I had high expectations for this film since I'd read a lot about it, and love 'Deranged'(written by Ormsby, produced by Clark). Sounds great on paper, especially after reading The Monkeys Paw. But it lost something in the conversion to film. Some of the directing is awful, lots of zooms, which never look good. On the other hand, I do love the low budget, grainy film, badly lit look as it makes it seem so much more real and creepy and unlike any mainstream film. Probably why I love early Romero films too. This is ultimately let down by the writing though. **spoilers ahead**. Andy has been brought back from the dead, by his praying mother (unbeknown to her). He starts to rot unless he has regular intake of blood. The end was almost good but could have been so much better had it made sense, Andy and his mother are on the run from the cops, he makes her drive him to a graveyard, where he proceeds to drag himself into a shallow grave he previously dug, and try to bury himself 'alive'. It was ruined by the fact the whole movie through Andy had shown no emotion. Had it been clear from the start he wanted to be dead like he was supposed to be, and resented his mother for bringing him back to life, it would have made so much more sense. Instead there is no reason for him suddenly wanting to die when he has been happily killing random people previously. That said, the last 20 mins are enjoyable, and Andy is very creepy in the drive-in scene. But it does take a long time to get there. The gore is minimal, there's a total of 3 deaths (not including the dog), the first we don't see, the second is death by syringe, the third is a strangulation, oh, there is one more, a guy gets run over, but it's a bit odd because he appears from nowhere. Bit disappointing there. Andy's make-up is great. If you like cheap, creepy films then it is worth a watch, though Deranged is better, as is Maniac, and Romero's Crazies, Martin, NOTLD and DOTD.
Review of Dead of Night
