DVD Review: Dead Of The Nite

By Brad Henderson

A lot of filmmakers think that they can get away with putting an older horror film actor in their movie for five minutes and then slap them on the front cover as if they are the lead in the film. Trust me, we all know this trick by now and we don’t fall for it. This happens every Tuesday when new films come out and sadly, we quickly dismiss films like this. It seems they rely solely on getting an older horror actor in order to sell the movie because without a name attached to it, it won’t go anywhere.

Dead Of The Nite isn’t a bad film but it is quite uneventful to say the least. Tony Todd is, of course, on the cover but is only in the film for a brief time. He is actually the best part of the movie.

Dead Of The Nite is partially a found footage film spliced with normal things happening. The setup for the found footage conceit is neat and it works as far as keeping the cameras functioning and filming but the rest of the film is just . . . bland.

The film sets up a cool idea but executes it poorly. A group of ghost hunters goes to a place called Jericho Manor to catch ghosts in action but is sidetracked when something starts hunting and killing them. Yeah, it sounds pretty cool but at 86 minutes it fails to keep hold of you after it grabs you in the beginning with Tony Todd’s performance and the story he tells. Later we are introduced to the other actors, but it just makes you yawn. Like I said, Dead Of The Nite isn’t a bad movie but it doesn’t do anything different from what we see weekly.

Dead Of The Nite was released via Midnight Releasing on January 7.