Deathdream-1974

Director Bob Clark

Starring Richard Backus, John Marley, Lynn Carlin

Scott’s Review #1,175

Reviewed September 3, 2021

Grade: B+

Deathdream (also known in some circles as Dead of Night) is a 1974 horror film directed by Bob Clark and written by Alan Ormsby that plays like a very good science-fiction-meets-gruesome-horror episode of The Twilight Zone.

This is not to say it’s amateurish, though in certain ways it is; mostly, it’s just that the dialogue is spotty. Rather, it has the feel of an episodic adventure more than an actual film. This makes perfect sense, since it was inspired by W. W. Jacobs’s short story “The Monkey’s Paw”.

The film was shot in a town named Brooksville, Florida, which is unusual in itself and provides a genuine Southern quality, like when the family sits down for a hearty meal.

Usually, horror films stick to Hollywood studio locales or cheaper areas like Canada to film.

Deathdream stars Richard Backus, John Marley, and Lynn Carlin.

The premise immediately intrigues me. A middle-aged married couple, Charles and Christine,  (Marley and Carlin) receives the devastating news that their son Andy (Backus) has died in the line of duty during the Vietnam War. They’re overcome with grief, to say the least.

Before the news, Christine seems overly chatty and a bit peculiar, while Charles is much older than his wife.

Soon after, Andy, very much alive, hitches a ride with a truck driver whom he then murders. He arrives home and is not the same, seeming to be zombie-like and in a trance, not the same boy who left for Vietnam a year earlier.

As a classic film lover, I was immediately tickled pink by actor John Marley’s appearance onscreen.

Associated with Love Story (1970) and The Godfather (1972), with the latter forever etched in my memory as the film director who is made “an offer he can’t refuse” by way of his gorgeous horse Khartoum, it was a treat to see him in a horror film.

I noticed facets of Deathdream that reminded me of one of my favorite horror films, Black Christmas (1974), not realizing they were both directed by Bob Clark. Deathdream serves as the perfect opening act to that most influential horror film.

An organ/synthesizer effect immediately caught my ear with more than a tad of fright. I instantly recognized it as the spooky noise emitting from the Black Christmas musical score. And both use a rocking chair prop with fantastic results. The creaking sound brought chills up and down my spine.

Can you believe this guy also made Porky’s (1981) and A Christmas Story (1983)? Talk about versatility.

It’s clear the film was made on a shoestring budget, but it proves, in a mighty way, that, as with British Hammer horror pictures, creativity can ooze out of a small budget. Terrific is what the crew does with the special effects. Instead of cheesy or campy, they are thrilling.

The story could be construed as silly or ridiculous. Andy is some vampire or zombie who needs others’ blood to reinvigorate his decaying body, which, on paper, makes little sense. The only reason he comes back from the dead (we see him killed in combat onscreen) is because he promised his mother he’d return home.

Beyond that, under the surface is a message about the war that I found powerful and that usurps the horror genre the film inhabits. It’s not just another horror film- it has a deeper subtext.

Though Clark is never overt about it, Andy has post-traumatic stress disorder, something not yet realized in the early 1970s and certainly not talked about. Clark’s message is clear.  Andy is a young man whose life has been ruined unnecessarily.

Despite being a film aficionado, I had not heard of Deathdream (1974) until quite recently. It’s an overlooked gem like so many others in the horror genre, but horror fans, fans of message films, and those looking for a good scare can appreciate this one.

It deserves some love.