Dead to Us

Dead of Night (1977) is not a remake of the British 1944 movie of the same name. It isn't half as clever. Instead, it's a made-for-TV horror anthology directed by Dan Curtis (Dark Shadows). Unlike the British movie, it doesn't have a clever framing story. It just jumps right into the first story.

We sort of liked this one. Ed Begley Jr. is restoring an old 1926 roadster and goes for a jaunt to the next town over. As he is driving, he sees more and more classic cars in great shape. When he finally arrives, it's 1929. He wanders around, taking in the scenery, but when the movie lets out, someone steals "his" car. Quotes, because it's pretty clear that the guy driving it away is the original owner. So Begley has to walk or hitch home (which appears to be 1977, thank goodness).

Later, he goes to meet his girlfriend's (Christina Hart) parents. Her dad has a 1926 roadster lust like the one he restored - one that hasn't been driven in decades. The parents tell him about how, back in 1926, after a movie, the dad had tried to race a train to the crossing. But at the last second, he decided not to risk it and turned off. Why, if they had been killed, girlfriend would never have been born! Did they remember, on that night, some kid yelling at them about stealing his car? Did this maybe delay them a few seconds so they weren't going to tempt fate with that train? No, neither of them remembered anything like that. But Begley still assumes he was responsible. And who is to say he wasn't?

The next one has Patrick Macnee as a Victorian doctor who doesn't believe that his wife Anjanette Comer is being attacked by a vampire. He calls in friend Horst Buchholz to help him in the case. You may not guess right away that it's a scheme of Mcnee's to punish an imagined affair. But you probably will.

The final one is the only one that's really scary. Mother Joan Hackett lost her son to a drowning and has taken to spiritualism and dark arts to get him back. When she casts a complicated spell to bring him back - it works. He shows up soaked from a rain storm at her back door. He wasn't drowned at all, he was rescued by some people who didn't know who he was and he had amnesia. When he remembered, he came home. Or so he says.

At first, Hackett is overjoyed, even when he acts a little cranky. But before the night is over, he'll get worse than that.

This is sort of Twilight Zone level stuff, slightly better production values, maybe a little worse writing and directing. The first story is by Jack Finney, the rest by Richard Matheson, so that shouldn't be the problem. So I'm going to blame Curtis.