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The PackageThe source material for DEATHDREAM (1974) was W.W. Jacobs’ classic story “The Monkey’s Paw”, in which an elderly couple use a magic monkey’s paw to wish for a large sum of money, which unfortunately comes at the expense of their grown son’s life; even more damaging are their subsequent attempts at setting things right, which only intensify the horror. The story’s underlying themes fit surprisingly well into an early seventies Vietnam War framework, and the political subtext was strictly intentional on the part of the filmmakers. To quote the script’s final line (cut from the film): “Andy came back. Some boys never do.” The
makers of DEATHDREAM were director Bob Clark and screenwriter Alan Ormsby, who
previously collaborated on 1972’s CHILDREN SHOULDN’T PLAY WITH DEAD THINGS
and went on to make 1974’s DERANGED (which Clark produced, but had his name
removed from the credits) together. From
there Ormsby wrote the scripts for CAT PEOPLE (1982), POPCORN (1991) and THE
SUBSTITUTE (1996) while
Another
interesting fact about DEATHDREAM is that it’s probably had more title
changes than nearly any other movie. THE
VETERAN was its working title, which later became (in no particular order) DEAD
OF NIGHT, WHISPERS, THE NIGHT WALK and THE NIGHT ANDY CAME HOME.
The present moniker wasn’t arrived upon until after the film’s
initial release. Ormsby claims he
isn’t satisfied with DEATHDREAM as a title (because “it’s not a
dream”), but does acknowledge that it’s the best of the bunch. |
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The StoryIn
the jungles of
But
things aren’t nearly as idyllic as they might seem.
Andy has become sullen and withdrawn to the point of near-catatonia, and
the eviscerated body of a trucker has been found in the area—the very
trucker, it turns out, who gave Andy his ride home.
Andy’s
behavior grows freakier by the day: he strangles the family dog, twists the arm
of a neighborhood kid and stabs to death the family doctor after coyly
revealing to the latter his secret. Andy,
it seems, is a vampire who needs a constant supply of human blood to keep from
becoming a rotting corpse. His
next victim is an old girlfriend who makes the mistake of accompanying Andy on
a double date. Her death isn’t
enough, however, to keep his flesh from decaying at an alarming rate until
he’s nearly done for, and all he can do is crawl into an open grave…his
own! |
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The DirectionWhile DEATHDREAM is miles ahead of Bob Clark’s first film, the highly amateurish CHILDREN SHOULDN’T PLAY WITH DEAD THINGS, it’s still extremely ragged around the edges. The camerawork tends to be unsteady and often downright clumsy, while the camera placement rarely ever feels correct. And let’s not even get started on the oft-tacky lighting perpetrated by cinematographer Jack McGowan--it’s been said that double and/or triple shadows on walls are a sin in the cinematography world, in which case DEATHDREAM is guaranteed an eternity in Hell! The screenplay also has quite a few problems, in particular the way it blatantly telegraphs any and all plot developments, a! tendency most notable in its insistence on revealing in the opening scene that the main character is dead rather than letting audiences figure that fact out for themselves (the movie’s distributors even went so far as to require that theater owners not let anyone in after the first five minutes). Offsetting
all this is |
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Vital StatisticsDEATHDREAM Entertainment
International Pictures Producer:
Bob Clark Screenplay:
Alan Ormsby Cinematography:
Jack McGowan Editing:
Ronald Sinclair Cast:
John Marley, Lynn Carlin, Richard Backus,
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