Who’s had a weirder directorial career than Bob Clark? Black Christmas. Murder by Decree. Porky’s. A Christmas Story. Rhinestone. Baby Geniuses. Man, that’s quite a spread.
Clark did a lot of horror early on, though. 1972 saw Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things. 1974 saw his next two movies, Black Christmas and our subject today, Deathdream. Black Christmas is pretty well remembered as a major proto-slasher, and Children is firmly ensconced as a cult favorite. Deathdream, though, is largely forgotten, despite the fact that everyone I know who’s seen it gives it pretty high marks.
Basically a Monkey’s Paw riff with a (then) topical twist, the film sees a mom more or less wishes her son, killed in Vietnam, back to life. Sadly, the son has gotten the Pet Semetary treatment. He comes back not quite right, to say the least. I am probably a bit too squeamish for this one, but I’m sure some of you guys have seen it if you’d like to comment.
