DON'T LET HER IN (2021)

 

(Director/screenwriter: Ted Nicolaou)

Review

A city-loft, twenty-something couple (Amber and Ben) take in a sexy roommate, Serena, whose stack of cash (“nine months’ rent”) silences their request for her references. Serena is a Goth-dark charmer who deals in (supposedly) healing stones and weird Wicca-esque rituals. It’s not long before Amber and Ben start having disturbing sex dreams (that might not be dreams) about her, night visions where she has the face of a demon. Then a strange man in a duster (Elias Lambe) appears on the street outside their warehouse-district flat. It seems he’s stalking Serena. Who’s a villain here─Elias or Serena?

This brightly lit, hour-long, direct-to-video, demon-themed thriller is (mostly) story-solid and well-directed, a by-the-numbers flick that lacks suspense, sports solid FX and mostly solid performances (to be fair, the actors aren’t given much to work with, given the film’s screenplay and length). There’s welcome humor in one scene involving Amber and the statue, one that recalls a scene in Steven Spielberg’s 1981 film RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK.

Kelly Curran played Amber, blonde, schoolgirl-haircut illustrator who slowly realizes that Serena’s exotic habits may not be holistic. Lorin Doctor played Serena, a dark, bold seductress. Cole Pendery played mellow stoner/rock musician Ben, whose character is especially dumb at important moments. Austin James Parker played the not-given-much-to-do Elias Lambe.

I watched this because I saw Nicolaou’s name attached to it─Nicolaou directed the tightly written and directed, impressive-for-its-budget SUBSPECIES tetralogy (the fifth film is in pre-production). As far as direction, production and writing goes, DON’T is tight like his SUBSPECIES work─unlike those vampire films, it’s a relatively generic experience, albeit one with professional, impressive-for-its-budget and a notable filmmaker at its helm.

DEATHBED (2002)

 

(Director: Danny Draven. Screenplay by John Strysik, based on George Barry’s 1977 film DEATH BED: THE BED THAT EATS.)

 

Review

A young couple─children’s book artist Karen (Tanya Dempsey, SHRIEKER, 1988) and photographer Jerry (Brave Matthews, AMERICAN ZOMBIELAND, 2020)─move into a Los Angeles, California flat, unaware that it has a murder-haunted bed in its upstairs room. They find it and begin sleeping on the quaint-looking, metal-framed bed on which the deaths took place. The couple experience waking and sleeping nightmares about the 1920-30s psychosexual killings (shown in black and white flashbacks) of “Ghost Man” (Michael Sonye, billed as Dukey Flyswatter, HOLLYWOOD CHAINSAW HOOKERS, 1988) strangling two of seven women (including Louise Astor, played by Meagan Mangum) with silk neck ties.

The effect of Jerry and Karen’s nightmares bleed into their work and relationships─particularly their dealings with their on-site landlord, Art (Joe Estevez, SOULTAKER, 1990).

Produced by Stuart Gordon, Charles Band (Full Moon Pictures founder) and others, DEATHBED is a loose remake of George Barry’s way-different 1977 flick DEATH BED: THE BED THAT EATS PEOPLE. This remake is a good, makes-great-use-of-its-low-budget work. The production design/art direction (courtesy of Johnny R. Long and others) is mood-consistent with its spare-but-effective soundtrack (composer: James T. Sale, THE HAUNTING OF MOLLY HARTLEY, 2008) and relatively restrained gory special effects (Mark Bautista, MANK, 2020). The direction, Hollywood(land)-centric story (which slyly references H.P. Lovecraft) and flow of the movie is tight as can be, given its mostly well-acted characters and their personalities/histories.

Sonye/Flyswatter, an actor, screenwriter, and lyricist/lead singer of several horror punk/metal bands, primarily Haunted Garage and Penis Flytrap, is fun and ghoulish as “Ghost Man,” the spectral creep/killer whose crimes and spirit continue on well beyond his death. Film nerds may appreciate the brief appearance of Constance Estevez,  billed as Constance Anderson, as a “Maternal Model”─according to IMDb, in 2004 she married Joe Estevez, Martin Sheen’s younger and equally prolific brother.

DEATHBED is a worthwhile movie if you don’t mind its solid-for-its-limited-budget effects, occasional lapses into questionable acting (by supporting players) and its overall low budget. The filmmakers achieve what they set out to do─create a solid, tightly shot and edited minimally funded film─and that's all any reasonable viewer can expect, given the filmmakers' resources.