Welcome to the first installment of THE DEAD DON'T DIE, a monthly column dedicated to all things shambling, undead, and hungry for warm human flesh (or living brains, if you swing that way). Over the coming months, we'll be talking with author Kim Paffenroth, covering George A. Romero's latest zombie opus, shining a light on whichever new and exciting (or not-so-exciting) zombie project staggers our way, as well as looking back on unsung zombie classics.

DEATHDREAM

I've known about this movie for some time. It's covered in Tom Savini's indispensable Make-up FX guide, Grand Illusions, which I've owned for close to twenty years now. Until recently, I never had much cause to seek it out, as I assumed it wasn't much different from THE BURNING or THE PROWLER or one of the other lackluster movies on which Savini worked early in his career.

A few weeks back, during a late-night ZombieFest pasta buffet meal, Greg Lamberson sang its praises, comparing it to Romero's early work. I got home from Z-Fest and promptly placed it atop my Netflix queue.

The story is simple enough: young Andy is killed in action in 'Nam. Shortly thereafter, he returns to his mourning family, who assume the State Department made some kind of mistake and sent the dreadful news in error. Things then begin to fall apart--literally and figuratively.

Heavy on human drama, DEATHDREAM is an adult Horror film on a budget, concerned more with peeling back the layers of the American family than with scaring the hell out of you and spattering you with the red stuff. There are, of course, scares, as well as a fair share of bloodletting, but the focus remains on the steady dissolution of the family, a process that begins during the family's first dinner together following Andy's return.

His father (John Marley, best known for waking up with a horse's head in THE GODFATHER), disgruntled over the apparent screw-up on the part of the U.S. government, states that he'd been told that his boy was dead. "I was," Andy says, and they all laugh. And laugh. And laugh. What should be a moment of healing instead reveals a malignancy.

(Interestingly enough, one could make the case that this family was already heading in this direction, and that the only real effect Andy's return had on them was to speed things along.)

There is no humanity in Andy. There's is no struggle, no hope or chance for redemption, as can be found in Romero's MARTIN. Andy returns from Vietnam a shell, a monster stripped of his humanity. It is by design, I am sure, but it still left me wanting a bit more from the character--a chance to see his humanity go the way of his flesh.

The definition of a zeitgeist film, DEATHDREAM is a product of the same cultural climate that produced THE EXORCIST, THE OMEN, and LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT, among others--all films about the simple horror of being a parent: Where the hell did my daughter learn to curse like that? Is something wrong with my baby? Will my son come home tonight, and if he does will I recognize him?

Of note to zombie fans is Andy's physical disintegration*. It's not quite a direct precursor to Body Horror as it would be defined throughout the '80s, but, when Andy slips on some gloves to conceal his withering and maggot-infested hands, I couldn't help but think of Seth Brundle pecking away at his keyboard with his funky yellow gloves and his teeth dropping from his gums. The climactic make-up work is outstanding, given the budget and the era.

While not as effective or as psychologically complex as MARTIN, DEATHDREAM is nonetheless an ambitious and effective post-Vietnam take on The Monkey's Paw.

*Not to mention that poster art, which seems to have informed the most famous zombie movie poster of all time.

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Come back next month for an interview with Don May, Jr. of Synapse films.