Deathdream

Deathdream (aka Dead of Night) (1974)

The movie opens up with a chaotic scene of a battlefield in Vietnam. There a young man named Charlie Brooks is killed. The movie then moves to his parent’s home in suburban USA. They receive the telegram informing them of their son’s death. While his father and sister deal with the death Charlie’s mother just keeps repeating that it can’t be true. It appears that she was right when later that night he surprises them and comes home. Pretty quickly it becomes obvious that there is something really wrong with Charlie, and when the family doctor makes the connection between his return and a truck driver’s murder everything goes to hell. What is Charlie and was it his mother’s stubborn refusal that brought him home?

What a great movie Deathdream is, in fact it has to be one of the best horror films from the 70s. Given how many great movies came out in that decade this is saying a lot. The story is powerful and has an antiwar message that while obvious doesn’t get in the way. The story will be familiar to anyone that has ever read or seen one of the adaptations/variations of the Monkey’s Paw. But in spite of being inspired by a familiar story the movie is never slow or boring. The film is tight without a single wasted scene or character. The characters are well written and portrayed even better by a wonderful cast. From Oscar nominated actor John Marley, to Anya Ormsby (who is almost as good as she was in Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things) the cast is solid all the way around. Finally I have to mention actor Richard Backus, who portrays Charlie. He does an amazing job in the role and is creepy as hell. That stare that he can summon up is just too much and makes the character so memorable.

Alan Ormsby not only wrote the movie, but also did the special effects. He gave an unknown kid a shot at helping him with the effects. That kids name was Tom Savini! Still from all accounts the make up appliances were all Ormsby’s doing and they look great. The various “zombie” Charlie’s look great and get progressively gooier. The kills in the movie are pretty tame, with the most disturbing one being that of the family dog. Well at least it was for me, I hate it when dogs get killed in movies. The killing of the doctor has some blood, but I found it to be sort of tame.

Blue Underground, which put out the DVD I’m reviewing, did a great job of getting some killer special features. There is a nice 10-minute long short on the early years of Tom Savini’s career. He talks a bit about his experiences in Vietnam and his theory on creating effects. He also mentions being on the set and how he got the job to begin with. The other special feature I wanted to mention is a 12-minute long interview with the star of the movie Richard Bakus called Deathdreaming. He has some great stories about filming the movie and working with the rest of the cast and crew. He is a very interesting guy. There are also a couple of commentary tracks, one with director Bob Clark and another with Alan Ormsby.

I’m really embarrassed to admit that this is the first time that I’ve ever seen this movie. I say that because I’ve heard good things about it for years, but I’ve just never made the time to track down a copy and watch it. Heck I’m even a big fan of the director Bob Clark so I really don’t have any excuse for taking so long to get to it. Don’t make the same mistake that I did, go buy a copy now and watch it. I highly recommend Deathdream. Check out the Blue Underground website for more details on the DVD and where you can get it. http://www.blue-underground.com/

3 ½ out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer