From the Dead of Night

Seems to me that a lot of the posts for this movie are from Lindsay Wagner fans and TV watchers. I'm neither of those and am putting forward my point of view as a horror/SF fan - perhaps providing a little bit of balance to the comments here that seem to consist of 'this is really scary' and 'Lindsay we love you.'

I watched this movie hoping for some chills and it certainly delivered...eventually. There's lots of good things on offer including some very tense scenes, reasonable acting and good direction (check out the scene where Joanna is in the lift and feeling claustrophobic - excellent stuff.) It's not a classic by any stretch of the imagination but it passed the time and had a few good frights.

On the negative side, at times it's painfully slow. Some scenes are shown more than once - for example we get a long panning shot of a a woman reading tarot cards, then later in the film we get the same shot again. This is probably because the original TV movie was shown in two parts, so the audience wouldn't have noticed and it might help them to recap the plot. I did notice and was tempted to hit fast-forward more than once.

As for the plot, despite what some others have said, it has little originality. If you've seen 'flatliners' (admittedly released one year later) you'll notice similarities immediately.

Much of the spookiness is engineered using cliched stuff such as skulls, candles and the ever reliable tarot cards. I almost jumped out of my seat with shock when the woman did a tarot reading and turned over the......*gulp*....'death' card. Scary stuff.

It's obvious from the start who Joanna is going to fall in love with (If he's good enough for Delenn he's good enough for anyone!) and the ending is unsurprising and actually a bit of an anticlimax. It's on the lines of 'oh look - if we just do this everything will be alright in the morning..'

To sum up, I got this DVD for about four pounds in the UK and don't think it was worth the money. It's exactly what is says on the tin - a TV movie with everything you'd expect from one. Watch it if it comes on cable, borrow it from a friend if you must but don't buy it, unless you're a big fan of Lindsay Wagner.

This movie kept going nowhere, and then went nowhere some more, & then some more. The only good thing in this movie was the AWESOME '80's fashion. If you're looking for a cool 1980's look, these are some to die for. Also, cool hair styles, make-up, accessories, and an totally cool apartment. But other than that, this movie is a slow moving borefest that showcases Lindsey Wagner's acting shortcomings. Pass.

The movie was in several parts on TV. It left off each night with enough scare to want you coming back each consecutive night. The movie was eerie, scary, and made me wonder about some things regarding death and things we might see. Lindsey Wagner gave a great performance. It is now 15 years later and I remember details from the movie and how the movie left me feeling. That speaks for itself in my voting. The plot was well designed in action, and yes, there were some funny lines too, but overall the movie gave me the jitters. The makeup for the dead and the ways of death were done well, meaning, not so far fetched as to be unbelievable. With all the blood and gore films that are on the market, it is nice to see one that will scare you because it makes you think about life, death, and the possibilities surrounding each in things we face on a day to day basis.

Joanna (Lindsay Wagner) is a successful designer, who lost her mother a few months ago. Her former mate Peter Langford (Bruce Boxleitner) has left her, and she is recovering her sentimental life through Glen Eastman (Robin Thomas), a man who loves her. When her friend and owner of the "griffe" where she works decides to maker her partner with her own exclusive "griffe", Glen and Joanna decide to have a celebration party in Joanna's fancy house with their friends. While in the party, Joanna stumbles on a cat, falls in the swimming pool and drowns. She experiences seeing her soul leaving her dead body and traveling through a tunnel, where shadows try to hold her. However, Peter and Glen revive her. From this moment on, her life changes, and she feels threatened all the time, as if she were supposed to die again. Yesterday I saw this movie for the third time on VHS, after many years. It is a great stylistic horror movie, having a good and original story. This theme was later partially explored in "Final Destination (2000)", "Final Destination 2 (2003)" and "Flatliners (1990)". Although watching for the third time, I found it again a great film. Lindsay Wagner in the role of a designer is very elegant, wearing beautiful costumes, and has a great performance. The story holds the attention of the viewer until the last scene. I did not read the novel, but I really like this movie. I disagree with the opinion that it is recommended for fans of Lindsay Wagner only. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Nos Braços da Morte" ("In the Rams of the Death")

I saw this when it was originally on television and I found it to be a well acted, suspenseful movie. I finally got the DVD and I don't know if this is the whole TV release or if it has been cut to fit one DVD.

I had remembered it being a mini series but it may have just been a two- part TV movie. It definitely wasn't the length of a normal TV movie as it had more than one part on different days when viewing.

I think it is a good film and well worth viewing if you are interested in the subject matter. I think they left in parts that would seem stretched at the time length of an ordinary TV movie.

It basically deals with Johanna's attempt to save her own life because of the length of time lapsed in her death experience and how she solves the issue of not being killed to bring her back to the light. Remember this was done in 1989 prior to a lot of movies that have since been released in theaters on this topic and it was for TV viewing audiences. They did an excellent job considering the time frame it was shown and the topic. I have never found it boring at any time and this is the reason I purchased it when I discovered it was on DVD. It was adapted from a 1980 novel called "Walkers" by Gary Brandner who also wrote "The Howling." Someone mentioned Flatliners which came out the next year but it doesn't remotely have anything in common with this movie other than the life after death theme which is explored differently and came from a screenplay. "Watchers" is much older than this. So there is no comparison whatsoever between these two movies. I liked them both but "From the Dead of Night" was a unique idea and I have never seen any movies quite like this one other than the subject of Near Death Experience. It is more suspenseful than scary in my opinion but individual viewers will vary on how it impacts them.