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Deathdream

Director: Bob Clark Run Time: 88 min. Format: Digital Rating: PG Release Year: 1972

Starring: , Anya Ormsby, John Marley, Lynn Carlin, Richard Backus

With an introduction by Adam Lowenstein, author of Shocking Representation: Historical Trauma, National Cinema, and the Modern Horror Film, and free “Green Beast” cocktails by Pernod Absinthe!

Death does not deter a young soldier from returning home after being killed in Vietnam.

I died for you…the least you can do is die for me.

Bob Clark (of Black Christmas and A Christmas Story fame) reworks the parable “A Monkey’s Paw” into post-Vietnam suburbia in Deathdream (also known as Dead of Night). Deathdream plays out the horrors coming home after Vietnam along with other horror films of the era like like Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Last House on the Left but does so as a ghost story. In the beginning scene we see Andy Brooks killed in a Vietnam battle while his mother refuses to believe that his lack of communication means he is dead. Much to his family’s surprise, Andy shows up on their doorstep but something is terribly amiss. Starring Faces couple John Marley and Lynn Carlin, Deathdream puts to task America’s reluctance to deal with the trauma it brings upon itself while also showing the limitless boundaries of family love.

Thanks to Pernod Absinthe for the complimentary “The Green Beast” cocktails!

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Trailer