A complex mixture of commentary on ptsd and schlocky horror, Bob Clark's Dead of Night is a slow burn that hypnotizes the viewer and fills one with dread.
This is actually the only film i've seen by Bob Clark other than Black Christmas, and is the one he directed right before it. Although Dead of night (alternate title: Deathdream) was set and produced in America, it's this one, rather than Black Christmas which was filmed in Canada, that reminds me of seminal Canadian film auteur, David Cronenberg. The muted color palette and slow, tense pace just screams Cronenberg to me. In fact, the atmosphere in this film is nearly unbearable. Not in a bad way, but it's just so fraught with tension and fear that the entire thing feels like one long nightmare. The scenes with Andy and the family, especially at the beginning, are so hard to watch. I felt like my heart was going to explode and I had to pause this movie several times. The amazing score only helps to heighten the sense of horror as well.
The underlying theme of ptsd helps to bring this film up to an intellectual level, but unfortunately trite and blase dialogue foils the more important ideas- although not to the degree that they aren't still meaningful.
This film is very original but of course the comparisons to stories like The Monkey's Paw are undeniable, as one reviewer put it, this is a "modern update on the be-careful-what-you-wish-for" theme.
Overall this is an interesting film, it has a very languid pace but the atmosphere, score, and sets are great. A very fine film from the man who brought us one of the very first slashers.
Review of Dead of Night
