Review of Dead of Night (1974) by Birdie S — 17 Oct 2015

A dark metaphor for the Vietnam war. The movie focuses on a soldier returning home after being reported killed in Vietnam. It's a creepy movie that sometimes comes off a bit heavy-handed with its visuals (Andy at one point injects himself with a needle full of human blood), but the relationship the main character Andy has with his parents is what helps keep the movie from becoming too cheesy.

The ending sees Andy and his mother racing to a cemetery and it's actually kind of heartbreaking. Surprisingly so for a movie that is supposed to be just a cheap horror b-movie. The kills are pretty forgettable, but it's a movie about the deterioration of a Vietnam vet after his return home.

While Andy is the villain of the film, he's also the victim. We're never given a real explanation why he has returned home or how he is alive. And at the end of the movie he doesn't want to be a part of the society he has returned to and wants to be dead.

It's strangely poetic and well-written for a movie of this caliber. Of Bob Clark's early trilogy of horror movies, Deathdream seems to be the least talked about. Black Christmas gets all of the praise and attention, and Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things has an eye-catching title that has gotten it tons of attention.

But in my opinion, Deathdream is the strongest of the three movies. I can see the merits of all three, but Deathdream I felt was the most entertaining from beginning to end. Definitely an overlooked early 70s horror movie.