The VHS Archives: Bob Clark's DEATHDREAM (1974)

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DEATHDREAM

Bob Clark's Dead of Night (1974)

The VHS Archives Factsheet

Label: Gorgon Video

Catalog: MP3054

Box Type: Clamshell

Year of Release: ?

Runtime: 88:03

Print: 1.33:1 / English / No subs

Extras: None

About the Film

Director: Bob Clark

Year of Release: 1974

Country of Origin: Canada

Stars: Richard Backus, John Marley, Lynn Carlin, Anya Ormsby, Jane Daly

AKAs: Death Dream, Dead of Night, The Night Andy Came Home, The Dead Walk, The Veteran, Death Behind the Door, Blood Lust

Verbatim Box Synopsis

Imagine the horror of a family receiving the news that their son was killed in action while fighting in Vietnam. Now imagine what happens when the young man returns home. The result is initial joy, followed by a creeping terror as local women are ruthlessly murdered in the night, their bodies drained of all blood! Now imagine the ultimate horror -- a father, played Academy Award winner John Marley, who realizes his only son is a murdering vampire!

Can he bring himself to drive a stake through the heart of his only child? The answer to that lies in one of the most shocking climaxes you will ever see. A well crafted thriller with special make-up effects by Tom Savini (Creepshow, Dawn of the Dead), Deathdream is the stuff that nightmares are made of. 

U.S Gorgon Video / MPI sleeve! 

Original U.S. Gorgon Video artwork, recently unearthed by MPI!

Japanese Victor sleeve! 

U.K. Intervision Video Limited sleeve, taken from Critical Condition!

U.K. Exploited sleeve, courtesy of It's Only a Movie! 

Dutch Video for Pleasure sleeve, originally scanned by "brucecampbell"! 

Dutch WM Video sleeve, courtesy Hans-Jorn Reimer and his Danish Ex-Rental VHS Appreciation Group!

Swedish Mac Video sleeve. originally scanned by "videohunter"! 

Danish Krone Video sleeve, also from Critical Condition!

Finnish Wolftracks KY sleeve, courtesy of Joe Spina!

French Fantastic Video / RCA sleeve, originally scanned by "anarkotiko21"! 

French GCR Distribution sleeve, originally scanned by "ROTOR"!

German Skyline Video sleeve, courtesy of Monster Brains! 

Spanish Crown Films & Home Video sleeve!

Theatrical trailer, uploaded by Blue Underground!

Looking for Deathdream on VHS? It's available on Amazon here. There's also a nice special edition DVD available from Blue Underground.

Investigate more titles with Project: MPI!

For a look at other labels, check out The VHS Archives!

© 2012 -- Bruce Holecheck. All Rights Reserved.

It's Name that Movie Monday! Challenge #25!

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Welcome back to Name that Movie Monday!

It's time for Challenge #25 here at the ol' Arcana! Can you identify this week's mystery photo, scanned direct from The Holecheck Archives? If you think you recognize it, post a comment below. As the week goes on, if no one guesses correctly I'll begin adding some pretty useless hints. Easy, right?

Here ya' go -- good luck!

UPDATE:

Congrats to reader "Paul" for identifying this mystery photo as Denis Heroux's The Uncanny (1977).  I thought the image would be a little tougher to nail with half of Samantha Eggar's face hidden, but I guess it's hard to mistake those eyes!

The film itself is a Canadian attempt at aping the success British companies like Amicus had been having with the anthology format, bringing in plenty of that country's stars and some of their backers, too.  Peter Cushing hosts as a writer pitching his newest research tome; one dedicated to the concept that cats have been exploiting mankind instead of the other way around.  Seriously.  What follows is a trio of supposed terror tales involving feline forces dooming a surprisingly loaded cast that includes, in addition to Eggar and Cushing, turns from Ray Milland, Donald Pleasance, John Vernon, Susan Penhaligon and more.

While bypassing theatrical play in the States (going direct to television airings on CBS), The Uncanny did hit screens in its financing countries; North of the border Astral handled the job, and across the pond Rank took charge.  There was even a novelization issued in the U.K.!  Receiving an '80s VHS release Stateside courtesy of Media Home Entertainment, the film never gained much of a following here, probably due to its lack of particularly exploitable content -- at the end of the day, it's still a flick about killer kitties, no matter what you do!  No domestic DVD as of this writing, but there are imports available in Australia and Britain.

For a look at Challenge #24, still unsolved, click here. We also have quite a few unidentified Grab Bag photos, if you really want to show your stuff. And don't forget, our Upcoming Releases List (the best on the 'net) is constantly updated, so stop by and preorder some cool stuff!

© 2011 -- Bruce Holecheck. All Rights Reserved.

It's Name that Movie Monday! Challenge #24!

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Welcome back to Name that Movie Monday!

It's time for Challenge #24 here at the ol' Arcana! Can you identify this week's mystery photo, scanned direct from The Holecheck Archives? If you think you recognize it, post a comment below. As the week goes on, if no one guesses correctly I'll begin adding some pretty useless hints. Easy, right?

Here ya' go -- good luck!

Solved! Update coming soon!

For a look at our last entry, click here. All of our past Challenges have now been solved, but we still have quite a few unidentified Grab Bag photos, if you really want to show your stuff. And don't forget, our Upcoming Releases List (the best on the 'net) is constantly updated, so stop by and preorder some cool stuff!

© 2011 -- Bruce Holecheck. All Rights Reserved.

It's Name that Movie Monday! Challenge #17!

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Welcome back to Name that Movie Monday!

It's time for Challenge #17 here at the ol' Arcana! Can you identify this week's mystery photo, scanned direct from The Holecheck Archives? If you think you recognize it, post a comment below. As the week goes on, if no one guesses correctly I'll begin adding some pretty useless hints. Easy, right?

(Things have been a bit hectic lately, but I should get last week's Challenge updated shortly, along with posting a new interview and a look at some rare unused promo negatives.  Stay tuned to this channel!)

Anywho, here ya' go -- good luck!

UPDATE:

Congrats to Todd Bridges, who makes it three by identifying Jean LaFleur's Ilsa, Tigress of Siberia (1977) as this week's Challenge, scoring him dead even with current leaders William Wilson and Chris Poggiali.

The fourth and final entry of the gloriously sicko series finds our top-heavy heroine the commandant of a Russian "rehab" clinic, punishing her political prisoner population with forced ice baths, chainsaw arm-wrestling bouts and mind-altering electroshock treatments. If that doesn't work, they're simply fed to her pet tiger. When Stalin falls, our titular temptress makes her way to Canada(?), where she heads up a whorehouse and is more determined than ever to finish what she started... Less sadistic than its predecessors, this action-oriented Canuxploitation romp really should enjoy a greater reputation than it does. It's fast-paced, has plenty of explosions, inventive bloodshed, wholly gratuitous nudity -- plus, you get to hear stock music cues from Dawn of the Dead used in a shower sex scene!

Seeing release in its home country by production company Cinepix, New World Pictures grabbed it for U.S. release and issued a cut, R-rated version to a few screens in 1978 under the title The Tigress. (Cinepix also used this moniker; the character is never actually addressed as Ilsa in the film. Copyright reasons? Or perhaps fear of a backlash?) Their hilariously-misleading poster featured a generic model on a tiger-skin rug; one can only imagine how thrilled audience members were to find a film rife with impalements, shootings and the occasional snowplow dismemberment. According to Christopher T. Koetting's book, Mind Warp!, the film then went on to "a four-year engagement at US military bases overseas, at which it premiered in May 1980." That's one way to keep morale high!

This censored edit found its way to VHS from Charter Entertainment, again titled The Tigress, while American Video issued it intact under the more exploitable Ilsa, the Tigress of Siberia. Amazingly, there's currently no domestic DVD; however, those with PAL capabilities can grab the 2004 release from Shock Distribution. It's an okay anamorphic print -- not up to today's transfer standards but it's uncut and remains the best current option (other import discs are flawed with forced subtitles, optical censoring, etc.). Supplements include the ironically-narrated trailer (embedded below) and a stills collection that consists of a lot of screen captures, followed by some genuine advertising materials. It'd be great to get a new hi-def transfer of this sucker, with Dyanne Thorne commentary and some other extras; hopefully someone out there reading this can make it happen!

 

For a look at last week's entry, click here. And don't forget, our Upcoming Releases List (the best on the 'net) is constantly updated, so stop by and preorder some cool stuff!

© 2010 -- Bruce Holecheck. All Rights Reserved.

It's Name that Movie Monday! Challenge #13!

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Welcome back to Name that Movie Monday!

It's time for Challenge #13 here at the ol' Arcana! Can you identify this week's mystery photo, scanned direct from The Holecheck Archives? If you think you recognize it, post a comment below. As the week goes on, if no one guesses correctly I'll begin adding some pretty useless hints. Easy, right? 

(It must be, as all past challenges have now been beaten, including #11 and The Champ, #9, which remained undefeated for a record 26 days!)

Anyway, here ya' go -- good luck!

UPDATE:

Congrats to Chris Poggiali (Temple of Schlock) for scoring win Numero Two-o, identifying this week's photo as William Fruet's Death Weekend (1976). This way-above-average Canadian rapesploiter showcases a battle of the sexes when fashion model Brenda Vaccaro (on a getaway with her swinger dentist!) outraces local rough Don Stroud and his gang of creeps. Not thrilled with getting showed up by a chick, a Straw Dogs-esque home invasion scenario ensues and the not-so-happy couple is forced to fight for their survival.

Gaining a Stateside release in 1977 by American International Pictures, they retitled the film The House by the Lake to capitalize on its Last House on the Left similarities, while North of the Border (and pretty much everywhere else) it remained Death Weekend. In 1985 Vestron Video released it under this title, and that's unfortunately been the last word so far. (At least it's a decent, open-matte print!) A frequent staple of "Why Isn't This on DVD" lists, one can only hope the future will bring us a nice, new remaster. I would think MGM still control the rights; at the very least let's get an HD cable screening!

Newspaper ad stolen from Fred Adelman's Critical Condition.

For a look at last week's entry, click here. And don't forget, our Upcoming Releases List (the best on the 'net) is constantly updated, so stop by and preorder some cool stuff!

© 2010 -- Bruce Holecheck. All Rights Reserved.