Dead Of Night (1945) Since we're only 2 days away from October, might as well rev up the blu-ray player for a month of almost non-stop horror......
Before I plunge into grungier, gorier contemporary horror, let's kick off the season of scares by going classy.......
And what better way to go classy than with this one, still fondly remembered and celebrated as Britain's first high profile, multi-story horror movie......(or what least what passes for horror in 1940's England....)
Although, with the exception of a few brief moments in its 1 hour and 45 minute running time, "Dead Of Night" is better described as a literate, mildly gothic effort rather than hardcore horror.
You can appreciate the skill, the craft and the fine performances that went into it, but really, in no way, shape or form will this film scare you......or even give you the willies.
The framework starts with a confused, perplexed architect (Mervyn Johns) arriving at a countryside mansion already filled with other guests. He's badly afflicted with deja vu and he's certain something terrible will befall him if he hangs around with those other folks too long...
And wouldn't you know it, speaking of unsettled feelings.......every one of the guests has his or her own strange, creepy little story to tell......(think of it as a very, very British 'Twilight Zone' in a teacup)
The tales, each unfolding in flashback recollections, range from brief anecdotal skits to overlong, rather laborious exercises, usually ending in a "gotcha" twist.
One fellow dreams of an ominous hearse coachman (Miles Malleson) yelling "room for one more", inviting him to hop in the casket and die......which of course you know will somehow replicate itself in real life.
A bubbly teen girl (Sally Ann Howe, whom I only remember as Truly Scrumptious in "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang") recalls a poignant encounter with a child ghost during a Christmas party. (And this little gem remains one of my own favorites in the film, for both its brevity and plummy atmosphere...)
Then a haunted mirror story comes next, which features a few unnerving moments, but drags on and on.....
The worst of the episodes is an endless, unfunny comedic shaggy dog story with the beloved film comedy due of Basil Radford and Naughton Wayne. They play two rival golfers who fall for the same girl and take their obsessive competitive streaks to ridiculous,absurd heights. Silly and boring overall, which accounts for the sequence being entirely cut out of the American release of the film.
At last we come the penultimate sequence and maybe the the only one even casual casual classic movie buffs still remember......with Michael Redgrave as a tormented ventriloquist driven mad (and to attempted murder) by his evil dummy. Here's where you can begin at the starting point for all the evil dummy/satanic doll/killer puppet movies that followed as the decades marched on.......(think of it as the Dawn Of Chucky or the ancestor of Annabelle.....) Not bad at all and the final shot, while inevitable, can still raise at least one or two goosebumps.
For all of us dedicated Anglophiles, "Dead Of Night" still remains a 3 star (***) treat to watch from time to time......but if you're craving jump scares, flowing blood, and other assorted perversity, this terror-in-a-teacup brand of Masterpiece Theatre malevolence is not your cup of tea.
No comments:
Post a Comment