Customer Reviews

Death Bed - the Bed That Eats

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I first saw Death Bed: The Bed That Eats in 1988: a friend had discovered it whilst browsing at a cheap video sale and decided to spring the film on me. I was smitten by its weird aura right there and then, and mystified too. Who on Earth made it? What was the director playing at? How did such a movie get made? Death Bed, with its cheesy cover and `you're kidding me' title, was devoid of any credits, save for the words "(c) George Barry 1977." The mystery of Death Bed's origins was intensified as the film gathered momentum, from creepy comedy to poetic folk-tale to surreal horror: its mood ricocheted between registers in a way that defied categorisation, either as mind-warped outsider art, insane student project, or exploitation film gone awry. There was a streak of comedy, but the film wasn't just a cheap laugh: instead there was a loose, wayward dreaminess which gave Death Bed an impact all its own. I remember thinking `I must find out who made this!'. But no-one knew anything about Death Bed: the video label had disappeared, the name `George Barry' was anonymous enough to belong to a hundred thousand Americans. And so the trail went cold...
In 2002 I began work on a book about maverick American directors and my desire to find out more about Death Bed was re-ignited. Through the auspices of film researcher Marc Morris and a British web-site, Lightsfade, I finally had the chance to talk to George Barry and hear the full Death Bed story...

George Barry was born in 1949 and raised in Royal Oak, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit where he still lives today. He began making films whilst studying at University, and in 1972 - after working on a few b/w 16mm shorts - he decided to go for broke with a colour 16mm feature film to be blown up for theatrical release. Using $10,000 of his own money he began filming Death Bed, a project that would eventually span five years and cost around $30,000. Barry decided to weave a story around a dream he'd had - about an engulfing, possibly carnivorous bed...
With cameraman Robert Fresco, he headed for the Gar Wood Mansion outside Detroit, commencing the shoot in late Spring 1972. The core of the movie was then filmed over three weeks in the spring and summer. Assembled during 1976 by experienced Detroit TV editor Ron Medico, Death Bed's 16mm answer print was finally struck in '77.
Unfortunately, Barry's problems were only just beginning. Over the next few years he travelled to L.A. and New York several times, making the rounds of the small distributors. But with slasher films on the rise, Death Bed was always going to be a hard sell. Those who did show interest were put off by the blow-up costs, or were offering virtually no return.
The next convolution in the Death Bed saga would lead to the film at last reaching a few devoted fans: although it all came as a great surprise to Barry himself. In the early 1980s he'd sent the answer print, which was still without credits at the time, to a small LA company interested in obtaining video rights. He was offered $1000 for a finished video master. But Barry was chronically short of cash and unable to shoot the missing credits. Time passed, and the answer print was eventually returned.
What he didn't know was that the `interested party' had unscrupulously pirated a copy of Death Bed before sending it back. It was this version that snuck out onto tape in Great Britain in the late-1980s, on the supremely obscure `Portland' label.
Those who did notice it were tuned not to the noisy gore frequencies of the nasties but to a stranger, more elusive bandwidth. Death Bed is not a gorehound movie - viewers are required to spin their mental wireless to the space between stations, where the shipping forecasts, foreign signals and dream-voices live.
Eventually, In 2002, Daniel Craddock of the British website Lightsfade published an on-line review of the film, which at last alerted its director to the existence of the pirated version.

"Death Bed came from a dream and, to begin with, I wrote the story as more a fairy tale than a horror film. We shot the story as possibly more horror film than fairy tale, then in the editing process Death Bed tried to return to its fairy tale origins."

The best movies leave something elusive behind, a lingering impression that drifts through the mind like Haven Gillespie's "haunting refrain": a special something that seems to dance out of reach when you try and look directly. There are skilled directors whose work, for all its craft, will never possess this quality, which is a dream quality and far from common. And there are films built on such uncommon lines that they're steeped in this strange pleasure even when their conventional limitations are readily obvious. It's in this way that a cheaply produced film, made at the very fringes of the industry, can stay with you after a major production has hurried faceless out of your memory.
The lines crossed by Death Bed are an index of its quality. Set in the twilight between genres - between comedy and horror, art and artless, mundane and insane - it draws on energies lost to more sensible films.
"People not only forget their dreams, they often forget about their dreams. They forget about the process of dreaming.", says Barry. If this is true, how great it is to see this DVD release, a dream thought lost and forgotten, now magically recalled in miraculous detail. Here's to the unique and lingering spell of Death Bed!

Stephen Thrower (this is a condensed extract from my forthcoming book Nightmare, USA, in preparation from FAB Press).

A low eerie yet motherly voice tells Sharon to eat all of her food. On Sharon's plate there are larva, caterpillars, and a large cockroach. She is having a nightmare in the ominous bed born from a demons blood. As she sleeps her cross necklace slowly and patiently begins to saw away at her throat before the bed will devour her body and plant roses in her skull for her unknowing friends to pick. In the chamber a victim's ghost from this evil narrates this twisted macabre story while trapped behind his own painting.

That is just one of many such sequences in writer, producer, director George Barry's twisted, weird, and extremely creative only film. Death bed plays like an evil and Gothic fairytale, filled with dreamlike images and eerie effective sets.

I would imagine Wes Craven's classic A Nightmare on Elm Street (Infinifilm Edition) was greatly influenced by the film, from a bed getting into your dreams that wants nothing but to kill you. The bed is also a sadist as the tortured spirit of our narrator points out, taking pleasure in tormenting It's victims before finally devouring them.

The acting is pretty bad but that adds to the moments of dark comedy such as the bed drinking pepto bismal after eating a young girl.

The scenes of a black screen with the titles Breakfast or Dinner in white letters across the screen reminded me of the seasons spelled on screen during The Shining [Blu-ray] minus the eerie music. It made me think of something an amateur Kubrick would make on an extremely low budget and perhaps while under the influence of mind altering drugs.

I heard about this diamond in the rough in Stephen Thrower's book Nightmare, USA: The Untold Story of the Exploitation Independents (also very highly recommended) who has a write up on the dvd jacket and gives this and a few other "exploitation independents" the reason to continue to search through tons of bad obscure films in hopes of finding something like this.

I have to say the concept is so good and the budget low that I could see this possibly warranting a remake although this original is bordering on bizarre horror masterpiece in It's own right. This is a must add to your horror dvd collection to give it some diversity and even if you don't like the movie look at it this way: You have a movie called Death Bed The Bed That Eats, that's worth it alone.

DVD SPECIAL FEATURES (FROM THE BACK OF THE DVD)
New Transfer from original 16mm Print
4 Page Liner Notes
Video Introduction by the Director
Unrated, Uncensored Version.

I first saw Death Bed: The Bed That Eats in 1988: a friend discovered it whilst browsing at a cheap video sale and decided to spring the film on me. I was straight away smitten by its weird aura, and mystified too. Who on Earth made it? What was the director playing at? How did such a movie get made? Death Bed, with its cheesy cover and 'you're kidding me' title, was devoid of any credits, save for the words "(c) George Barry 1977." The mystery of Death Bed's origins was intensified as the film gathered momentum, from creepy comedy to poetic folk-tale to surreal horror: its mood ricocheted between registers in a way that defied categorisation, either as mind-warped outsider art, insane student project, or exploitation film gone berserk. There was a streak of comedy, but the film wasn't just a cheap laugh: instead there was a loose, wayward dreaminess which gave Death Bed an impact all its own. I remember thinking 'I must find out who made this!'. But no-one knew anything about Death Bed: the video label had disappeared, the name 'George Barry' was anonymous enough to belong to a hundred thousand Americans. And so the trail went cold...
In 2002 I began work on a book about maverick American directors and my desire to find out more about Death Bed was re-ignited. Through the auspices of film researcher Marc Morris and a British web-site, Lightsfade, I finally had the chance to talk to George Barry and hear the full Death Bed story...
George Barry was born in 1949 and raised in Royal Oak, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit where he still lives today. He began making films whilst studying at University, and in 1972 - after working on a few b/w 16mm shorts - he decided to go for broke with a colour 16mm feature film to be blown up for theatrical release. Using $10,000 of his own money he began filming Death Bed, a project that would eventually span five years and cost around $30,000. Barry decided to weave his story around a dream he'd had - about an engulfing, possibly carnivorous bed...
With cameraman Robert Fresco, he headed for the Gar Wood Mansion outside Detroit, commencing the shoot in late Spring 1972. The core of the movie was then filmed over three weeks in the spring and summer. Assembled during 1976 by experienced Detroit TV editor Ron Medico, Death Bed's 16mm answer print was finally struck in '77.
Unfortunately, Barry's problems were only just beginning. Over the next few years he travelled to L.A. and New York several times, making the rounds of the small distributors. But with slasher films on the rise, Death Bed was always going to be a hard sell. Those who did show interest were put off by the blow-up costs, or were offering virtually no return for Barry's investment.
The next convolution in the Death Bed saga would lead to the film at last reaching a few devoted fans: although it all came as a great surprise to Barry himself. In the early 1980s he'd sent the answer print, which was still without credits at the time, to a small LA company interested in obtaining video rights. He was offered $1000 for a finished video master. But Barry was chronically short of cash and unable to shoot the missing credits. Time passed, and the answer print was eventually returned.
What he didn't know was that the 'interested party' had pirated a copy of Death Bed before sending it back. It was this version that snuck out onto tape in Great Britain in the late-1980s, on the supremely obscure 'Portland' label.
Those who did notice it were tuned not to the noisy gore frequencies of the "video-nasties" but to a stranger, more elusive bandwidth. Death Bed isn't a gorehound movie - viewers are required to spin their mental wireless to the space between stations, where the shipping forecasts, foreign signals and dream-voices live.
In 2002, Daniel Craddock of the British website Lightsfade published an on-line review of the film, which at last alerted its director to the existence of the pirated version.

"Death Bed came from a dream and, to begin with, I wrote the story as more a fairy tale than a horror film. We shot the story as possibly more horror film than fairy tale, then in the editing process Death Bed tried to return to its fairy tale origins." - Barry
The best movies leave something elusive behind, a lingering haze that drifts through the mind like Haven Gillespie's "haunting refrain": a special something that seems to dance out of reach when you look directly. There are skilled directors whose work, for all its craft, will never possess this quality, which is a dream quality and far from common. Other films are steeped in this strange pleasure, even when their conventional limitations are readily obvious. It's in this way that a cheaply produced film, made at the very fringes of the industry, can stay with you after a major production has hurried faceless out of your memory.
The lines crossed by Death Bed are an index of its quality. Set in the twilight between certainties - between comedy and horror, art and artless, mundane and insane - it draws on energies lost to more sensible films.
"People not only forget their dreams, they often forget *about* their dreams. They forget about the process of dreaming.", says Barry. If this is true, how great it is to see this DVD release, a dream thought lost and forgotten, now magically recalled in miraculous detail. Here's to the unique and lingering spell of Death Bed!

Stephen Thrower (this is a condensed extract from my forthcoming book Nightmare, USA, in preparation from FAB Press).

I never bought a single VHS tape over the years. But with the advent of DVD I find myself spending unreasonable sums of money on DVD's. These things beg to be collected, and it is the horror genre where I seem to be spending most of my efforts and cash. Most of the time I buy DVDs where I've previously seen the movie, but perhaps a third of the time I'm buying based on the favorable reviews given on Amazon, particularly where key words, phrases or concepts are mentioned by the reviewer which I find appealing.

The key words, phrases, concepts for "Death Bed" are: psychedelic, astmospheric, bizarre, sensuous, comfortable, surreal, dreamlike, artistic....and obscure. This is the type of movie I search out. I can't believe there isn't more buzz about this film as I've shared it with a few friends and they've responded with similar enthusiasm. This is just a hidden gem. It is not insanely scary, but it has a elegant weirdness to it that I think many people will find satisfying.

The story line has already been explained: hidden little cottage out in nowhere, with a big, beautiful bed in it which invites intruders to either nap on or get naked in. The bed then consumes them. At first I thought the "eating" scenes were cheesey, but then the movie showed some scenes inside the bed as it "digested" its prey, and these scenes are very well done and surreal.

The major artisitic fluorish of the movie is that it is narrated by the Victorian artist Aubrey Beardsley who is held captive inside the wall behind one of his paintings next to the bed. He reveals to you the history of the house, the bed, and many of the historic victims over the past century. The elegance with which this is presented can not be overstated, especially for a film which did not have a big budget. The bed gives Beardsley gifts of the deceased's jewelry, but Beardsley still yearns to be free. The actor who speaks Beardsley's voice was BRILLIANT, his pacing, accent, inflections are hypnotic and perfect.

There is another strange series of scenes displaying a woman inside an underground coffin on the estate of the cottage and nearby mansion. I can't recall her exact role, but the scenes of her emerging back to consciousness are very effective and scary.

I hesitate to criticize this movie at all because it was so satisfying. I think it is an American film, and I perhaps wish it had a little more erotic emphasis such as you would see with a European film of the same era. I believe sexuality is an important component in horror, contrasting life with death as it does. I also did not fully understand the ending of the movie, it ended a little unexpectedly and possibly a little anti-climacticly. But, given the overall excellence of the movie itself that was only a marginal detraction.

The director, whose name I now forget, gives a little introduction about the making of the film and his failure way back when to get the movie successfully marketed. He tells about how he actually heard about his film in underground internet chatrooms 25+ years later where bootlegged copies were being exchanged or discussed. He had all but forgotten about his little movie. This man's modesty, his sense of humour, and his total lack of affectation had me wanting to buy him a very good bottle of cognac. He may not take his little movie too seriously, but I see it as a serious artistic accomplishment (I'll call it "poetic horror") and it is in the top five of my voluminous horror collection along with Suspiria, The Haunting (the 1964 original), The Legend of Hell House, and Burnt Offerings.

The premise- A demon falls in love with a maiden and takes on human form in order to make love to her. She dies, and the saddened demon cries tears of blood upon their bed. The bed absorbs this blood and becomes a living predator...an antique canopy bed which consumes anyone unfortunate enough to rest upon it. A strange concept for a horror film, but the way it's presented is far, far stranger... This no-budget oddity was made with a very peculiar artistic finesse...not so much pretentious as self-consciously esoteric, it combines the sleaze of 70s trash cinema with several oddball ingredients of dreamlike surrealism(it's largely narrated by a spirit held captive in a painting on a wall opposite the killer bed). These elements really don't work perfectly together, but that is certainly not to say that "Death Bed" is a BAD film...it is merely very bizarre and obvious of it's restrictive budget. I personally think it's one of the most original and inventive amateur horror films I have ever seen. Opinions about this one will be all over the board, but there's no denying that "Death Bed- The Bed That Eats" is unique. I recommend it to all fans of the outre. Four stars.

The title of this little known gem from the 1970's says it all; "Death Bed: The Bed That Eats!" What more do you really want to know? The answer to that question is probably everything, although I really feel that you'll get more out of this movie flying blind, but I'll give it a shot... the story centers around a demonic bed that well, ahem, "eats" anyone who makes the mistake of laying in it. Helping to move the tale along is the narrative of the spirit of an artist, trapped behind one of his own paintings hanging near the bed. Enter a number of unsuspecting victims AND a cockamamie way of defeating the evil munching mattress(when the demon that created it falls asleep, the bed losses it's invulnerability... but this only happens once every ten years... also the spirit behind the picture can talk then too... also... you get the idea LOL!) and you've got a movie! Now I wouldn't go as far as to say that this is a "lost classic" of the genre, BUT Death Bed: The Bed That Eats is most certainly an entertaining and original entry to be sure. The film plays more like a macabre fairy tale than an actual horror film(kinda had the feel of Lemora: A Child's Tale of the Supernatural) with a surreal and dreamlike quality running throughout it. Some excellent effects(take into consideration this is the 70's and they're attempting to make a bed devouring people look real) and the ability to switch from serious to playful(a scene in which the bed eats a bottle of Pepto Bismo after a meal comes to mind) all help to make the movie an enjoyable time waster. In the end, Death Bed: The Bed That Eats won't work for everyone, even horror fans may struggle with the bizarre and at times plodding nature of the film... but for those in search of originality and the throwback feel of 70's DIY cinema, Death Bed delivers. Thanks to fellow Amazon reviewer Mike Liddell for the recommendation on this and a big congratulations on his recent marriage(hope she likes horror Mike!).

This has to be the craziest name for a movie ever. It is one of those movies that if you were not drawn to by the title then you probably won't like it. It is not really a horror film, more a dark comedy mixed with existenstialism. Hard to believe but true. It also features the greatest under-acted scene on film. During and after having his arms stripped of their flesh our "actor" makes no noises, instead calmly sits down next to another "actor". Easily the funniest scene in the movie. Patton Oswalt is making a sequel; Rape Stove: The stove that rapes.

I watched this film expecting something silly, but it turned out to be a very accomplished film. Taking a very bizarre concept (a bed that eats people), the director has managed to make a film filled with David Lynchesque surrealism that is equally intentionally humourous and frightening. The effects showing how the bed eats are very well done.

The movie (largely seen through the eyes of the ghost of Aubrey Beardsley, Oscar Wilde's favourite illustrator) is divided into three sections: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. The first part sets up the fact that the bed eats people as a couple stumble upon it. The second part, also taking place in the "present" shows another group of friends coming upon the bed. Scenes of these new visitors falling victim to it one at a time are intercut with scenes of the bed's history and its origins. The bed, despite its immobility, manages to kill each victim with far more imagaination than the average movie serial killer. The third section deals with the final fates of the bed and the film's heroes.

Unfortunately, after watching the film once, all the surprises are gone, and the dreamlike pacing of it then becomes a negative instead of a positive. Despite this, I have no hesitation in recommending that this film be watched at least once.

The extras include the director explaining how this film became "lost", illustrating how dirty the film distribution business can be. If he had been able to release it in the early 1970s like he intended, this film would have been a classic, instead of something seen by only a few people with access to pirated copies.

death bed will likely generate more blank stares than laughs, such as when the bed eats an apple and spits it back to the surface as just a core (or even when it downs a bottle of pepto). and it's not likely that it will give you the chills either, such as when a moment later the bed consumes two lovers. you may chuckle to yourself here and there but ultimately this film is a curiosity piece. anyone who sees this will have to wonder, "and they thought this was a GOOD idea???" in fact the director was unable to sell the movie at all and it disappeared into obscurity until the dvd format began resurrecting every film possible, including this oddball.
it's an amateurish production but not neccessarily "bad". Death Bed actually has its moments. Some of the digestion shots are interesting visually. the entity trapped behind the painting on the wall is gothic and cryptic. it's also filled with lots of voice over to express characters inner monologues and even the entity has alot to say. these moments and about half of the dialogue in general is just flat out bizarre. the film in general is capable of putting the viewer in a warped head space.
Death Bed is entertaining and can be very interesting if you can set logic aside for the entire 80 min runtime. probably best if viewed by a few people rather than a lone sitting. if you're a collector or an open minded viewer than i'd say grab a copy. extras are limited to a video intro by the director and an insert with liner notes. the transfer is actually decent considering what Cult Epics was working with. the cover art of the dvd is very nice to. i rated this one star above average because it sets itself apart from the norm while maintaining a fairly coherent story line...also for the fact that it's just strange strange strange!

Death Bed is a slow-paced, off-the-wall flick. The scenes with the bed in acton (and I don't mean sex) are funny/macabre.

The history of the bed is also fun to watch along with the characters who battle with the mattress monster.

Not big on gore, but good for the story and its weirdness.

The ending kept this from being a 5 star review, but this film is a good find, give it a chance.