Dead of Night (1945)

Directed by Basil Dearden, Alberto Cavalcanti, Robert Hamer, Charles Crichton. Starring Mervyn Johns, Roland Culver, Michael Redgrave, Frederick Valk, Sally Ann Howes, Basil Radford, Naunton Wayne, Sylvester Kee, Googie Withers, Peggy Bryan, Ralph Michael, Barbara Leake, Anthony Baird, Mary Merrall, Renée Gadd.

One of the earliest examples of the horror anthology film, spinning five independent tales of the macabre within framework segments that proved influential to the style moving forward. Johns visits Culver’s country home and discovers that, despite having never met them personally before, he recognizes all of the other guests from a recurring (and unsettling) dream; they take turns telling supernatural stories—a haunted mirror, a hearse driver with “room for one,” etc. They’re not really “scary,” per se (one is even just a comedic spin on a ghost story), but they’re entertaining enough as diversions or better. The final story about a ventriloquist’s dummy that seems to have a life (and voice) of its own is easily the best-known, and deservedly so—it’s the hands-down highlight, more than making up for the occasionally creaky and dated sequences that preceded it. Two of the tales are based on short stories by E. F. Benson and H. G. Wells; the rest are originals. Bonus: unlike most of the anthology chillers that followed, the overarching narrative actually pays off in a satisfactory fashion. Produced by Michael Balcon of Ealing Studios (the only time the studio ever tried making a horror picture).

75/100