No lover of horror anthology movies can afford to miss this great 1940’s British quintet of terror tales entitled “Dead Of Night.”
Directed by a variety of filmmakers including Basil Dearden, Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton and Robert Hamer, Dead Of Night (1945) was a post WW2 film which was made right after a period when horror films were banned in Britain.
This is a solid pentalogy of British horror, but perhaps the standout is the story called “Ventriloquist’s Dummy.” (pictured) starring period favorite Michael Redgrave. In the story, Redgrave plays a rather mentally unstable ventriloquist who believes that his dummy has taken on a life of it’s own..with horrifying consequences. Seeing this for the first time as a youngster, this segment made me lose a few nights of sleep to be sure!
Dead Of Night is available through Netflix, for sale here and available for download here.
One of my favorite horror anthology movies and still very effective today, even though a little dated from time to time. The writing and acting are superb and I would rate Dead of Night as one of the top anthologies of all time.