October 8
For being an early 70s low budget horror film,
Deathdream doesn't feel all that dated, thanks to its central concept of a family torn apart by one of their own going overseas in armed conflict and the inherent terror of what would happen if they never came back. The scene in which the bad news is delivered is one of the best handled ones I've seen of its kind, with each of the surviving family members taking the news their own way, with the actors doing rather uncommonly good jobs in selling the tragedy and how they're each coping with it. Of course, there wouldn't be much of a film if things stopped after the first 10 minutes, which continues on as the news of this soldier's death had been somewhat exaggerated, as he returns home seemingly intact. Andy isn't feeling quite himself, which becomes more and more apparent as his detachment from the rest of humanity goes from the emotional to physical, as violence seems to be all he's capable of. The film doesn't quite exactly try to hide that there's a more supernatural explanation to why Andy has changed, but it does a good job of raising up some talking points with regards to the Vietnam War experience for the soldiers that fought in it: the clash against the Greatest Generation, the near-automatic response to sneak attacks of even the most innocent kind, and even hard drug use. Not all of it is explored at the same depth as the central storyline with what Andy's family is doing as they begin to realize that their son and brother never really came home at all, but it's nice to see a film talk about them all the same. The story itself does get a bit muddled towards the end, as Andy's ultimate motivation seems at odds with the steps he takes to get there, and while Bob Clark should be commended for shooting to much of the film at night, the low budget doesn't do a lot of favors with that footage coming off as being way too dark and indecipherable on a fairly frequent basis. Still, it is nice to see a socially conscious horror film that's on the ball as aggressively as this one is, and with the fine acting on display and an unwillingness to schlock it up to make it more easily digestible, though it doesn't skimp on the gruesome makeup effects, courtesy of a pre-fame Tom Savini.
Deathdream is the kind of film that punches above its weight, and while it doesn't escape without taking a few lumps, it does come out as a decisive winner by the end.
Film for October 9: With his recent passing, I couldn't bring myself to not throw in a Wes Craven film into the mix this year. As fate would have it, one of his most famous and celebrated works,
The Hills Have Eyes, has gone unseen by me until now. It's a shame to say better late than never in this context, but for as decidedly mixed I have been on his output, he's never not interesting, and I've no doubt that this film will be any different.
