Film : ‘Dead Of Night’ (1945)

dead-of-night_550_fullFilm : ‘Dead Of Night’   (1945)

Directors: Alverto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden and Robert Hamer

Cast includes: Roland Culver, Mervyn Johns, Googie Withers and Michael Redgrave

An eve of Halloween treat for those who like their horror  with a hint of the Gothic!

Dead of Night
may have been made over 70 years ago, but it is still one of the scariest movies ever made.

Dead of Night
receives a rare public, pre-Halloween, screening at the St Austell Arts Centre on the afternoon of Sunday 30th October.

Do not attend alone if you are of a nervous disposition!

The film does not have the predictable blood and gore, zombies or unbelievable “ghostie-whosties”; instead, it relies on creating genuine fear caused by psychological mindgames and the dread of the unknown.

Rated as high as 96% on the Rotten Tomatoes website, Dead of Night is a chilling anthology of horror stories that play on all of our innermost fears.

A man is summoned to a house with a group of strangers he has never met before, but has seen in his dreams. As they convene, he predicts certain events will happen as they do in his dreams and when they do, the other guests relate their own experiences with the supernatural, including tales of a possessed mirror, a sinister ventriloquist’s dummy and an eerie premonition of death.

Throughout the group meeting, the man fears something horrible will happen to him.

The film’s final, revelatory sequence offers an unexpectedly horrific surprise.

The black and white cinematography, atmospheric music and the quintessentially “Englishness” of the 1940s middle classes all add to the tension, suspense and period of the piece that produces genuinely terrifying moments, creating an unforgettable experience, with images that are guaranteed to remain with whoever sees the film for the rest of their lives.

Each separate story has a different Director but are linked by a common thread that makes the film one of the finest and most imaginatively crafted horror films ever made, influencing many more contemporary films in the genre.

The spine-tingling stories involve a hearse driver, Christmas party and a haunted mirror.  A more light-hearted section based on an H G Wells story helps to balance the films more menacing moments.

However, the film’s most terrifying and memorable story is kept until last.

It tells the genuinely scary tale of a ventriloquist whose dummy comes to terrifying life and was the inspiration behind the 1978 Anthony Hopkins film “Magic”.

Doors open : 2.30pm. Film starts : 3.00pm

Click here to Book your Tickets in advance :
All Tickets : £5.00

( Sorry! No Concessions )

Call Cornish Riviera Box Office on (01726) 879500
Or Buy over the counter
at Tourist Offices in St Ives, Penzance, Falmouth, Truro, St Mawes, Bodmin, St Austell, Looe, Liskeard & Launceston plus The Heartlands, Pool, Redruth and ‘Bookends’ Fowey
St Austell Bay TIC is on the ByPass and at Rail Station