By Geno McGahee
I am a huge fan of a good horror anthology. I especially like them when there is a good wraparound and some twists along the way and that is the case with the 1945 horror anthology “DEAD OF NIGHT.” Written H.G. Wells, E.F. Benson, John Baines and Angus MacPhail and directed by Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden and Robert Hamer, DEAD OF NIGHT is a very good film with plenty of cooks in the kitchen.
Walter Craig (Mervyn Johns) is an architect with a recurring dream. It doesn’t come back to him until he arrives at a farmhouse to do some work. He recognizes everyone there and actually predicts the arrival of another guest. Piece by piece, the details of the dream return and he begins to fear the presence of evil. Something bad is going to happen at that farmhouse and everyone is in danger.
Making sense of the situation is the pompous psychiatrist, Dr. Van Straaten (Frederick Valk). He entertains nothing paranormal or supernatural. He is patronizing and obnoxious, but his lack of belief leads the people at the house to tell of dreams that they have had, starting with Benson’s “HEARSE DRIVER.”
A race car driver nearly dies in a terrible wreck and he awakens in a hospital. Confused and injured, he begins to recover, but starts having strange visions. He gets out of bed and sees a hearse outside of his window with the driver noting that there is “room for one more.” He closes the blinds and returns to bed.
He gets out of the hospital and is about to board a bus when the driver appears to be the same man that was driving the hearse. He also notes “room for one more,” prompting him to get off the bus and walk away. The bus crashes and everyone dies. This should be proof to Straaten that there are premonitions and things of that nature, but he scoffs. Not on his watch.
THE HAUNTED MIRROR by Baines is a pretty intense tale with a woman surprising her soon to be husband with an antique mirror. He loves it but there is something menacing about it. They stand in front of it and it all seems normal until his wife leaves. He begins to see a different room than the one that he was actually in. He begins to describe it to his wife and she doesn’t really have a solution outside of getting rid of the mirror. It turns out that the mirror has a dark past and the husband is about to adopt many of the traits of the original owner. THE HAUNTED MIRROR is very good.
CHRISTMAS PARTY, written by MacPhail, is a ghost story concerning the discovery of a little boy at a party. He mentions his sister and wants some help. When she helps the little boy, she begins to find out that he is not a boy at all. He is a ghost and that ghost has the key to his own death. This tale had some very cool visuals and the party atmosphere added a nice feel. It’s borders on mediocre, but it’s good enough to belong in this mix.
Nowhere near good enough to make this mix is the H.G. Wells entry “GOLFING STORY.” What a load of pure shit this tale was. An annoying golfer is haunted by an even more annoying golfer and it’s cartoonish, unfunny, and insulting to the movie. H.G. Wells wrote some amazing things, but he should have been dragged into the street and beaten golf clubs for this terrible entry. The film had built up this great ominous feel, with each tale adding more to the uneasiness and looming danger and then this shithead (Wells) puts this in there and you know nobody said anything to him. He had power and could do what he wanted. Well, he took a dump on film here. Shame on you Wells.
Baines’s second entry is the prize of this collection. THE VENTRILOQUIST’S DUMMY is creepy and fun. A ventriloquist is in prison for the murder of another ventriloquist, but he claims that his dummy “Hugo” made him do it. At a show, Hugo starts entertaining the idea of working with another puppeteer, but everyone thinks it’s part of the act. This is Straaten’s tale and is the only situation that made him question his belief system. In one of the coolest scenes in the film, the dummy comes to life and walks over to his ventriloquist and starts yelling at him. It’s is tremendous.
The ending of the wraparound is fantastic and exactly the right way to end this great anthology. Every tale is entertaining and pushes the movie forward with the exception of that god damn golfing story by Wells. That is the only reason why this movie has lost points. I plan to edit that tale out of my copy of this film.
Rating: 8/10