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Such a frustrating disappointment

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

DEATHDREAM is another great horror film from director Bob Clark (CHILDREN SHOULDN'T PLAY WITH DEAD THINGS, BLACK CHRISTMAS), who proves to have a real knack for the unsettling and the uncanny. Killed in action in Vietnam, Andy Brooks (Richard Backus) returns home "alive". Is it a miracle, or something else? Andy's parents are, at first, overjoyed, only to slowly realize that whoever or whatever has returned to them is not the one who left. This Andy seems capable of... anything. Clark blends several elements together, including an anti-war theme, mixed w/ the dark fatalism of THE MONKEY'S PAW. Plainly put, this movie is scary as hell! Clark is not afraid to take these characters, or their audience, into the terror of the unknown. Bleak, disturbing, and ultimately heartbreaking, this is NOT just a run of the mill zombie film. Co-stars John Marley as Andy's shattered, suspicious father, and Jane Daly (CHILDREN SHOULDN'T PLAY WITH DEAD THINGS) as Andy's extremely unfortunate girlfriend, Joanne...

No need to recap the plot. The movie's a highly original, atmospheric gem. Low-budget, to be sure. But director Clark knows how to create mood with low-key visuals without rubbing our nose in it. However, I could have done without so much clunking Moog music. There's some gore, but nothing gratuitous. Plus there's an outstanding performance from a cannily deadpan Backus, and an unusually lively turn from Jane Daly as Andy's girlfriend. Then too, putting the near-mute Andy in a squeaky rocking chair speaks volumes about what's not going on inside him.Of course, the 90-minutes can be enjoyed as simply bone-chilling horror. In that regard, it's among the first rank of the period. Still, Andy's return and the family's slow disintegration are left open enough to allow for interpretation. I take Andy's emotionless zombie as a conjured desire that Mom especially won't let die. She's obsessed with his loss, keeping him alive no matter the harm to others. Finally, it's the figurative Andy who knows he must depart lest his conjured presence destroy all he loved. This suggests a sense in which dreams must not not replace reality, despite our deepest desires. Mine is simply one way to take Alan Ormsby's suggestive screenplay. But however you take it, the film remains a triumph of low-budget production, and a must-see for horror fans especially.

Cult Director Bob Clark can be Forgiven for Porky's (1982), Although the Deserved Profits from that Low-Budget Embarrassment Could be Considered a Late Arrival for Past Excellence. This is an Allegorical Sleeper About Returning Vietnam Vets at a Time When that Debacle was Far From Analysis and a Subject that was Divisive as Well as Deadening at the Box Office.It is an Eerie Movie that is Frequently Undermined by its Low-Budget but the Director Manages to Draw the Attention to the Unsettling Story of a Mother's Unconditional Love for Her Deceased Son, Even when He is Summoned from the Other Side and Returns as the Walking Dead.The Cast Does What it Can with the Chinsy Sound and Some Awkward Arrangements but the Strength is the Creepy Unfolding of a Family Torn Apart and the Detached and Deranged Behavior from a Lost Soul Portrayed by Richard Backus. He is an Addict and a Monster Created by the Evil Evolvement in a War that Should Not Have Been.This is a Well-Received and Touted Cult Film by Many who have Seen it, Although it is Relatively Unknown Outside of Horror Buffs. It Remains a Movie A Head of its Time and is Quite the Underground Classic and Should be Seen by Film Historians and Pop-Culture Archeologists, or Anyone Looking for a Good Cutting-Edge Scare from a Movie with a Message.

A young Soldier is killed in the line of duty in Vietnam. That same night, the soldier returns home, brought back by his Mother's wishes that he "Don't Die"! Upon his Return, Andy sits in his room, refusing to see his friends or family, venturing out only at night. The Vampiric horror is secondary to the terror that comes from the disintegration of a typical American family.a lot of reviews say this is a zombie flick, but the guy only comes out at night so he's more a vampire. Frankly, I don;t know what he's supposed to be and the movie, in my opinion loses steam at the 30 minute mark because it's more of a message movie than a true horror film and it falls flat.I wanted to like this film, but found myself wondering what they were trying to say, because as a true horror movie, it sucks. Especially after seeing Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things.Andy just rocks in his chair alone in his room. Don't get me wrong. The acting is really good and it's well filmed. Even well written. But it's sort of a bait and switch movie. You're expecting a horror movie and get a talky moody film.