Product Details

• Actors: Mervyn Johns, Michael Redgrave, Roland Culver, Mary Merrall, Googie Withers
• Directors: Alberto Cavalcanti, Basil Dearden, Charles Crichton, Robert Hamer
• Writers: Angus MacPhail, E.F. Benson, H.G. Wells, John Baines
• Format: Black & White, EP, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Republic Pictures
• VHS Release Date: January 1, 1998
• Run Time: 77 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6303002773
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #28,771 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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  Video > Classics > Classic Horror & Monsters > Ghosts & the Occult

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

While horror conventions may change from generation to generation, there are ideas that will scare us no matter what time period we inhabit. Dead of Night is a classic horror anthology that effectively plays on those timeless fears. Mervyn Johns stars as a man who has been summoned to a house with a group of strangers he has never met but has seen in his dreams. As they convene, he predicts certain events will happen as they do in his dreams, and when they do, the other guests relate their own experiences with the supernatural, including tales of a possessed mirror, a sinister ventriloquist's dummy, and an eerie premonition of death. Throughout the group meeting, the protagonist fears something horrible will happen to him, and we are left to wonder what it might be. The film's final, revelatory sequence offers an unexpectedly horrific surprise. It may have been made in 1945, but Dead of Night is still spooky. --Bryan Reesman

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Witness the birth of the horror anthology., February 13, 2001

By	David Grant (Lancaster, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dead of Night [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Granted much of Dead Of Night isn't going to hit home with a lot of people. It's old and, as such, doesn't strike a cord with our modern sensibilities (just watch the segment about the two golf players and you'll know what i mean). But in a way, that's good. It's like sitting around with your friends in the... ahem... dead of night and telling each other ghost stories. They may not have a lasting effect on you but when you're there, in the moment, they work under your skin. The movie is more fun than frightening. It also has the most amazing ending I have seen in a long time, more then a typical pay-off. It's like witnessing your own horrific nightmares all coming true at once. The last segment of the film is also it's strongest and deserves to be a classic all by itself, featuring Michael Redgrave as a ventriloquist fighting a losing battle with his evil dummy. This brief 15 minutes of film easily qualifies Dead Of Night as a classic of British horror.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Horror Film, May 30, 2003

By	Joseph Albanese "The Joe Show" (New York, New York United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dead of Night [VHS] (VHS Tape)

You've seen the plots if you ever watched The Twilight Zone or half a dozen other series which generously stole the idea from Dead Of Night. But even if you are familiar with the tales, no film manages to invoke such fright as Dead Of Night.

A series of stories told by a group who are in an isolated English cottage on the moors, the suspense starts with the first tale and doesn't let up until the surprise, knock-out ending that beats them all.

Slightly Hitchcock in feel, the movie plays beautifully, even today, despite the lack of technological gimmickery.

Look for Sally Anne Howes in one of her first roles and a very young John Mills in the last tale.

Although the film does slow down with a comedic tale in the middle, it makes up for it with the John Mills episode.

Even if you are not a horror film fan, this movie will stun and fascinate you and is not to be missed.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ENGLISH SPOOKS, May 17, 2000

By	"scotsladdie" (GLENDALE, CALIFORNIA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Dead of Night [VHS] (VHS Tape)

A popular and critical sensation in its time, DEAD OF NIGHT was the first horror film to be released in Britain since the beginning of WWII. It's a splendid anthology of occult stories told by five people in a country house visited by a young architect, who had anticipated the scene in a nightmare. Each recounts a bizarre personal tale, and after hearing the last, the architect strangles the sole remaining guest, a disbelieving psychiatrist. Awakened the next morning, the architect discovers he had dreamed it all.............Or has he? As a lifetime fan of ghost stories and the like, I recommend this movie highly; it's definitely of the best in the genre to this day. Essentially, it's a group of 5 (really four) horror stories loosely and cleverly linked together. The Christmas ghost story is good material a little weakly done; however the haunted mirror sequence (with Googie Withers) is first-rate; actually one of the most gripping ghost stories you'll see in any film. An antique mirror reflects the tortured life of the previous owner (who commited suicide) ......... The knockout finale, however is the brilliant and justly famous climatic ventriloquist sequence with Redgrave. The film evokes rather than depicts horror, and waves its symmetrical spell with the magic of a good script and good direction. Contributing in no small measure to the uncanny mood is the ominous, Wagnerian score by Georges Auric. who had written the music for Jean Cocteau's films. The whimsical golfing episode is ridiculously out of place and it could be completely omitted from all prints and one would never know the difference. There is an obscure 1945 British film entitled "A Place of One's Own" with James Mason and Margaret Lockwood which sounds interesting -a story of spirit possession; I hope it finds it's way to video soon!