Dead of Night

Instead of canonizing war criminals, we should be watching films like Dead of Night (1974) that chronicle their murderous legacy. So just what does a low-budget ‘zombie’ flick from more than forty years ago have to do with the fresh dirt-covered, flag draped coffin encasing a former President? Or even a long-serving Senator who defied death in Vietnam and returned home to haunt the corridors of power as a lifeless, bloodthirsty politician? We can compare the legacy of those two particular corpses with Bob Clark’s far superior film that documented their handiwork. A young soldier dies in Vietnam and returns home, seemingly and miraculously alive to his elated parents just hours after they receive the news of his death. His besotted, overbearing mother’s prayers for his return become an incantation that reanimates the corpse and returns him into the family fold. Never mind that Andy, (Richard Backus) the prodigal son, is a dead eyed, monosyllabic automaton who needs daily infusions of blood. Never mind that he sits for hours in a rocking chair, staring straight ahead, refusing food and all attempts to coax him back into normalcy. Never mind that his alcoholic father is grieving over Andy’s murder of the family dog who recognizes the ghoul from the moment he darkens the doorstep. Never mind the local doctor, who fatally places Andy at the scene of another murder, or Andy’s sister who unwittingly offers up a human sacrifice for her un-dead sibling as she arranges a surprise 'blind date’ with Andy and his former girlfriend. What matters is that Andy is home, regardless of the circumstances that turned him into a pulse-less, literally heartless killer. Even more ghoulish than the dead eyed Ken doll standing in for the sensitive and reluctant soldier is the mother who will follow him into hell, prepared to sacrifice the rest of her family along the way. Sound familiar? Most actors are required to “breathe life” into their characters, but Richard Backus is tasked with depriving his of oxygen in order to function wholly as an un-living, non-breathing apparition devoid of anything 'human’. He somehow manages to instill terror into the viewer before his zombie/vampire persona is fully revealed.

by Jennifer Matsui