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Dead of Night (1974)
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This film is the 2nd in a tertiary of early 70's horror flicks directed by Bob Clark, and is probably my favorite. It concerns the dysfunctional Brooks family. Dad tends to solve his problems by staring at the bottom of a bottle, Cathy is a mousy little piece of milquetoast who wants everyone to get along, however far she has to stick her head in the ground to do it, and Mom only has eyes for her baby boy, Andy. Almost to the exclusion of everyone else.
When Andy comes home, abruptly and unannounced, from Vietnam, the delicate balance the family had been straining for in his absence crumbles away. Withdrawn and sullen, Andy sits in his rocking chair all day, at least when he isn't out trying to score and shoot up, the only thing that soothes him from the fractured state of mind combat has left him in. Mom and Dad fight like cats and dogs; Dad wants his boy to be like he was, while Mom doesn't give a flying f*ck how disassociated Andy is, as long as he is home.
The situation comes to a head when Cathy drags Andy out on a double date with her boyfriend and Andy's old girlfriend. Andy's anger and need finally boil over, and all of the violence he has been perpetrating on man and animal alike finally comes out into the open in an intense scene at the Drive-In. Anya Ormbsy, as Cathy, plays this scene pitch-perfect, mouth in a wide O, with no sound emanating forth. Reminded me of the way I sometimes feel in bad dreams, of not being able to make a sound, hardly even being able to move.
Richard Backus, as Andy, is the high-point of the film, though. I believe that it takes great acting ability to be believably without emotion, and then in the very next second project inhuman hate through your eyes alone. A tour-de-force performance of the low-key, everyday horror of someone who has been through what few of us, hopefully, will ever be able to imagine.
Oh, did I mention that this film is a riff on The Monkey's Paw, and that Andy was actually killed in a Vietnamese jungle, and his mother brought him back through her sheer insane refusal to believe this, and the drug Andy so craves, the drug that he literally falls apart without, is human blood?
What we have here, in the end, is a horror film that does what horror films do best: it acts as an allegory for a very real emotional situation, and it unsettles and frightens. The climactic scene will be one that I doubt you will soon forget.
I should also note that in the States, you'll be more likely to find this film under its current title (there have been about half a dozen), Deathdream.
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 | Zara
Apr 26, 2007 12:54 PM
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This needs a comment. Here is a comment. You are going to force to end up checking out Clark's older work, you realize that right?
And stop dreaming about me. If you really want me that bad, you can have me. It will be a sacrifice on my part... but I think I might be able to pull it off. |
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Apr 26, 2007 1:25 PM
I can't control a dream, baby. You'll have to take that up with my subconscious.
Apr 26, 2007 4:39 PM
I wonder if he understands that in his attempt to insult me, he's also insulting himself?
Constructive criticism doesn't work well with most critics I guess.