Comments
Oneironaut
It's okay, kind of dull at the start and by the time it gets interesting it's pretty much over.
Slightly difficult to find but it's on youtube as of the time posting this.
Slightly difficult to find but it's on youtube as of the time posting this.
Siskoid
Dead of Night (AKA Deathdream) isn't as recognized as Bob Clark's other horror flick, Black Christmas, but it is nonetheless a pretty potent horror take on the soldier returning from Vietnam. In this case, Andy has reportedly been killed in action and nevertheless shows up home. Aside from the horror treatment (a great string score and intense filmic moments), we might take this for a drama about PTSD, or else a certain way of getting to a serial killer. But no, there's an unexplained (and I don't mind that) supernatural element that translates the broken soldier and junky into revenant form in order to explore not only the veteran's struggles, but the family's as well. Andy's murderous actions push his family to the brink of madness in some of the better played moments. Certainly, there's more thought put in Dead of Night and how its characters behave than most horror films, and I have to call it a hidden '70s gem, of its time, but also speaking to more universal themes.
jlfitz
Ran on TCM as Deathdream.
