It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

DEATHDREAM is another great horror film from director Bob Clark (CHILDREN SHOULDN'T PLAY WITH DEAD THINGS, BLACK CHRISTMAS), who proves to have a real knack for the unsettling and the uncanny. Killed in action in Vietnam, Andy Brooks (Richard Backus) returns home "alive". Is it a miracle, or something else? Andy's parents are, at first, overjoyed, only to slowly realize that whoever or whatever has returned to them is not the one who left. This Andy seems capable of... anything. Clark blends several elements together, including an anti-war theme, mixed w/ the dark fatalism of THE MONKEY'S PAW. Plainly put, this movie is scary as hell! Clark is not afraid to take these characters, or their audience, into the terror of the unknown. Bleak, disturbing, and ultimately heartbreaking, this is NOT just a run of the mill zombie film. Co-stars John Marley as Andy's shattered, suspicious father, and Jane Daly (CHILDREN SHOULDN'T PLAY WITH DEAD THINGS) as Andy's extremely unfortunate girlfriend, Joanne...

Tuned in to this on late-night TV, but did not see the title. Did not know what the name of the movie was. It was mesmerizing, a very good take on Viet-nam vets returning home. The scene with Andy on the double date with dark glasses and black gloves was especially disturbing. Finally found a VHS copy ("Death Dream") many years later at a Goodwill, ha ha, very surprising! Also, I wonder if this was somehow related to John Cassevetes, with John Marley and Lynn Carlin in it, and with somewhat similar style-- long real-time scenes at times. Still don't know: Just a thought. Very good low-budget horror movie!

A couple receives word that their son has been killed in Vietnam. The mother refuses to accept this and stays up all night wishing over and over that her son return home. Which he does, but not like she hoped. He's very weird and says next to nothing. Soon there are murders happening in their small town with people drained of blood.Cool low-budget horror movie from Bob Clark. It's a variation on the Monkey's Paw story -- "Be careful what you wish for." The cast is pretty good, particularly the actors playing the parents, John Marley and Lynn Carlin. Richard Backus plays the son and was apparently cast for his creepy stare, which he uses to great effect throughout the film. Chilling at times with a great atmosphere throughout, thanks in large part to the budgetary limitations. Low-budget '70s horror films are some of the grittiest and creepiest ever made. The first half is much better than the second, which is why my score isn't higher. After awhile the strangeness gives way to a more traditional vampire type story. I'm not sure if we can even call this a vampire movie but it has the primary element -- undead person who craves blood from the living. Tom Savini handled the special effects in one of his earliest films. It's an interesting and worthwhile horror film you should check out.

No need to recap the plot. The movie's a highly original, atmospheric gem. Low-budget, to be sure. But director Clark knows how to create mood with low-key visuals without rubbing our nose in it. However, I could have done without so much clunking Moog music. There's some gore, but nothing gratuitous. Plus there's an outstanding performance from a cannily deadpan Backus, and an unusually lively turn from Jane Daly as Andy's girlfriend. Then too, putting the near-mute Andy in a squeaky rocking chair speaks volumes about what's not going on inside him.Of course, the 90-minutes can be enjoyed as simply bone-chilling horror. In that regard, it's among the first rank of the period. Still, Andy's return and the family's slow disintegration are left open enough to allow for interpretation. I take Andy's emotionless zombie as a conjured desire that Mom especially won't let die. She's obsessed with his loss, keeping him alive no matter the harm to others. Finally, it's the figurative Andy who knows he must depart lest his conjured presence destroy all he loved. This suggests a sense in which dreams must not not replace reality, despite our deepest desires. Mine is simply one way to take Alan Ormsby's suggestive screenplay. But however you take it, the film remains a triumph of low-budget production, and a must-see for horror fans especially.