I've already reviewed Black Christmas. THAT film is among the best Bob Clark's filmography. A few months before that film however, came Deathdream A.K.A Dead Of Night.
The film is about a young man named Andy Brooks (Richard Backus), and at the start of the film he is killed in Vietnam during war. His barely-stable family hears of this news and is devastated. Particularly his mother, who refuses to believe Andy is dead. Later that night, Andy inexplicably arrives home in one piece. He does, however, start to display suspicious behavior, which starts to divide the family and cause tension between them. The other characters in the film are just there, but Andy's mom and dad have a dynamic that adds mystery to Andy, as do his respective relationships with his parents.
As the film progresses, the mystery behind Andy's behavior in question unravels itself. The pacing is not bad. A little slow, but other than that it works. It's eventually revealed in the second act that Andy has apparently returned home as some kind of bloodthirsty human parasite (a vampire or zombie are both anyone's guesses) who kills at night to obtain blood to keep his body from rotting and decaying. The skin special effects in this film were the first of Tom Savini's career, and he would later go on to do Friday The 13th in 1980.
While on the subject of Friday The 13th (and Black Christmas), Deathdream also uses the POV shots BEFORE either film was made. But the most interesting connection this movie has with Black Christmas, is its soundtrack. In my review of Black Christmas, I mentioned how the soundtrack for that film was made using a piano with combs and forks attached to the key strings. Deathdream uses a slightly different version of that eerie minimalist soundtrack, but other than that, the scare cues and suspenseful music is IDENTICAL.
The Acting and Dialog is pretty average, the Cinematography and Editing is fine, and the Story is a decent one. In conclusion, Deathdream is a film worthy of checking out in terms of period piece horror. It's not as enjoyable as Black Christmas in my opinion, but Deathdream certainly deserves credit and acknowledgement when looking back on Bob Clark's experimental yet fascinating filmography.
The film is about a young man named Andy Brooks (Richard Backus), and at the start of the film he is killed in Vietnam during war. His barely-stable family hears of this news and is devastated. Particularly his mother, who refuses to believe Andy is dead. Later that night, Andy inexplicably arrives home in one piece. He does, however, start to display suspicious behavior, which starts to divide the family and cause tension between them. The other characters in the film are just there, but Andy's mom and dad have a dynamic that adds mystery to Andy, as do his respective relationships with his parents.
As the film progresses, the mystery behind Andy's behavior in question unravels itself. The pacing is not bad. A little slow, but other than that it works. It's eventually revealed in the second act that Andy has apparently returned home as some kind of bloodthirsty human parasite (a vampire or zombie are both anyone's guesses) who kills at night to obtain blood to keep his body from rotting and decaying. The skin special effects in this film were the first of Tom Savini's career, and he would later go on to do Friday The 13th in 1980.
While on the subject of Friday The 13th (and Black Christmas), Deathdream also uses the POV shots BEFORE either film was made. But the most interesting connection this movie has with Black Christmas, is its soundtrack. In my review of Black Christmas, I mentioned how the soundtrack for that film was made using a piano with combs and forks attached to the key strings. Deathdream uses a slightly different version of that eerie minimalist soundtrack, but other than that, the scare cues and suspenseful music is IDENTICAL.
The Acting and Dialog is pretty average, the Cinematography and Editing is fine, and the Story is a decent one. In conclusion, Deathdream is a film worthy of checking out in terms of period piece horror. It's not as enjoyable as Black Christmas in my opinion, but Deathdream certainly deserves credit and acknowledgement when looking back on Bob Clark's experimental yet fascinating filmography.