Tuesday, October 8, 2013

31 Days of Horror: Dead of Night


I just discovered this film and it's already one of my favorites! Dead of Night can best be described as a circular anthology; meaning that it ends up back where it started and it also contains different stories told by the visitors at a country house. There are five different stories, separate from the main story, and each one gets creepier as you go along. However, when you get to the fourth story it's a little more lighthearted, which sort of lulls the viewer into a false sense of security before the final tale involving a ventriloquist (played by Michael Redgrave) and his dummy, which is by far the creepiest and most memorable. Whenever this film is mentioned, the final tale is the most talked about and with good reason; Michael Redgrave's performance is quite honestly terrifying, and anytime you have a story involving a ventriloquist's dummy you just can't help but be creeped out!. And even when that story is over, the terror continues once we resume the main story, which ends up revisiting each of the separate stories that had been told. Dead of Night might not be one of the best known horror films, but it's a masterful tale of terror, expertly told, and should be on everyone's Halloween viewing list!

No comments:

Post a Comment