Dead of the Nite (2013)

Nothing’s cooler than finding some great flick under the radar and enjoying the hell out of it. As most avid horror hounds know this is maybe one in ten or worse. Now if you asked my wife she would tell you that I have found maybe 5 movies worth watching since we met. To each their own, right? Dead of the Nite had this vibe from the moment I looked at the cover and saw a disclaimer mentioning Paranormal Activity and Halloween. Paranormal anything has become a bane of my existence but we have a comparison to Halloween, which I love, and Tony Todd, so why not…

Right off the bat we see Tony Todd as Ruber and it seems he’s found himself in a bit of hot water with the local authorities. This is all pretty standard flash back storytelling but man-o-man does TT’s English accent throw me off. I am not sure if it’s how poorly he’s doing it or the fact that my mind needs him to only be the Candyman, but warning this could be a personal thing for me.

So we have some up and coming ghost hunters spending the night in Jericho Manor and gasp, they will be taping it all! This is something unheard of, but can they survive the night and score the footage to propel themselves into the upper echelons of the paranormal world?

I have to grab a few Xanax before reeling off my thoughts on this one. How about we start with what I thought worked, this way the pills can kick in a little.

Jericho Manor is cool looking. I love old stone architecture and when you shoot that correctly it can only help emit that feeling of spirits and horror. Luckily here we did not bother as there was so much else to focus on like Tony Todd’s accent.

I also loved the tag line of If you think it’s another ‘Blair Witch’ … think again! So following the movie I did just that, I stopped and thought again. All that ran through my head was how much better Blair Witch was when it came out. This movie was just attempting to reel in a few suckers off some crafty one liners and Tony Todd. Shame on you.

I always like me some Tony Todd. Even if the movie sucks I can always just pretend he has a thing for bees and a hook where one of his hands used to be. Without T.T. on the DVD case this movie probably could have relocated to the Free Bin instead of the $2.99 clearance bin.

The Xanies have kicked in so let’s tear into this b*tch a little see what spills out. I hated the acting but with this budget it was expected. Every role was either over or well under acted. Cicely Tennant’s Hollywood hungry Amanda was a prime example of overkill. The others were barely believable and far from memorable.

Almost all the kills were bloodless and boring. There is one falling down the stairs that comes to mind, a newborn could survive that fall but here the poor soul died. Nothing here carried any weight and for the required suspension of disbelief, thanks but I will pass. There were plenty of chances to get some decent kills in here but nothing was utilized.

The last and most bothersome thing has to be the way this was shot and/or edited. I get the vibe that this was intended to be found footage via the camera choices and angles but the presentation comes across differently. It’s as if someone post shooting decided to make this seem like a normal film during the editing process. Much like the rest of the film, it has no idea what it wants to be.

I guess it’s time to see what this one scored out of five possible syringes…

Pros
Tony Todd alert!
Cool idea of mixing a few horror genres.
Interesting location.

Cons
Overall bad acting.
The kills were a big letdown.
Is this really a found footage film?

This movie carried a lot of promise initially but fell flat shortly thereafter. The short falls listed above are all to common and tend to railroad so many B movies with interesting ideas. If a “Tony Todd fix” is needed please skip this flick and shoot for Candyman or the Hatchet Series. Both are much better movies that allow T.T. to shine beyond a name drop on the DVD cover art.