman act in such a manner when stressed or anxious. I detest this stereotype.

Dead Of Night is a definite watch for all the horror fans and newbies to the genre. It's not a gore-fest though, so all you gore-hounds should stay away. Though I do have to say there's a couple of quick shots of Andy's hands when they're starting to rot and they are great. The FX people even added maggots to the wound. Awesome. The film is one for the Friday Night Fright-Fest. A great movie to grab a brew and put your feet up to watch.

Once, you've clawed your way out of your grave come and visit my Absolute Horror and see where Andy finally buried himself in my rankings.

Take Care & Stay Well.

Bob Clark was such a fantastic and visionary filmmaker during the early 70's and directed no less than three very important and hugely influential horror movies in a row. Unfortunately, he reverted to making lame & mainstream comedies during the 80's and 90's and - even more unfortunate of course - was his untimely death earlier this year 2007 as a result of a car accident. But back then he definitely was the man, because he was single-handedly responsible for one genre-defining slasher ("Black Christmas"), one playful yet creepy zombie classic ("Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things") and then this one: a unique and genuinely intriguing horror-sleeper. "Deathdream" is primarily an unsettling shocker, but it definitely also qualifies as a subtly powerful anti-war protest and even as a depressing middle-class family drama. Right from the excruciatingly sober opening credits, showing the frozen image of a soldier dying in agony after taking a bullet in the chest, you immediately realize this won't become just another outrageous splatter flick with zombie-soldiers and gratuitous massacres. Rightly so, because the story then cuts to the dinner table of a seemingly random American family who are very busy making plans for when their son Andy returns home from Vietnam, and you literally sense tragic news is about to knock them down. Andy is indeed reported killed in action shortly after, and the drama affects both the parents differently. Especially the mother refuses to accept her beloved son's departure and stays up entire nights, praying & wishing for Andy to come home. And then suddenly he DOES come home … but not as his family and friends remember him. Andy doesn't talk or eat, he spends the whole day in a rocking-chair whilst staring in the distance and his body rapidly starts decomposing if not regularly supplied with fresh doses of human blood!

Andy Brooks isn't just a pitiable character in a 70's horror gem. No, he presumably represents every young soldier who reluctantly enlisted to serve in Vietnam, only because their fathers and the small-town communities they lived in expected them to. Rather than to feast on the blood of innocent bystanders, Andy returns to raise feelings of guilt and anguish among his former friends and particularly his dad. "Deathdream" clearly features some harsh social undertones, and they're magnificently supported by the realistic characters (and, respectively, the terrific acting performances). The relationships between Andy's mother, Andy's father and Andy himself are perhaps the best achievement of the entire film. The pacing is quite slow, but it works efficiently, and the overall ambiance of "Deathdream" is very creepy. The images of Andy in his rocking-chair (complete with screeching sound) and his grimaces when chocking the family dog in front of several young children are unforgettable. Considering the main themes and, undeniably, the budgets Bob Clark disposed of, you shouldn't expect a lot of gore, but still there are some nasty and convincingly unsettling make-up effects to enjoy. If they weren't interested just yet, all horror fans will unquestionably want to see the film because it marked Tom Savini's debut as a SFX-guru. In my humble personal opinion the ending could have been a bit better and less abrupt, but that's just a small detail. This film ranks high amongst the best genre achievements of the 1970's and it's fundamental viewing for all fans.

I've heard about this movie for years and read the praise heaped on it, and I knew it couldn't be as good as all that. I could never get my hands on it anyway, so I figured I'd never know. But I just watched it yesterday, and it is as good as all that.

Though filmed in the early 1970s, Deathdream doesn't come off as hopelessly dated. Its themes resonate strongly even today.

As an allegory, the film makes its anti-war points bluntly. This war (thought it is never named it's obviously Vietnam) is killing too many of our boys and making zombies out of the ones that make it home. But the movie is not generally anti-war -- it manages to contrast Vietnam with WWII, represented as a good war (in the person and words of the mailman), where there was little doubt what we were doing was right and that our military forces were being led authoritatively to absolute victory. The same couldn't be said for Vietnam, and by 1972, no one really remembered what we were fighting for anymore. Deathdream was filmed before Vietnam ended and released after, making its timing perfect.

There are a few criticisms, hardly worth noting -- some scenes are poorly staged and lighted, and Clark doesn't always get the best out of his actors (and has little to work with in some cases). Early scenes are a bit stilted (Was the movie shot in sequence with the story? That might explain it), but the movie finds its groove at about the 30 minute mark.

Don't expect a slick production. It's a small, claustrophobic, personal movie with rough edges to spare. Some scenes of violence are cartoonish and others are brutal. Also, the effects and makeup are much better than we have any right to expect. Poor, rotting Andy is a heck of a sight, and a sad sight in the scene where he is led down the stairs by his mother.

Deathdream is an amazing accomplishment all things considered.

"Everything's fine, Bob."

A very interesting movie by Bob Clark who has just passed away.Gore and special effects are kept to the minimum,the director and the screenplay focusing more on the family than on the dead man walking.

Bob Clark renewed a theme which French Abel "Napoleon" Gance had broached in the silent era (and remade as a talkie): "J'accuse" .Gance showed the dead soldiers rise from the grave and attack the profiteers of war .Too bad Clark did not follow suit and show the veteran attack those who sent him to war...but after all,it was this over possessive mother who made him join the army (that'll make him a man).The parents 'responsiblity is obvious here.The love the mother feels for her dearest son verges on monstrous -and becomes really monstrous in the final scenes,in every sense of the term.

An unusually inventive use of music creates a disturbing eerie atmosphere,a "something is not normal" feeling,some black humor (the drive in),and the hero swinging in his chair like a robot.All that makes "Dead of Night" a movie worth watching.

NB:Should not be mistaken for "Dead of night" (1946) a scary film made up of sketches.

Like this?Try these....

"Jacob's ladder" Adrian Lyne 1993

"The war at home" Emilio Estevez 1996

A young soldier called Andy is shot and killed in action, not mentioned by name but presumably in Vietnam. His family are notified of his death but then he appears at their house, only his personality has been drained and he has a murderous craving for human blood. He has become some kind of vampire/zombie hybrid, he has no fangs and sunlight doesn't burn him up, however he physically deteriorates over time and towards the end he turns into a monster. Quite how this all came about is not explained, other than his mother wishing him to come home. This was my first viewing and despite an initial doubt I was very impressed, the movie is genuinely unsettling and frightening. Director Bob Clark also made the classic "Black Christmas", both released in 1974, and the two movies use the same creepy music. Tom Savini did the special effects, which are pretty gruesome. And I will point out that this was made several years before George Romero's modern vampire movie "Martin" (1977). Highly Recommended.