Deathdream aka Dead of Night

[ravenus]

Deathdream aka Dead of Night - Bob Clark

Shock horror film taking inspiration from The Monkey's Paw. The parents of Andy, a soldier sent to Vietnam, get news of their son's death, only to find him apparently hale and at their doorstep. But something has changed about Andy, who seems perpetually lost and unresponsive...and then the murders start happening with Andy as a zombie-vampire who draws blood from his victims to keep off his own decay.

Deathdream is a reasonably interesting movie. It starts off on a slow note (the pre-credits prologue in Vietnam is nicely done, though) and initially appears somewhat clumsy and melodramatic (with crappy violin music playing to indicate the sadness in the family etc.), but near halfway picks its pace and your interest. The story has some interesting dramatic aspects like the effect on Andy's family by his appearance and subsequent happenings eventually leading to their psychological breakdown, and references to the horrors of Vietnam. One thing that the film misses IMO is giving an insight into the thought process of Andy in his new avatar. Too much time is spent on empty shots of Andy rocking listless on a chair or glaring in an alleged diabolic mode, which has been done in hazaar other horror films and has lost its impact.

The acting at first appears a bit over done and TV soap-like but in later parts fits well with the events of the story. Lynn Carlin as Andy's biased and blindly protective mother and John Marley as his estranged father are especially good. Richard Backus who plays Andy is initially dull but later does reasonably alright as the zombie-vampire; he is no Martin, though.

DD has excellent makeup and gore FX courtesy the badshah of horror make-up Tom Savini (the DVD even has an interesting 10-min interview featurette on the early days of Tom and how he got into his trade)

Deathdream is not a great movie and its repeat value is suspect but its IMO quite alright for a dekko once you've gotten over the slow start.