Deathbed

A Movie about a possessed bed! A novel idea indeed, Interesting artwork, that certainly sold the movie to me, but my main reason for watching this movie, was the presence of Stuart Gordon and Charles Band.

As it stands, the cover read "Stuart Gordon Presents" But what exactly does he present, and this i swear, to the end of my days, i'll forever be a fan of Charles Band work, but heaven help me, when they both got together to work on this endeavour.

The Film opens with an old style scenario capturing the essence of a silent movie, of a man slowly seducing a beautiful woman on a bed,to the eerie strains of haunting music, finally ending with the woman being strangled with a silk scarf, this is followed by a slow fade to black, not however before i realised that the man committing the crime,was one time stalwart of Fred Olen Ray's band of film makers,Michael (D) Sonye (Aka Dukey Flyswatter) and if memory serves did he not write, Ray's "Deepspace" but also voice the titular character in Charles Band's "Sorority Babes in The Slime Bowlarama.

Intriguing Indeed, and as for the rest of his scenes, he never has one word of dialogue, which means he didn't have to try to hard to put his character up there on scene, as the scene set his character, i can't however say the same for the rest of the characters in the movie.

Who should i blame, nobody really as all i did was watch the movie, and power to all involved as we should never dismiss the true art of film making, and the efforts invovled in putting it all together, but Danny Draven (Where was Trent Hagga?)along with John Strysik the writer and hand model in the movie have crafted nothing of note.

A Movie littered with all the usual false scares, interesting use of lighting effects and a little light titillation, nothing new on show here except for the concept, So how real was the presence of Charles Band and Stuart Gordon, I'd say about as real As Joe Estevez's turn as the caretaker of the fancy building that the young couple movie into, Now thats the real horror on show here!!!

I saw this movie previewed before something else I rented a while back...and it looked decent. I've seen some good stuff from Full Moon video, and thought it was worth a shot... Unfortunately, this was not good stuff.

The story is about a possessed bed. A couple moves into a new apartment, discovers the bed, and odd things start happening. Odd things like the woman discovers kinky sex. And the man discovers kinky sex. And the woman draws pictures of kinky sex. And the man photographs kinky sex. And they both start having dreams about dead people having kinky sex. You'd think a movie with so much kinky sex would be good, right?

Well.... No. The problem is that this is supposed to be a scary movie, or at least a thriller, and it just doesn't deliver. There is little tension, no suspense, and no fear. Aside from some troubling dreams and visions, there really isn't anything for this couple to be worried about. The whole movie is basically the two of them having these visions and playing around in bed. Sure, you get a monster fight at the end...and some bloodshed...but nothing spectacular... There's only one murder, and one good scare, and that's it.

And the kinky sex? Don't get your hopes up (or anything else for that matter). Their idea of kinky sex is woman on top, fully clothed, trying to strangle her mate with a necktie. Not exactly my idea of a good time.

Odd but wonderfully original movie. Genuinely frightening, creepy and ridiculous in equal measures. The setting of a high rise red brick apartment is a perfect backdrop for the haunting action. The thought of a secret sealed room in a place like this is good enough but when the lead naive couple start cleaning up the old bed they find in this room the scene is set for some classic chills. The cast is fantastic. Tanya Dempsey really gets to chew some scenery after being undervalued in other Full Moon films. Joe Estevez proves why brother Martin Sheen is so much bigger in Hollywood - his rolling eyes during the making the bed scene are really hilarious. Charles Band co-produced with Stuart Gordon and this really is an exceptional Full Moon/Darkwave release. Danny Draven also directed Hell Asylum with Dempsey.

What we have here is an original twist on the classic "haunted item" story. Tanya Dempsey and Brave Matthews are a young couple who move to an old apartment in Hollywood. Soon, they'll discover (although we the audience knew it since the first scene) that there is an old 30s bed where a horrible murder happened. Strange things will occur as they start using the bed.

I found the idea of a haunted bed very original, even when this kind of story have been told since the beginning of civilization. The story was well developed and the effect the bed has over the couple was very interesting. Nightmares, hallucinations and poltergeists disturb the mind of Tanya Dempsey's character and she gives a very good performance. She will have a bright future if she keeps up the good work.

Sadly, the rest of the cast is not that convincing. Joe Estevez makes an appearance as the owner of the building but his performance is forgettable. Brave Matthews just was not up to the role. Dempsey owns the screen and carries the film even with its problems. She makes the film enjoyable although she can't save it completely.

The film gets boring at times, mostly due to the poor development of characters although that makes it clear that the writer intended the bed to be the main character.

It's very good to note that there are no over-the-top effects or gore and that the scares are very subtle, something very different from typical Full Moon B-movies.

Something bad about the film were the flashback sequences, which were poorly done. The problem here is that the DV camera shooting is very bad for the B&W shots, in contrast to the rest of the movie, where the lighting works in awesome ways, the flashbacks are noticeable for its poor lighting. I think that it is a major, but understandable. flaw.

The cast & crew of this film have a bright future to come, even though this film may not be the Classic horror that Stuart Gordon (who produced it) usually creates, it is a promise of the talent that we'll see in the future.

Very Good 6/10

The film opens with a black & white scene set in the 1920's or 30's where a couple are indulging in some kinky bondage. Then we cut to the present day where a young couple move into an LA apartment & inherit the bed from the first scene, which turns out to be haunted and turns their lives upside down. The DVD cover has Stuart Gordon Presents on it but it's a million miles from Re-Animator, From Beyond, etc & I expect his association with DeathBed was only slight. For A Full Moon Pictures/Film2000 release the acting is quite reasonable. The plot revolves mainly around the couple & their bed, it really does drag but perhaps with a bigger budget & in more capable hands it could have been expanded. There is a fair amount of soft sex, a couple of jump scares & a very brutal,gory climax but DeathBed could easily send you to sleep Zzzzzz