Dead Of Night

Dead of Night (1945)

Runtime: 103 minutes

Directed by: Alberto Cavalcanti/Charles Crichton/Robert Harner/Basil Dearden

Starring: Michael Redgrave, Mervyn Johns, Frederick Valk, Roland Culver

From: Ealing Studios

If you haven't heard of this British horror anthology before, now you do, and it's worth seeing:

I figured last night was the time for me to see a highly regarded British film from the 40's; now only was it horror (there weren't too many of those in the decade, mainly because of World War II) but it's an anthology.

The framing story is creepy from right off the bat: an architect goes off and visits a pal in a country cabin after he's been haunted by a recurring nightmare, which he starts off barely remembering. Turns out, once he arrives there and meets the group of people hanging out there, he realizes the nightmare was like a premonition, as it was him visiting that cabin and all those same people were there... and he predicts some things before they happen. That is certainly unsettling, then he states he remembers “something awful happening”, only he does not recall the specifics. There is a doubter (a doctor, naturally) but the rest seem to believe this premonition, and they explain that strange things have happened to them too in the past... which is the various segments in this anthology.

I won't go into detail about all the segments except that of course they do vary in quality, although the weakest one in many people's eyes (the golfing adventure) was at least darkly humorous (and definitely wacky too) and it featured Basil Radford and Naughton Wayne, best known as Charters and Caldicott from The Lady Vanishes; they were so popular they appeared together in other films playing similar sports-obsessed pals. To think that story was adapted from something by H.G. Wells. It happens to stand out as it's more a comedy while the rest are at various ranges of being chilling. After we're done with golf, boy does this end on a strong note.

Various aspects of Dead of Night reminded me of later works, which I dare not spoil. I will mention that one tale will remind you of a 21st century horror franchise. In addition, the ventriloquist segment-the most famous one-has a dummy that looks like Jack Nicholson but the infamous Magic is not the first horror film to make that field creepy as s---, although at least this did not have commercials that ended up traumatizing children like Magic did. After that the framing story is concluded and the resolution is also unforgettable.

Believe the hype this film has gotten in modern times.