‘A boy went to war… something unspeakable came back!’
Deathdream is a 1974 Canadian horror film about a young soldier killed in the Vietnam War who inexplicably shows up at his family home.
The movie was produced and directed by Bob Clark (Murder By Decree; Black Christmas; Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things) from a screenplay by Alan Ormsby. The plot was inspired by the W.W. Jacobs short story The Monkey’s Paw.
The film stars Richard Backus, John Marley (The Dead Don’t Die) and Lynn Carlin. A young Tom Savini handled the special effects makeup, apparently aided by Ormsby.
The film was shot as The Night Walker and initially released in Tampa, Florida, as Dead of Night (its British title) on August 30, 1974. It has also been released as The Night Andy Came Home.
Plot:
1972: In Vietnam, American soldier Andy Brooks is shot by a sniper and falls to the ground. As he dies, he hears his mother’s voice calling out, “Andy, you’ll come back. You’ve got to. You promised.”
Sometime later, his family receives notice of his death in combat. Back home, Andy’s father, Charles, and sister, Cathy, begin to grieve, but his mother, Christine, becomes irate and refuses to believe that Andy has died. Hours later, in the middle of the night, Andy arrives at the front door in full uniform and apparently unharmed; the family accepts the notice of his death as a clerical error and welcomes him back with joy.
Over the next few days, Andy displays strange and erratic behaviour, dressing in an unusually concealing matter and spending his days sitting around the house listless and anemic. Meanwhile, local police investigate the murder of a local trucker, who was found with his throat slashed and his body drained of blood after telling diner patrons that he’d picked up a hitchhiking soldier…
Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com
Buy: Amazon.co.uk
Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk
Buy Blu-ray + DVD: Amazon.com
In Vietnam, U.S. soldier Andy Brooks is shot by a sniper. As he begins to die, he hears his mother’s voice calling out, “Andy, you’ll come back, you’ve got to, you promised.” Sometime later, his family receives notice of his death in combat.
Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk
Cast and characters:
Richard Backus … Andy Brooks
John Marley … Charles Brooks
Lynn Carlin … Christine Brooks
Anya Ormsby … Cathy Brooks
Jane Daly … Joanne
Mal Jones … Sheriff
Henderson Forsythe … Doctor Philip Allman
Norman William Beauchamp … Cop
Technical specs:
1 hour 28 minutes
Audio: Mono
Aspect ratio: 1.85: 1
Trailer:
Blu-ray promo:
Free to watch online on YouTube [1080p HD]:
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