Lots of horror films have masked political messages with grotesque imagery and nightmarish plot lines: David Cronenberg’s Shivers was about the proliferation of sexually transmitted diseases in the midst of the sexual revolution; George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead was about America’s rabid addiction to its consumer culture; Wes Craven’s Last House on the Left was about the breaking point between pacifism and violence (as well as the breaking point between left-leaning politics and right-wing aggression). All of these films are classics of the horror genre, but perhaps one, above all others, is most effective at conveying its political message while still being a true-and-blue horror film at heart–and that film is Bob Clark’s (Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things, Black Christmas) 1974 zombie-slasher, Deathdream.
Deathdream, which was originally released as Dead of Night (not to be confused with the infamous 1946 film, Dead of Night, released by Ealing Studios), tells the story of how the atrocities of war can sometimes return home with the soldiers themselves. Andy Brooks is gunned down in combat at the same time his mother prays he returns home–under any circumstances. Several months later, Andy shows up on the Brooks family doorstep–acting quite strange. It turns out he needs fresh blood to survive.
Richard Backus’s portrayal of Andy is spectacular. His ability to portray cold hatred and hardened emotion, “I died for you! Shouldn’t you return the favor?” produces moments of almost unbearable tension. The scene in which Andy first arrives home is particularly effective. The soundtrack (which sounds an awful lot like an out-of-tune piano being slammed with bags of rocks) adds to the film’s general feeling of uneasiness.
Despite its politics and B-movie tendencies, Deathdream is perhaps most effective as a film about the dissolution of an otherwise happy American family–a family unwittingly torn apart by the atrocities of war. I’m willing to go so far as to say that Deathdream is one of the most rousing (and genuinely terrifying) low-budget films of the 1970’s–horror films or otherwise.
This is an absolute must-see for all fans of the genre.
