After 30 years and with a new Director, will this one be even better?
1977's Dead of Night is a TV Movie Directed by Dan Curtis. All of the Segments (with one caveat) were Written by the late great Richard Matheson. It was supposed to be a Series, I think. There are conflicting reports on this, as Wikipedia references a 1969 Pilot Version (which I'll have to check out). Why would there be a Pilot Version, no sale and then a TV Movie 8 years later?
To be fair, this is the same Dan Curtis who made 2 Pilots in the same Year for the same Station to hedge his bets. One went to Series- Kolchak the Night Stalker- and the other- The Norliss Tapes- did not. Even so, the timeline is weird and, well, I can't exactly ask Dan Curtis now, can I?
I'll tell you now that this one lacks the structure of the 1945 Film and is just a bunch of stories. They couldn't even afford a Framing Device, apparently, as we just get a Narrator at the beginning and that's it!
Will this Trilogy of tales of Terror be as memorable as those other Trilogies of Terror by Curtis? To find out, read on...
Our one-time Narrator explains that 'Dead of Night' is not a time or a place...well, not exactly.
It is the part of our minds that can handle the dark, scary stuff...or something. Look- it's a good title. Moving on...
Our Hero- Ed Begley Jr- buys and restores a very old car that was once wrecked when its Driver tries to cross in front of a train. He takes out for a drive one night (with the shutters exposed).
He sees a similarly old car drive by and is surprised.
When more drive by, he knows that something is up!
As it turns out, the Car took him back in time to when it was wrecked in the 1920s. The Car is stolen from him while he's gawking at people in Town.
He wakes up the next morning like nothing happened, meets a girl and later meets her grandparents.
Grandpa gives him an old Car- the same one from before.
He slowed them down briefly when they took the Car and that made them not hit the train and die, so now a whole family line exists.
Hey Narrator- you still back there?
Anything to say?
Nope. Awkward Cut it is then to...
A woman is convinced that a Vampire is targeting here, as she keeps waking up feeling weak, her blood missing and strange wounds on her neck.
Her Husband- the original Avenger- is a skeptic, while their Housekeeper- the big-head guy from
House on Haunted Hill- is a believer.
To make a long(ish) story short, it turns out to all be a long con by the Husband.
He invites an Expert over, but drugs him that night. He takes blood via syringe from the wife and puts some on the guy's mouth.
He drags him upstairs and puts him in a coffin for the Housekeeper to find and kill.
He monologues to, well, nobody that the man was his Wife's Lover and... that's it. Evil wins.
One last chance?
Any Commentary on that Story? A pun?
Anything?
A woman is done mourning the death of her Son- named Bobby, duh- and has now moved on to Black Magic.
Her entirely offscreen Husband is in the dark about this whole thing as she does the ritual...
...which works, or seems to, at least.
Bobby is really weird and suddenly turns violent. He chases her around the House and tries to attack her! He taunts her the whole time, to boot.
She shoots him and he falls out a window...but he won't stay down.
In the closing moments, he reveals that since she killed Bobby, he didn't want to come back, so he sent a Demon in his place!
Cut to black and... yeah, that's it.
A very random collection of Tales in search of something more. Am I the only one who likes/needs/prefers some sort of connective thread in my Anthology Films/Shows?
The Tales here are all fine, but there's also nothing that they really have in common. One involves a time traveling car and a closed loop Plot. One involves a Vampire...or does it and a general bit of Gaslighting. The final one involves a bit of accidental demon summoning- as you do.
For better or worse, this is just 3 Stories that Richard Matheson had Written (although he actually just Adapted the first one) and Dan Curtis liked. I guess they couldn't work in any other Format and these Anthologies were still popular at the time.
I like the Stories, Actors, Writer and Director all fine, but this just needed something else. Maybe if they did them again. Oh right- 'Bobby' was redone in 1996 for
Trilogy of Terror II...
Next time, it is back to the DVD pile to clear up some room. Maybe something nice and foreign will do the trick. Stay tuned...
No comments:
Post a Comment