Foreverisacastironmess123 Review of Dead of Night

Dead of Night (1977 TV Movie)

Heeeere's Billy! Two duds and the genuinely impressive gem that more than makes up for them.

[7/10 · 15 March 2017]

Now I didn't find this picture to be as well done as the excellent Trilogy of Terror, but thanks to one of its stories it did measure up. I thought the first two stories in Trilogy were more engaging interesting and satisfying than the ones of this movie. Couldn't it just have been "Bobby" and nothing else? Just kidding, it's rather worth slogging through the first two tales just to get to it. The whole film kind of serves as a buildup to its third story, with the first being a soft fantasy yarn with a sappy sentimental tone and a super-happy ending, the second being a somewhat harder-edged offering with a Gothic suspenseful vibe, and then there's the third which was clearly meant to be a full-blown good old-fashioned frightfest. The first two chapters did nothing for me, I found them both totally flat and boring. The time travel one had me wondering if I'd put on the right movie and if I was watching a horror anthology at all, and the vampire story which I liked even less didn't even actually have a vampire in it! So unlike a lot of Bobby's/this movie's big fans I never saw Bobby as a child, so I could never have that kind of memory of it, but as far as the chilling atmosphere, rising terror and sheer hectic creepy buildup to the great final scare as the movie drew to a close impressed me, I can sure see what you folks are talking about! Needless to say it was the story that made this movie worthwhile for me and I thought it blew the other ones clear out of the water in terms of quality and entertainment. I found it a real fun scary ride as a grieving mother turns to the dark arts to bring her beloved son back to life, which she does but as it turns out neither are quite who they appear to be... Young Lee Montgomery was a pretty cute kid but he was good at becoming a little scary when the mood starts to become tense as he asks his mother weird questions, and then a lot scary when he gets angry and demented and forces her to engage in a killer game of hide and seek. I love how well and natural the 70s aesthetics go with the shadows and the brilliant spooky atmospherics that are helped along with such classic touches like the power going out and the crashing thunder and lightning, and what a marvellous big old dark house to use as the setting. It's childish yet eerie and sinister when he's toying with her and calling out "You can't find me!" from the darkness. And before she gets scared as it dawns on her that there's something supernatural going on, she's just confused and annoyed with his game and shows a quick hint that she may in fact not have been a very nice mother to him in life, so much so that he hates her even in death... A moment that I loved and that really sent a tingle up my back was when she's on the phone and you get that it isn't her husband she's talking to a little before she does! Good movie, it's fun and worth seeing for fans of obscure retro anthologies, and for me that's all due to the spooktacular brilliance of the final story. Thank you, and please never resurrect the dead, nothing good ever comes of it! x