Dead of Night (1945)

"Mr Craig is going to hit me, savagely!"

Oh well, I'm sure he can hit somebody else instead."

Wow. That blew me away, utterly and unexpectedly. Why is this not known as one of the greatest horror films ever? No, it's not exactly obscure, or indeed short of praise, but it's rarely seen in "best of" lists. This is an extraordinary film.

I can see where Amicus got the idea of the portmanteau horror film from having seen this, but Dead of Night is no B Movie and the horror is never cheesy but always effective. No monsters in make-up here, just ghost story uncanniness. And no silliness: there’s no silliness here, although there’s plenty of wit in the script.

The plot is fiendishly clever; an architect visits a house he’s never visited before, and recognises it and everyone there from a recurring nightmare, and events gradually unfold just as he fears, but with some devilishly clever twists at the end. Along the way he hears several tales- separate sequences by different directors- all of which are deeply effective, but the ones that stand out are Michael Redgrave and the creepy ventriloquist’s dummy and the bit of comic relief with a dead golfer haunting his estranged friend (“May the Lord have mercy on your handicap!”).

The acting is superb, with Redgrave and Googie Withers deserving extra praise, and although 1945 feels a very long time ago- no shagging before marriage, “how do you do?”, all the smoking, the plummy accents (the hide and seek lecherous wanker comes across very much like Tim, Nice But Dim...) - but this is an extraordinary film which will linger in the mind for a long time.