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Title: Dan Curtis' Dead of Night (1977) Comes to DVD
Post by: David on November 06, 2008, 09:09:04 PM
 [hall2_smiley]

Just announced at the Classic Horror Film Board:
Dark Sky Films, MPI's horror film label, will release Dan Curtis' 1977 anthology film Dead of Night to DVD in Jan 2009.

Now if we could just get A Darkness at Blaisdon!!!

David

PS should DS have been under the Dark Sky label?
Title: Re: Dan Curtis' Dead of Night (1977) Comes to DVD
Post by: Gothick on November 06, 2008, 09:26:40 PM
It would be nice if Blaisedon would be included as an extra on one of the DVDs.  It doesn't seem to warrant a stand-alone release, although it is a fun snippet and I've watched it several times over the years.

G.
Title: Re: Dan Curtis' Dead of Night (1977) Comes to DVD
Post by: retzev on November 07, 2008, 12:58:10 AM
PS should DS have been under the Dark Sky label?

I don't think Dark Sky was around when MPI started releasing the DVDs.
Title: Re: Dan Curtis' Dead of Night (1977) Comes to DVD
Post by: borgosi on November 08, 2008, 01:26:09 AM
Great news! www.dvddrive-in.com reports the "A Darkness At Blaisedon" will be included on this DVD as an extra! This should be my first DVD of 2009.
Title: Re: Dan Curtis' Dead of Night (1977) Comes to DVD
Post by: Gothick on November 08, 2008, 01:39:39 AM
That's fantastic news Borgosi!  Thanks for sharing.

G.
Title: Re: Dan Curtis' Dead of Night (1977) Comes to DVD
Post by: Taeylor Collins on November 08, 2008, 05:43:14 AM
I was wondering why A Darkness At Blaisedon wasn't filmed?  Was it standard to tape hour dramas from that time peroid on video tape?
Title: Re: Dan Curtis' Dead of Night (1977) Comes to DVD
Post by: joe integlia on November 09, 2008, 09:00:57 AM
this was a pilot for a proposed nightime series. videotape was mostly used for daytime soaps, variety shows and talk shows. it is a bit strange that it was not filmed but i think all of dan curtis productions were shot on video untill he made House Of Dark Shadows.
Title: Re: Dan Curtis' Dead of Night (1977) Comes to DVD
Post by: Taeylor Collins on November 13, 2008, 05:00:54 AM
Thanks Joe!  I knew it was a pilot, however, I always wondered why it was on flat videotape for a NIGHTIME show.  I guess we all know DC was cheap!! LOL   [hall2_rolleyes]  Until we got HODS which I watched for Halloween curtiousy of my friend BORGOSI! :)
Title: Re: Dan Curtis' Dead of Night (1977) Comes to DVD
Post by: jimbo on November 25, 2008, 11:40:16 PM
Dead of Night DVD premiere article

http://www.shocktillyoudrop.com/news/topnews.php?id=8634

Title: Re: Dan Curtis' Dead of Night (1977) Comes to DVD
Post by: Gothick on November 26, 2008, 12:19:29 AM
Thanks for this, Jimbo.

An OT plug for the recent DVD release of the 1964 Hammer feature The Gorgon (Peter Cushing, Barbara Shelley, Christopher Lee) which has a real DS atmosphere to it, including a love affair in the shadow of Gothic horror and a score that may have inspired some of Robert Cobert's work.

The Gorgon is part of a 4 movie set which bears a title something along the lines of "Hammer Icons of Horror."  The other films in the set include The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll, Scream of Fear (which again has an atmosphere reminiscent of the original 1966 storyline on DS), and The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb which is just a bit of trivial, silly fun.

Best,

G.
Title: Re: Dan Curtis' Dead of Night (1977) Comes to DVD
Post by: Gerard on November 26, 2008, 02:19:02 AM
I've never had the chance to see Dead of Night.  Was the one story in it, entitled Bobby, remade for the Trilogy of Terror II movie?  The plot sounds very familiar.

Gerard
Title: Re: Dan Curtis' Dead of Night (1977) Comes to DVD
Post by: Mysterious Benefactor on November 26, 2008, 03:47:00 AM
I would get this even without the DC connection because I love the late Joan Hackett's work. She was someone who passed away way before her time...
Title: Re: Dan Curtis' Dead of Night (1977) Comes to DVD
Post by: Brian on November 30, 2008, 06:14:07 PM
Was the one story in it, entitled Bobby, remade for the Trilogy of Terror II movie?

Yes, and it was almost a scene-for-scene remake, with the same Cobert score.  But I think the first with Joan Hackett was much better!

Brian
Title: Re: Dan Curtis' Dead of Night (1977) Comes to DVD
Post by: Mysterious Benefactor on November 30, 2008, 09:15:49 PM
and it was almost a scene-for-scene remake

DC doing a scene-for-scene remake of his own previous work? No, that can't be possible! ... Yeah, right!  [hall2_grin]  [hall2_rolleyes]
Title: Re: Dan Curtis' Dead of Night (1977) Comes to DVD
Post by: Gothick on December 01, 2008, 05:52:16 PM
Joan Hackett was one of those who died way too young.  I remember her incredible bravura performance in Bobby even though it's been something like 35 years since my one viewing of the story.

DC in some ways really was a throwback to the old days of the big studio directors. Carbon copying entire sequences in remakes seems so Old Hollywood. Of course van Sant did the same thing in his Psycho retread.

G.
Title: Re: Dan Curtis' Dead of Night (1977) Comes to DVD
Post by: David on December 06, 2008, 03:47:40 AM
Joan Hackett is wonderful in Curtis Harrington's creepy How Awful About Alan (1970).
She's buried at Hollywood Forever, the old cemetery on Santa Monica Blvd where Valentino, Peter Lorre & many others lie in rest.

Hacket's plaque reads: "Go Away: I'm asleep!"

David
Title: Re: Dan Curtis' Dead of Night (1977) Comes to DVD
Post by: Taeylor Collins on December 06, 2008, 05:40:10 AM
Which leads one to ask? Why in the hell did they remake Psycho? Just stupid! IMO  Hollywood is getting TOO remake happy.  If the first one sucks then maybe, but Psycho?  NO! LOL 

I don't mind Reimaginings, but I don't really like straight out remakes!
Title: Re: Dan Curtis' Dead of Night (1977) Comes to DVD
Post by: KMR on December 08, 2008, 09:12:54 PM
Which leads one to ask? Why in the hell did they remake Psycho? Just stupid! IMO  Hollywood is getting TOO remake happy.  If the first one sucks then maybe, but Psycho?  NO! LOL 

I don't mind Reimaginings, but I don't really like straight out remakes!

Actually, remaking PSYCHO was not at all stupid, if you take into consideration the filmmaker's intent.  The gist of Van Sant's point in making it was, "They always remake movies that weren't all that great or were maybe just OK, and try to improve them.  What if you remade a movie that was already perfect the first time it was done?"

What Van Sant did was take the original screenplay and remake the film with new actors, an up-to-date setting, color film, etc., and see how it would turn out.  I think this project was entirely Van Sant's idea as an artist, not the studio's idea as a moneymaking scheme.  It was actually a very interesting project, with (in my opinion) a mixed outcome.  If you take it by itself, forgetting the existence of the original, it's an OK film.  (One extremely fatal flaw was Vince Vaughn's performance as Norman Bates--he comes across as crazy and not all that likeable from the start, not sympathetic like Anthony Perkins was in the original.)

To bring this back on topic:  I'm really looking forward to seeing DEAD OF NIGHT.  I saw DARKNESS AT BLAISEDON at a DS fest many, many years ago, but wasn't all that crazy about it.  DEAD OF NIGHT sounds like it should be better.
Title: Re: Dan Curtis' Dead of Night (1977) Comes to DVD
Post by: Mysterious Benefactor on December 22, 2008, 10:34:25 PM
A review from fangoriaonline.com: DEAD OF NIGHT (DVD Review) (http://www.fangoriaonline.com/reviews/3-dvd-a-blu-ray/865-dead-of-night-dvd-review.html)
Title: Re: Dan Curtis' Dead of Night (1977) Comes to DVD
Post by: retzev on January 12, 2009, 02:52:48 AM
another DEAD OF NIGHT DVD review here (http://www.dvddrive-in.com/reviews/a-d/deadofnight77.htm)
Title: Re: Dan Curtis' Dead of Night (1977) Comes to DVD
Post by: Taeylor Collins on March 22, 2009, 02:57:27 AM
 Anyhow..I really want to see this.  I saw the promos somewhere and thought it looked really good!