Deathbed

Rating:
Summary: ONCE UPON A MATTRESS
Review: Charles Band, the head honcho behind Full Moon productions, got his start with the immensely entertaining REANIMATOR. Since then, his studio has put out tons of movies, some okay, some really bad. DEATHBED is one that isn't quite that bad, but it suffers from some pedestrian acting, slow pacing and an over the top ending that negates the movie's up till then spooky atmosphere. Tanya Dempsey plays Karen, a children's book author, who moves into a loft apartment in an old factory. Her boyfriend (Brave Matthews) is a photographer who spends most of the movie calling Dempsey "baby" and trying to look either scared or sexy...not succeeding on either level. The ever preposterous Joe Estevez shows up as the landlord and renovator who spouts out bad jokes and ends up doomed. Seems like the factory was the killing ground for a psychopathic serial killer who strangled his female victims with a necktie. One such victim (Meagan Mangum) is trying to alert Dempsey to the horrors awaiting. Dukey Flyswatter (is that a name or what?) plays the Larry Drake-like killer with little or any aplomb. The movie is obviously mini-budgeted, most of its action taking place in the apartment, with little or any special effects.
Why the 3 stars? Dempsey has a coyish vulnerability that works and up to the rushed ending has a tense sense of evil. In the hands of a more imaginative director and with someone to replace Brave Matthews, the film could have been a little better.

Rating:
Summary: Double Features Rule!
Review: For all you Full Moon Movies Fans, I have a treat for you. This DVD comes with the full versions of Deathbed starring Tanya Dempsey and Stuart Gordon's Castle Freak. Deathbed has a good suspensfull story that will draw you in wondering what will happen next? Castle Freak is another great movie BUT IT IS GRAPHIC!! If you have a weak stomach then this might bother you. For all you hardcore gore fans this is an AWESOME film. Fangora Magazine gave this movie lots of praise! Full Moon Studios produced both of these films and make it a worthy addition to anyone's horror collection.

Rating:
Summary: Movie gets 4 stars. The DVD gets 0.
Review: For the record, I am reviewing the DVD released by Shadow Entertainment on February 10, 2004. I say this because there was another DVD of this film released back in 2002 that sounds a lot better. Like the previous reviewer said, if you can get that DVD with the bonus feature of "Castle Freak", then get it instead.

The movie is good, but it misses on two counts. If you're a gore freak, then you will be disappointed. There's no gore until the end, and even then it's not that much. If you're into suspenseful horror that builds, you'll like this film until the end. I am not a gore freak, so I enjoyed most of the movie. In the end, I am happy with this purchase. It's just that this film switches its tone so suddenly, it's disorienting. The ending was a complete mess. My conclusion is that the filmmaker wanted to try something high-brow, but had to relent to the gore-hound financers. It's a shame, because the film had a great tone until it degenerated into a cheap knockoff of "The Shining".

Overall though, I liked the movie. I did not like the DVD. I'll give it some credit, the picture was crisp for a 19-inch analog 4:3 TV set. However, the sound was bare-bones, just sufficient to get by. There were no special features except for four trailers with one of those being this title itself. There was no chapter select menu. Heck, viewing the disc on my Sony Playstation 2, I couldn't even get chapter information runtime or title information runtime countdown. The only thing I got was a total title runtime clock. At first, I thought there wasn't even any chapter breaks, but there are. The chapter breaks are just invisible.

In the end, I'm happy with this purchase. The DVD is horrible, and if I ever had the opportunity to purchase the 2002 DVD release, I would. I would then use this one as a coaster, but when the price is about $10, it doesn't bother me too badly. However, I really have to express my dislike for Shadow Entertainment and the recent Koch Vision Entertainment releases. They're basically putting it to the consumers, as I have made several purchases and been thoroughly disappointed with all of them. In fact, the last purchase I made from Shadow Entertainment, I swore I would never buy from them again. I bought this DVD without knowing and was surprised by that fact, but I was not surprised when the DVD turned out to be crap.

Bottom Line: Decent-to-Good movie, Horrible DVD. Find the 2002 DVD with Castle Freak on it instead. Finally, don't by a Shadow Entertainment DVD. No joke, if you had the software and a DVD-writer, YOU could make a better disk!

Rating:
Summary: Movie gets 4 stars. The DVD gets 0.
Review: The double feature DVD has both Deathbed and Castle Freak, so it's worth searching for. The only possible disadvantage I can see is both movies are shown in fullscreen. However, the Castle Freak single movie disc is a fullscreen version also, so unless you really need a widescreen version of Deathbed or must have extras like commentary, etc. why not get two movies on one inexpensive disc.

In my opinion Castle Freak is a tad overrated, but it's still well worth checking out. I think the frenzy over this movie has to do with the fact that it's Stuart (Re-Animator) Gordon directing Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton, both of whom were the main actors from Re-Animator. They play a couple with a blind daughter who move into a spooky castle with 150 rooms (sorry, but it doesn't look big enough from the outside). The freak in question is a deformed, scarred, ancient human with a taste for blood. He is accidentally released from his place of captivity and proceeds to run amok in the castle.

Excellent FX here, namely the freak makeup and the gore scenes. I thought the story ran out of steam by the end, which was somewhat disappointing. It wasn't bad, it's just that there were some really twisted scenes early on that made me expect a little bit more of a payoff at the end. After watching Re-Animator so many times it's hard for me to watch Jeffrey Combs in another role, especially without glasses. It makes me want to yell "West! You forgot your specs!" He's still pretty nerdy and amusing in this movie, though, especially the scene where he and the daughter search for the castle for "booty." I know it means treasure, but when Combs says it it's downright hilarious.

Deathbed was a pleasant surprise. It's low budget, the acting is hit & miss, but it actually gave me the creeps a few times. Karen, a children's book illustrator and Jerry, her photographer boyfriend move into a huge Hollywood loft. At night she starts hearing noises from behind a boarded-up door and decides to investigate. The apartment manager helps her tear the door down, which reveals a hidden room upstairs with an old-fashioned iron bed. They clean up the bed and move it downstairs, then the fun begins. Basically it's a "haunted bed" story. While in the bed Karen finds herself possessed by the spirit of a woman who was killed in the bed years ago. This improves Karen and Jerry's sex life, but, of course, eventually leads to trouble.

I liked this movie because of the little details and plot twists. The sketches Karen does while under the influence of the woman's ghost are downright scary; they reminded me of the old EC horror comics like "Tales from the Crypt," "Vault of Horror," etc. Plus you get Dukey Flyswatter in a supporting role--I remember him as the singer from the L.A. horror/rock band Haunted Garage. There's not very much blood in the movie until the last few minutes. Then you get an extremely gory, over-the-top scene as a payoff.

Don't expect miracles from these two films--they're not masterpieces but both are good, solid horror movies. I would think for the relatively cheap price any horror fan would be pleased.

Rating:
Summary: Try to find the Full Moon double feature DVD
Review: The double feature DVD has both Deathbed and Castle Freak, so it's worth searching for. The only possible disadvantage I can see is both movies are shown in fullscreen. However, the Castle Freak single movie disc is a fullscreen version also, so unless you really need a widescreen version of Deathbed or must have extras like commentary, etc. why not get two movies on one inexpensive disc.

In my opinion Castle Freak is a tad overrated, but it's still well worth checking out. I think the frenzy over this movie has to do with the fact that it's Stuart (Re-Animator) Gordon directing Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton, both of whom were the main actors from Re-Animator. They play a couple with a blind daughter who move into a spooky castle with 150 rooms (sorry, but it doesn't look big enough from the outside). The freak in question is a deformed, scarred, ancient human with a taste for blood. He is accidentally released from his place of captivity and proceeds to run amok in the castle.

Excellent FX here, namely the freak makeup and the gore scenes. I thought the story ran out of steam by the end, which was somewhat disappointing. It wasn't bad, it's just that there were some really twisted scenes early on that made me expect a little bit more of a payoff at the end. After watching Re-Animator so many times it's hard for me to watch Jeffrey Combs in another role, especially without glasses. It makes me want to yell "West! You forgot your specs!" He's still pretty nerdy and amusing in this movie, though, especially the scene where he and the daughter search for the castle for "booty." I know it means treasure, but when Combs says it it's downright hilarious.

Deathbed was a pleasant surprise. It's low budget, the acting is hit & miss, but it actually gave me the creeps a few times. Karen, a children's book illustrator and Jerry, her photographer boyfriend move into a huge Hollywood loft. At night she starts hearing noises from behind a boarded-up door and decides to investigate. The apartment manager helps her tear the door down, which reveals a hidden room upstairs with an old-fashioned iron bed. They clean up the bed and move it downstairs, then the fun begins. Basically it's a "haunted bed" story. While in the bed Karen finds herself possessed by the spirit of a woman who was killed in the bed years ago. This improves Karen and Jerry's sex life, but, of course, eventually leads to trouble.

I liked this movie because of the little details and plot twists. The sketches Karen does while under the influence of the woman's ghost are downright scary; they reminded me of the old EC horror comics like "Tales from the Crypt," "Vault of Horror," etc. Plus you get Dukey Flyswatter in a supporting role--I remember him as the singer from the L.A. horror/rock band Haunted Garage. There's not very much blood in the movie until the last few minutes. Then you get an extremely gory, over-the-top scene as a payoff.

Don't expect miracles from these two films--they're not masterpieces but both are good, solid horror movies. I would think for the relatively cheap price any horror fan would be pleased.