Dan Curtis' Dead of Night

This is the dead of night. It has nothing to do with time. It can happen in sunshine or in moonlight, in the best of weather or the worst. For the dead of night is a state of mind, that dark unfathomed region of the human consciousness from which all the unknown terrors of our lives emerge. The dead of night exists in all of us, and no one knows at what strange, unexpected moment it will make itself known. And so tonight, for your entertainment, three tales: one of mystery, one of imagination, one of terror.

Dead of Night, released by Dark Sky’s dvd company (thanks, guys.), is a 70s anthology film for television, written by Richard Matheson, and directed by Dark Shadows’ own, Dan Curtis. Okay, so this sounds like an introduction on Wikipedia. I’ll try to go in a slightly different direction.

                                                                                                
                                                                                                    Second Chance

And so she was, all mine. Right rear wheel and spare, hopeless wads of wire, spokes and twisted rims, the body caved in and the motor a mess. I didn’t mind it a bit.

And I restored that car, sanded off every scrap of paint, took out every dent and bump, welded every tear and burnished every weld. It took a long time but at last it was done, repainted. Every nickel plated part restored, re-nickled and replaced. The seats reupholstered. Everything complete to the final missing part: a Jordan radiator cap, which I traded a Duesenberg floor mat. Just for the fun of it I decided to put the old license plates back on and even had the original ignition key in its old leather case; at least, I thought it was just for the fun of it.

You can’t drive into the past in a modern car, because there were no modern cars then. And you can’t drive into 1926 along a four-lane superhighway. But my car and I, the way I felt about it anyway, were literally rejected that night by our own time. Moving along that old road for the summer evening, simply drifted into the time my Jordan belonged to.

I figure when fans of 70s television horror (Trilogy of Terror, Gargoyles, The Possessed, Satan’s School for Girls) watch Dead of Night, the first tale—about a young collegiate 20s car-restorer (with a passion for this era of automobile) who finds the remains of a Jordan Playboy, the victim of a train crash when the driver (carrying a girlfriend) was racing a locomotive, crossing the tracks in an attempt to best it, returning the vehicle to its condition and properly working order—will probably be considered a dud, but I have to say on the second viewing tonight, I think it has heart and an enchanting story about how time and just the right car can allow second chances and change the future for the better. Here’s the thing: Second Chance (with Ed Begley, Jr.) really belongs on an 80s episode of Twilight Zone or Amazing Stories, where these kinds of stories found a home. Because it deals with a young man with a good head on his shoulders, a fondness and respect for the past, who decides the Jordan Playboy he restored belongs not on a four-lane highway but on a one-lane that was once considered the highway while heading to a town called Creswell, literally driving into the past when the car once drove anew, stolen by its original owner (the very driver and his girl who died in the train wreck), Second Chance is more of a time warp feel-good tale allowing Begley’s character to see how his handiwork can give a dead couple in the 20s a chance to live out their lives, eventually meeting (and soon marrying) their granddaughter. I think it’s the narration by Begley, the way he speaks about restoring the car and his visit to 20s Creswell, and how the Jordan Playboy impacted his life in such an amazing way (how the stolen Playboy finds its way back into his life is also really neat) that really left its indelible mark on me personally. There’s a love and admiration in Matheson’s script for a different time, and romanticizes the ability to have a trip back to that time when life was simpler. If anything, it was rather fun having a character like Begley’s that is such a knowledgeable chap, such as the scene where he’s driving the Jordan Playboy and catches astonished glimpses of 20s era vehicles passing him by as he heads to Creswell. What really has Second Chance clashing with the other tales in this anthology is how the next ones are so much darker; it is definitely the sweeter, kinder tale of the trio. This can be detrimental if the viewer is expecting the entire film to have the darker tone of Bobby, which Second Chance seem the polar opposite of.

                      No Such Thing as a Vampire

No Such Thing as a Vampire couldn’t be more different in tone or resolution than Second Chance. It has Patrick Macnee at his most devious as a seemingly concerned aristocratic husband of a wife suffering the nightly kiss of a vampire. The village folk are so consumed with fear that they rarely leave their homes, and those that do pass by Macnee’s castle (like those that deliver goods) stay just long enough to do their jobs and leave. So Macnee calls on a family friend (Horst Bucholz) because he is going mad from the whole experience, claiming that there’s been a search of the whole village, cemetery, even graves hoping to find the culprit behind his wife’s deteriorating condition. With a quivering Elisha Cook Jr. (bringing those wonderfully bulging scared eyes so delightful in House on Haunted Hill) as the butler (and vampire killer, or so that is what Macnee tells Bucholz), No Such Thing as a Vampire is light on cast but fun with the ones who appear in it as the legend of the nosferatu is used cleverly and maliciously. The way Macnee smiles, before the screen fades to black, as a man is staked to death by Cook, it is rather unsettling. I like how this episode incorporates all the tropes of the vampire, with Macnee using superstition and the innate fear of the nosferatu to his advantage, and it all ends with his saluting himself for a job well done, announcing why all of the vampire shenanigans were committed. Premeditated, well-strategized, and methodical, Macnee acknowledges it all as his wife lies at near catalepsy.

                           Bobby

To me, the most celebrated of the three tales featured in Dan Curtis’ Dead of Night is Bobby, about a grieving mother who uses witchcraft to call her drowned son from beyond the grave, but when a boy that resembles Bobby returns, he’s not quite angelic..if anything, he’s downright evil. An attempt to rekindle the mother-son relationship, full of exhilaration for his return, is met with a violent, homicidal game of hide and seek, the territory of her coastal home his playing ground, mommy Joan Hackett the hunted. Lee Montgomery (the little kid in Curtis’ Burnt Offerings) is the evil little bastard Bobby who enjoys heckling Hackett while he hides away in dark parts of the home as she tries to locate, and, eventually, defend herself against him. I thought it resembled the Zuni doll tale in Curtis’ Karen Black trio of tales, Trilogy of Terror, just supplementing the ferocious evil spirit doll with psychotic child, Bobby. The disorienting odd angles created by Dan Curtis as Hackett runs for her life, ducks plants fall down at her or windows broken over her, Bobby shouting at her in a mocking tone to find him or insisting he will find her. There’s even a scene where he comes at her with the intent of bloodshed, with Hackett shooting him, Bobby flying through a window..but you can’t keep the evil spirit of a dead child down. This tale might be most memorable for the reveal of what Bobby really is and why Hackett’s son didn’t want to return..

With that eerie voice opening the anthology (I think from this, we can see that this movie was meant as a start to a proposed series, failed attempts like these have happened aplenty, but I’m just glad the movies continue to survive and get released for our viewing pleasure), leading to a vault near some creepy manor, accompanied by the familiar music of Curtis’ collaborator Robert Cobert, Dead of Night, I imagine, will be a treat for fans of television horror. Curtis’ fans like myself I figure will enjoy this more than most, but we are an enthusiastic bunch. Dark Sky also released Trilogy of Terror, a trio of tales with Matheson’s name attached, the final tale the most popular, and I give them applause for releasing Dead of Night as well. Maybe not as well known or as highly regarded as Trilogy of Terror, Dead of Night might still carry some weight with Curtis’ fans.