Customer Reviews

Deadtime Stories: Tales of Death

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I first watched this movie back when it was new, and had a blast. This is what happens when a film purposely doesn't take itself too seriously, and it shows in the end result of these fun, (and in the case of Goldilocks), outright goofy takes on classic bedtime stories with a horiffic twist. The other reviewiers obviously did not experience true 80's horror i.e. Sleepaway Camp, My Bloody Valentine, April Fools Day, and Motel Hell to name a few. Horror today is way too self-absorbed, over-analyzed, and the movies are mostly made to please a demographic that really don't appreciate what makes a good popcorn night. A couple exceptions would be Slither and Feast which give an obvious nod to the 80's style and are indeed a treat. I have spent 20+ years collecting and studying the horror genre, and believe me, Deadtime Stories is ten dollars well-spent.

When a babysitting uncle is asked thrice to tell bedtime stories to get his nephew to go to sleep, he concocts three weird yarns that must be seen to be believed. The first is an ancient tale about a young man owned by two sister witches working to awaken a long dead third. The second tale is a modern day Red Riding Hood story about a sexy young jogger who is pursued by a werewolf with good intentions but no self control. Last, we have a goofy dark-comedy inspired by Goldilocks and the Three Bears, only in this story the three bears are a family of escaped, homicidal mental patients and Goldilocks is a cute but murderous girl with psychic powers.

If that synopsis sounds interesting to you, then that's a good start. You may want to look into this movie. Here's what you have to know. This is a low-budget horror film from 1986, and the DVD case doesn't represent the movie at all really. Bottom line, this is a fun horror-anthology movie. Not one that is going to really scare you or creep you out very much even (depending on your creepometer), but it's great for a night of wacky horror movie watching. It's lots of fun, that's all. It's no masterpiece. It's presented in fullscreen, and I have no idea what is up with that. The case says it is presented in its original aspect ratio, 1.33:1, but Internet Movie Database gives the O.A.R. as 1.85:1, and, I'm thinking IMDB is probably the more trustworthy source here since the DVD doesn't even give us the full credits, ha. Seriously, the film cuts off shortly after the credits start. I thought it might be my unreliable bedroom DVD player, but I've read the same complaint from other folks, so... Besides that, the presentation quality is pretty weak. I mean, it looks the same as the VHS I originally saw of this film years ago. Still, I got this REALLY cheap, so I'm not really complaining, even if there are no extras. Like I said, I find it to be a very fun film. Oh, yeah, and Mallory's boyfriend on "Family Ties", Scott Valentine, is the young man in the first story, for those who wanted to know. I know a lot of people have sought this film out for that reason alone. Myself, I just have a thing for Red Riding Hood stories, though Goldi Lox's shower scene turned out to be even nicer.

I liked this movie when I was younger, I still like it now. There are no extras on the DVD, and for some reason it seemed to stop halfway through the credits. I could find no damage to the disk. The lack of extras and the wonky disk are the only reasons I took off starts. This movie is cheezy and so very 80's. So if you like B movie 80s horror it is a good watch, not to be scary but it is good for a laugh.

Deadtime Stories is just a totally lame, poorly made, almost completely unwatchable failure of a film. It's unbelievable to me that this thing actually got a theatrical release; I guess no more than a handful of people actually paid to see it because I don't remember hearing of any bloody riots from mid-1980s moviegoers. What you have here is an annoying kid dumped on his uncle one night and whining no less than three stories out of the guy - who, for obvious reasons, would much rather be downstairs watching the Miss Nude Vail contest on TV. You would think there would be some potential for a version of Little Red Riding Hood in which the protagonist is actually "a hot-looking high school senior with deep blue eyes, and fine, firm breasts," but you would be wrong. As lecherous as Uncle Mike (Michael Mesmer) is, the only real looker we get in the entire film is Goldi Lox (Cathryn DePrume), and that's way too little way too late.

Uncle Mike's first story is Peter and the Witches. Not only is the whole story horrible, the film print is so bad that I didn't even recognize young Peter to be Scott Valentine (apparently, neither did NBC or he would never have kept his job playing Nick on Family Ties). Then you have the aforementioned Little Red Riding Hood, which takes place in a thoroughly modern setting. Rachel (Nicole Picard) is sent to get her grandmother's prescription filled but is accidentally given the drugs needed by a rather wolfish hood who gets to grandmother's house ahead of her because she stops off to have sex with her boyfriend. But wait - it gets even more idiotic in the final story of Goldi Lox and the Three Baers. It starts with Mama Baer helping Papa Baer and the hulking simpleton Baby Baer break out of the Home for the Hopelessly Insane. They arrive back home to find serial killing, psychic Goldi Lox naked in the shower. Enjoy that shower scene, boys, because it's the only part of the whole film worth seeing. The filmmakers, apparently having figured out that the first two stories stink like Limburger cheese wrapped in a jock's dirty socks, decide to take a more comedic angle -- but it just doesn't work.

Some guys seem to have a soft spot in their heart for this film, but I can't begin to imagine why. There is nothing clever about these twists on traditional fairy tales, and there is certainly nothing here for any horror fan to relish. What's more, the film's rankly amateurish attempts at humor fall flat as a fritter. Deadtime Stories is just an awful film.

this movie was alright i suppose - Im a fan of 70's - early 90's Horror, slasher, anthology, sci-fi. to give you a reading... some of my favorite horror films are:

The Hunger
The Company of Wolves
From Beyond
the Fly(Cronenberg)
Scanners
re-animator

Some other honorable mentions are:

Henery - protrait of a serial killer
Deamons III - The orgre
Nosferatu
Nightmares
the beyond
Burnt Offerings
Cat People (80's)
Dolls

this movie comes in nowhere close - the video and audio quality are poor and have a negative impact on the "enjoyability" of this film, the storys are ok...i noticed the first story with the witches has that guy from Family Ties that playes the boyfriend of justine bateman - think his name was joey and he always said "AAAAAAAAA"...seing him in the film was about the biggest thrill i got in the whole film which should tell you alot. if your a fan of horror anthologies, go ahead and pick it up but do yourself a favor and watch it alone as it probably wont hold anyones attention but yours. If you are looking for a great horror anthology i recommend the following:

From a whisper to a scream
Nightmares (my all time favorite!)
trillogy of terror
tales from the crypt
from beyond the grave
two evil eyes
creepshow 1 & 2 (skip 3)

these are 200% better than deatime stories!!!!!

I try to find some good in any movie I watch, even when I know I just bought a low-budge B movie. Hey, a lot of B movies make up for big budgets and prime distribution by being just darned good films. Deadtime Stories, however, is just a throwaway and not even worth a rent. Don't even bother unless you're getting it for free.

This movie lacks everything that can make movies rise above humble origins. The direction and cinematography are completely lacking in anything unique, or even familiar but well done. Good lighting, interesting camera work and good use of environment seem to be completely ignored (or just unknown).

The first story, involving a slave boy (well, young man) stuck serving a couple of witches trying to resurrect their dead sister, is downright stupid. Every dumb witch cliche' you can imagine is served up with equally bad dialogue and lame acting. No stars.

The 2nd story is supposed to be a "sexy suburban jogger" take on Little Red Riding Hood, but it's also stupid. It doesn't even make you laugh at it's failings, it just comes across as completely vapid. One star for a half-decent makeup job on the werewolf's face, which you get to see for a few seconds at the end.

The final story, which I reached only by hoping things could get better, is the worst. And I was hoping.... Anyway, here we have a family of phychos who have just broken dad out of what must be the most badly conceived mental facility ever shown on film. Even the attempts at making this something of a dark comedy fail because it all comes across as a great idea stolen from greatness by an utterly incompetent writing/filmmaking team. So, we have a brain-dead take on Goldilocks and the Three Bears with Goldilocks being even more whacko than the psycho "bear" family. Oh, and she has telepathic powers! Oh, and the mentally-challenged baby bear (a full-grown man with the mind of a 5 year-old) gives Goldilocks her first, ahem, thrill (in another completely horribly-done scene that lasts maybe 5 seconds and doesn't even appear to be sex until she exclaims how good it was), saving him the fate of her past boyfriends, most of whom are rotting in the house! Oh, and so they all live happily ever after once she does a "Bewitched" on the local newsman! Good grief, how stupid.

Please, resist all temptation with this one. It really is far, far, far away from living up to any promise in the premises of it's stories. The ideas could have been fun to see done with some talent behind them, but there is none here.

The story lines are predictable and the special effects are cheap. I gave it 2 stars because the neigbor's kid like it.