1945 huggable thrillerRating: 17/20
Plot: Walter Craig travels to an old house to meet with some people and shares with them that he is currently living a recurring nightmare. The psychologist doesn't believe him despite his ability to predict things that will happen. The other guests begin sharing their own tales of supernatural intrigue.
Interesting but a little dated "horror" film. The individual stories are a lot of fun in a Twilight Zone sort of way. In fact, I distinctly remember a Twilight Zone episode very similar to the first story with the hearse, and the Twilight Zone has about fifteen episodes with ventriloquist dummies. My favorite story-within-the-story is the final one with the schizophrenic ventriloquist. Some of the stories work a lot better than others, and some of the acting, most notably whoever plays the young woman, is over the top. The entire final sequence, an exercise in surreal dream logic, is surprising and very cool. Dead of Night's original structure, instead of just being a gimmick, aids in the storytelling and allows for tension and well-timed humor.
Recommended by Cory.
The only bonus feature my dvd copy of this had was part of an episode of 'Who Wants to Be a Millionnaire' featuring some dude named Barry Moore. I watched only a few episodes of that show, but in almost all of those episodes, the contestants were really obnoxious. Barry wasn't! He probably should have paid more attention in his middle school science classes though.
ReplyDeleteBarry does comport himself very well. He breezes through the early questions so easily that I wonder if they started giving him harder questions sooner. We're still waiting for that book, though.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your review (while giving the film an 18). Some stories/ acting work better than others. The style of the ending make it one of my favorites.
Your replacements, if you choose to accept them, are "Fail-Safe" (for "Paths of Glory"), and "These Three" for "Dead of Night".