1976's "Dead of Night" was another TV movie anthology collaboration between screenwriter Richard Matheson and director Dan Curtis, similar to 1975's "Trilogy of Terror" but without the gimmick of the same actress in all three stories. "Second Chance" is a gentle fantasy in which the restoration of a 1926 roadster transports the driver back in time 50 years, where he alters the course of history by preventing a tragedy. "No Such Thing as a Vampire" never really catches fire, Anjanette Comer as the wife being drained of blood on a nightly basis, Patrick Macnee as the husband whose attempts to prevent the inevitable involve calling in a family friend (Horst Buchholz). Elisha Cook enjoys a brief turn as family retainer Karel, the only servant remaining after the others fled out of fear. "Bobby" is the last and most celebrated of the three, inexplicably remade to lesser effect with Lysette Anthony for Curtis' 1996 sequel "Trilogy of Terror II." Joan Hackett plays grief stricken Ella, whose son Bobby was found drowned by neighbors several days before, willing to call upon the devil to bring her boy back from the grave while her husband is out of town. He appears out of the rain on her doorstep, in tears and crying, but soon begins asking about the number of doors to the house, and in particular if his mommy loved him. She tries to offer the child a sandwich but he would much rather play a game of hide and seek, and it would be advantageous for mother not to let him find her. The sting in the tail is worth the wait, the only truly scary story in this batch. A few months later Curtis would strike again in a 2 hour time slot with a single horror tale, "Curse of the Black Widow."
Review of Dead of Night
Dead of Night
(1977 TV Movie)
Another trilogy of terror from the pen of Richard Matheson
7 October 2022