‘From the twisted minds who brought you Bite’
The Dwelling aka Bed of the Dead is a 2016 Canadian paranormal horror film co-produced and directed by Jeff Maher (cinematographer on Antisocial, Bite and Let Her Out) from a screenplay co-written with Cody Calahan (director of Antisocial).
The film was produced by Black Fawn Films with Chad Archibald (director of The Drownsman and Bite), Christopher Giroux, and Jeff Maher.
The movie stars Colin Price, Alysa King, Gwenlyn Cumyn, Dennis Andres, George Krissa, Alex Loubert and Hamza Fouad.
In 2019, it was re-titled The Dwelling with a new trailer and artwork (below). Uncork’d Entertainment is releasing The Dwelling on Digital and DVD November 26th, 2019.
Plot:
Two young couples out for a night of fun at the city’s oldest singles club find themselves stuck on a haunted antique bed where leaving means suffering a gruesome fate. Plagued with frightening hallucinations, they must figure out the bed’s secrets before they are picked off one by one.
However, when they call the police for help they are connected with a hard-nosed detective who at that very moment is investigating the death of four young people at the same singles club in the same antique bed…
Reviews:
“Blood is sprayed plentifully, yes, the movie is at its best when it’s sticking to the basics and making things ghastly for its protagonists. (I particularly like the one poor soul who almost literally crumples to the ground.) Bed of the Dead actually might have made for a pretty shocking little short; cut out all the other fluff, stay with the bed-bound suckers as they get destroyed one by one.” Arrow in the Head
” …the pace of Bed of the Dead is a bit too quick to fully flesh out an organic story. The hallucinations begin almost immediately after the couples enter the room and you do not get a chance to learn anything about the couples or find a reason to want any of them to survive. Facts about each one is randomly thrown in and seemingly forgotten.” Cryptic Rock
“Bed of the Dead evokes the appeal of 1980s horror without resorting to trendy retro tricks like an overdone synth score or feathered hairstyles hammering home the notion that it fully understands what it wants to be. The film trusts you to recognize its throwback type of terror without knowingly winking or screaming for attention through overinflated irony. Appreciate the straightforward style of a wildly weird premise with slick scares…” Culture Crypt
“Story-wise there are a few odd choices and some characters are slightly underdeveloped […] The story would work just as well in a normal, fancy hotel setting. An exploration into the perils of not atoning for your sins Bed of the Dead is a gorgeously gruesome ninety-minute thrill ride…” The Hollywood News
“The film is worth checking out for the special effects, unique use of time, and strong acting performances from its leads. However, its weak acting( one actor so bad this reviewer can’t even comment), lack of character development and jumbled storytelling make it just as easy to miss.” Killer Horror Critic
” …this is an entry in a recent wave of small-scale, slightly retro Canadian horrors, mixing horrid physical effects with tormented character study. It may be a little too neat in its checking-off of everyone’s plot-point secret shame – without spending much time on why they all seem to think it’s a good idea to have a four-way…” The Kim Newman Web Site
“I’d even be willing to forgive the movie for its bed-sheet-thin characters because as one-dimensional as they are, they do die in some pretty entertaining ways (and I’m a sucker for that kind of sh*t), but where it really lost me was when the narrative randomly introduces multiple timelines, making a movie about a killer bed way more complicated than it should be.” The Missing Reel
“Bed of the Dead shouldn’t work – but it does, and it never lets you forget that. Silky, satin terrors cover every inch of your body, as Jeff Maher continually lulls you into a false sense of safe absurdity, only to rev this baby’s maniacal engine as blood shoots everywhere […] Bed of the Dead is an off-the-wall original horror concept birthed from a woodworker’s nightmare…” We Got This Covered
Filming locations:
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
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