DeathDream

DEATHDREAM ( Night Walk, Dead of Night, The Night Andy Came Home, Whispers)

USA, 1974
Directed by: Bob Clark
Starring: John Marley, Lynn Carlin, Richard Backus

Reviewed By Michael Hauss

   Way back when before the advent of DVD, I had this film on VHS from Gorgon video. The picture quality was bleached out and made for an unappealing view. Now don't get me wrong I thought it was a very good movie back then, but the DVD from Blue Underground is an amazing upgrade and quite honestly it's like watching a totally different movie. The work put into this by Blue Underground had to be substantial and to think that this film could ever look this good was unfathomable to me, until the viewing of this DVD. I realize that the film was released by Blue Underground around 2004 and has been in my possession for many years, it was never a film I felt like revisiting because of the first bad impression quality wise I had of it on VHS. The DVD has informative feature length audio commentaries by the director Bob Clark and the screenwriter Alan Ormsby, recorded separately, plus many other extras, including a short feature on Tom Savini, called "The Early Years."

I'll show you who's boss, adorable house pet!

This film had many different titles including DEAD OF THE NIGHT, THE NIGHT WALK and THE NIGHT ANDY CAME OUT OF HIS GRAVE. This film per the DVD cover "marked the grisly debut of Gore effects legend Tom Savini." (at the time he was working with Alan Orsmby on Deranged so it may have been simultaneous-Crank).

The parents of a young man named Andy are devastated by the news that their son has been killed in the war and the father Charles (John Marley) while grief stricken manages through, but the mother Christine (Lynn Carlin) freaks out and becomes transfixed in denial of his death, pleading for her son to return to her. So when Andy returns home in his uniform looking like death warmed over, but alive, the parents are obviously overjoyed. Andy locks himself away in his room, turning away his friends and family who come to visit him. After a shocking incident where Andy kills his beloved pooch in front of some neighbor kids, he is taken to see a physician, who makes a startling discovery, that being that Andy has no vitals statistics, he's dead. Before the doctor can report this, Andy kills him and withdraws his blood, injecting himself with it. The ending with Andy going to the Drive-in with friends is fantastic and a great ending to this fine film.

Whuut's the deal with airline peanuts?

The team of Bob Clak and Alan Ormsby first film CHILDREN SHOULDN'T PLAY WITH DEAD THINGS (USA, 1972) was a fun but boring horror film, technically weak and amateurish, this film is quite an upgrade in all facets of the game. The acting here is outstanding lead by the great John Marley as the father and a fine nuisanced performance by Richard Backus as Andy.
With the Vietnam war recently concluded this film to me seems to be saying that the young men returning from the war were dead inside, so programmed to violence that they had become immune to the death and destruction around them and at times the violence would be carried over into their civilian life.

Mosquito The Rapist copied me

The direction is handled ardently by Clark and a fine thought provoking script by Ormsby really fuels this low budget gem. The score by Carl Zittrer was very unconventional but grew on me as I viewed the film. The film is a dark, grimy post war drama that showed how soldiers along with their families were inflicted by the trauma of war. The makeup by a young Tom Savini and Alan Ormsby is outstanding and not overly Gore heavy, the effects are indeed low key but still quite disturbing.

Turn off the engine will ya, I'm not finished yet

One thing of note is the very generic opening which obviously is shot in Florida standing in for Vietnam and a different actor standing in as Andy, which is explained in the commentary. The story is based on the famous short story 'Monkey Paw' written by W.W. Jacobs, the premise of  the story has been used countless times in film including most famously in PET CEMETARY (USA, 1989).
The director Bob Clark would go on to direct one of the earliest and finest slasher films in BLACK CHRISTMAS (Canada, 1974), a terrific Christmas film in A CHRISTMAS STORY (USA, 1983), a fun coming of age film PORKY' S (USA, Canada, 1981) and one of worst pieces of shit of all time in RHINESTONE (USA, 1984). Alan Ormsby directed the fine horror film DERANGED (USA, CANADA, 1974) which was based on the life of the notorious killer Ed Gein.
I found this film a moving and disturbing experience that stayed with me after viewing it. A bit of a slow burning character study, but with fine acting performances, this little horror drama is a film I can highly recommend.

I keep telling you, I'm not a zombie I'm just Gay!

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All That Remains Are Memories by Kris Gilpin

As I'm stuck back here in Floriduh now (still hate it) and broke, in debt & basically homeless, I think about the few highlights of my life (I should've been a character actor but fucked that up, I didn't know how to go about it (duh!), I think of all the cool peeps I've met & just wanted to share these short bits with others. I don't mean to be at all pretentious here, I'll just always be a kid from boring Miami in my heart and I've never lost the thrill of meeting famous folk thru the years. That and the fact that Erok has offered me $1 a word, well, enjoy, I hope!...[Gilpin, you having one of those LSD flashbacks?! - Ed.]...

Kurt Vonnegut:

The last time was in NYC (only been there twice, didn't like it, dirty and hard as hell to make a living there, and that was decades ago. L.A. is like that now) I was walking down a popular, rich street (6th Ave.? Duh...) and coming towards me was Kurt Vonnegut (!), a long time literary hero of mine. Unfortunately, he had his hands full, with lots of bags. My heart beat faster as I got the courage to say, "Hello, Mr. Vonnegut! I, uh..." He saw I really wanted to talk to him, so after a  moment he stopped, motioned me aside, tho he was obviously in a hurry, shook my hand and said, "Yes..."

Knowing I was apparently keeping him from something, I quickly tried to get out, "When I was a kid my old brother, who I was closer to than anyone, bought me a copy of Mother Night, I loved it, he later took a year to die young in pain from cancer, and I've read all your books since, and every time I read one it reminds me of him and of how, if he had lived, we surely would've written some funny stuff together--we had the same warped sense of humor--and my entire life would've been different, instead of the fucked-up mess that I've made of it by myself,"

I still don't know why, but all my nervous, then jammed-up brain could spit out was, "Uh, um, my...I think you're fantastic!"

I instantly thought, Oh no, what a fuckin idiot!!

He simply nodded politely, as if to say, Thanks, but I'm in a hurry and you're wasting my precious time here...

He then wordlessly walked away and I froze there, getting tears in my eyes. It haunted me for YEARS, until I encountered someone online who said they knew someone who knew someone who knew Vonnegut. I wrote out all the above in an email, sent it to him and begged him to send it to K.V. He said he would, and did, but of course I never heard back a word.

I don't know if Vonnegut ever did get my apology/explanation for that day, but I've always hoped that he did before he died.

Michael Ironside:

For the 22 years I was in L.A. I was in heaven, of course. On almost every street, almost every day, I'd run into people I recognized and loved.

One night my ex-wife and I were coming out of a theater on Hollywood Blvd. and in front of us was Michael Ironside, he looked and even moved like Joe Fucking Cool, no lie! We walked behind him a few feet and he actually seemed to emanate a strong vibe which I could feel just by being behind him, making me think, Holy shit, he has the Joe-Cool aura you'd expect from Jack Nicholson!

More heart palpitations before I stopped him and told him how much I loved his work in Scanners. I didn't know if he would bark, "Fuck off!" at me, but he was cool, said thanks and shook our hands. Only then did I notice the smiling beauty on his arm, and my jaw partially dropped--it was the still-stunning Kristen (R-and X-rated Alice in Wonderland) DeBell! I said, "Oh, hi, Kristen, we love you, too!" (Ironside smiled at that.) She smiled sweetly and shook our hands. "Well, I'll let you guys go, we just had to say hi!"

That's one of the few things (along with the indie-film theaters and the bookstores) I miss from L.A. I got out after all the rich, vacuous movie-studio types (who I worked for) started making me sick (another story)...

BLOODFREAK!

Artist's representation of Charles The Bizarre Alien

Crank here (0r Erok, Eric, whatever the cat's out of the bag now, so I guess I should drop all these internet handles)! I've been looking for new writers and have found one with Charles, he's here to tackle one of my all time Turkeysploitation favorites. Enjoy and stay off the poultry! 

BLOOD FREAK (1972 Steve Hawkes, Dana Culliver, Heather Hughes, Larry Wright and Brad Grinter as the narrator . Written produced and directed by Steve Hawkes and Brad Grinter )

(image from Cinema Arcana, Bruceholecheck.blogspot.com)

Review by Charles The Bizarre Alien 

PRAISE JAYZUS! Gobble! Gobble! Gobble! Just say NO to drugs! Hallelujah!!!! Blood & guts! Agggggggggghhhhh!!!! Wha???????

Ladies and Gentlemen, I bring you an AMAZING film, well at least to me, it is because it is well, amazing! Considered the world's “Only turkey-monster-anti drug-pro Jesus GORE film!” Yes my friends, it really IS all that and more! Around 2006 or so I got into the band Blood Freak thanks to my old friend and ghoulish president of Razorback Records, Mr. Billy Nocera whose label subsequently released 3 albums by them. Great death/grind/gore/metal madness with their mascot being this blood thirsty nutjob maniac 'turkey monster'. 
Turns out it was from a movie and after I looked it up I knew I HAD to see it! Not to long later the stars were aligned just right and I found it in a local store used/mint for about $8! 

Blood Freak the band

I took it home and watched it and I was like WHOA! What we have here is a film that starts right out with this cigarette smoking gentleman (who reminds me of Russ Meyer for some odd reason) introducing the film by stating some philosophical mumbo jumbo about life and blah.blah.blah. Thru out the film you will be interrupted by his story telling, which I thought was and is pretty funny and kinda cool. I still wonder how many cigarettes he smoked and how many takes he had to do? Ha!ha! 

Blood Freak's message? that cancer sticks are healthier than weed

Anyhoo, the movie finally begins and we've got this very tall “muscle bound biker” gentleman by the name of Herschel (producer/ co-director Steve Hawkes). The biker is having a nice time riding his motorcycle on a beautiful sunny day when he sees a lovely young Lady (Angel played by Heather Hughes) on the side of the road experiencing some kind of trouble with her engine. There's barely any dialogue what so ever and he follows her to her house where we meet some heathen hippies who are sitting around smoking the green and snorting poppers.

She said I was a tiger she wanted to tame just like that Billy Ocean song

Angel is a fine Christian Lady who loves Jesus and tells Herschel all about it . He doesn't seem to mind and is a nice decent moral fellow. A sexy swinger hippy Lady approaches him and he kindly tells her “no thanks!,” which she's offended by, but her partner looks like he is about to shit his pants when she tells him that guy over there said “i'm a whore” (which he didn't, in a manner of speaking ). 

I can totally suck a golfball through a garden hose!

Herschel is introduced to Angel's free loving, sexy pot smoking, drug loving sister Ann whom he turns down repeatedly! Herschel isn't a "Christian", but he has got them MORALS people! 

The story continues as a Christian/anti-marijuana/anti free love film and is kinda slow but not boring mind you! The feathers start flying when the main character, finally gets SICK of Ann pestering him about being a loser and decides to try some weed that one of Ann's hippie band drug dealers hooks her up with (he also wants revenge for the Elvis clone insulting his girlfriend, so this is a “special” kind of pot)! Before you know it, Herschel is ADDICTED! 

Great, now I'm also addicted to tryptophan! 

Besides suddenly becoming a hardcore pot head, he also needs a job. Luckily, around the same time, this guy who happens to have a turkey farm/laboratory offers him a job to clean up around the place and do various chores, like picking up the birds and putting them back inside the fence la la la. He is also offered extra money if he'll try some “harmless experiments", which has him just saying YES to eating turkey meat that turns this once happy bible thumping jesus praising just say NO to drugs and illicit sex lunkhead into a total WTF!? THIS IS A TOTAL GOOD TIME GOBBLE FEST!  

This Thanksgiving I implore you to eat a nice baked ham instead

NO sooner does the innocent biker (who resembles the fused DNA results of Elvis Presley and Peter Steele both combined with some serious muscle-age (otherwise known as DANZIG, -ed). He turns into a freaked out looking turkey headed hippy blood drinking psycho monster freak-o and the rest of the film is spent with him killing random women and men here and there, including a would be rapist (the guy gets a deal to use Ann as a blow up doll by another greasy dirtbag dope fiend!) until her BF gets a hold of him, resulting in one of the most HILARIOUS gore scenes ever in my book! 

What the sadistic San Diego Chicken does off the clock!

He chases the dude into a warehouse that just happens to have a table saw and after sawing off one of the guy's legs (after he knocks the guy out then places him on the table)! The guy nonstop screams in a loop that had me in PAIN from LAUGHING my ass off! It's also a little disturbing as the guy is holding his stump and it just drips drips drips! It almost sounds like the sample from an early industrial noise band like SPK or one of (early) Throbbing Gristles creep-fests, Just hilarious and odd! The same scream is heard a few victims before too which cracked me up as I drank my beer! Am i giving away the entire plot? Well dang it, I got caught up alright? 

TG's unrecorded "Annual Jive Turkey Report" went over like a led balloon

There is more to this movie and lemme just say, if you want full entertainment with some Bible studies, moral/immoral friction between 2 hot sisters (sorry, NOT sexual friction!), unintentionally HILARIOUS dialogue, 2 clueless lab technicians, (the balding large guy is beyond HILARIOUS! I wonder if the actor got into comedy)? 

Isn't Turkey, the Chicken of the Sea?

If you want to see a guy plagued by moral dilemmas now thanks to Marijuana and sweet lovin, a very odd and dark make-out scene between a girl and her Turkey monster lover with the words of “Gosh Herschel, you sure are ugly!”, a sketchy 'Turkey' scientist, a cool soundtrack, a narrator that looks like Russ Meyers cousin and/or an aging porn star, Turkey hunting 'whoa dude!” hairball hunter and praising the Lord, among other oddball assortments, then get off your backside and check out this fine film! 

Released on DVD by the fine folks from the legendary SOMETHING WEIRD VIDEO! The disc also comes with literally a TON of extras! Tons of trailers, some shorts (wanna see the director/smoking narrator Brad Grinter NAKED? Watch the nudist short “Brad Grinter, Nudist!”) and a buncha other fun wacky stuff for your entertainment and educational means! 

Nobody asked for this!

As the WARNING states “This program contains nudity, sexual situations, violence and gobbling”! Ha!ha!ha! On a side note, actor Steve Hawkes (“Herschell”) portrayed Tarzan in 2 films, but was badly burned during a scene and later did this movie, which he quotes as “This was during a SAD time in my life!” Well, speak for yourself Mr. Hawkes! This movie is GREAT man! I SALUTE you! Years later he appeared in an episode of ANIMAL PLANET and apparently is a very cool dude (especially for his works, caring about animals and nature) I doubt you'll ever see a movie like this ever again. Cheers to the fine feathered folks behind this great film! This has been The Bizarre Alien saying KEEP WATCHING THE SKIES and beware of blood drinking Turkey headed man monsters! Yeeeee-ha! Gobble! Gobble! P.S. 2-3 beers were consumed as I watched this again! It helped! (seems like you should've had more to drink, -ed)!

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

BUY HERE