Deathbed (2002)

Posted on Mar 05, 2003 under Horror |

Produced and directed by Danny Draven
Written by John Strysik
Starring
- Tanya Dempsey
- Brave Matthews
- Meagan Mangum
- Joe Estevez
- Dukie Flyswatter
Executive produced by Stuart Gordon and Charles Band

Having seen and reviewed all four of Danny Draven’s directorial outings (HorrorVision, Hell Asylum, Cryptz, and this one), I suppose I should be expected to make some grand, pontificating-like statements on his growth as a filmmaker and such. And I probably will, in the course of this review. I’m just not sure yet what such statements may be. Stay tuned.

This being a recent Full Moon release, you’re going to notice some technical/budgetary hallmarks (or “limitations,” if you prefer) right up front: digital video, confined location, small cast, short running time. But there are, believe it or not, some familiar pluses, one being the reappearance of Tanya Dempsey, who’s becoming not only a regular “scream queen” in the micro-budget arena, but also an accomplished performer.

Yuppie loft condo — OF DEATH!!

Dempsey and Brave Matthews play young couple Karen and Jerry, a children’s book illustrator and photographer respectively, who move into a loft apartment in a former warehouse, run by gregarious super Art Roarke (Joe Estevez, who has a surprising amount of screentime compared to Hell Asylum — either he’s dropped his rates, or Full Moon was willing to cough up more to pay him). The loft, by the way, is fully as beautiful as Karen and Jerry let on, but then, I’m a sucker for wide open spaces and exposed brick. The only odd part is a staircase leading to an old locked door, one for which Art was never given a key. (Need I tell you that it’s an ominous door? Nah, I didn’t think so.)

They love the place and move right in, but even their perfect-looking life has some flaws. As demonstrated on their first night on their futon, Karen’s got some sexual issues which keep her from feeling comfortable with anything but the tried’n'true. Jerry, on the other hand, often spends his days photographing attractive and sexy models, and so comes home looking for something a little spicier.

Ladies and gentlemen, a man who needs no punchline — Joe Estevez!

And thus things stand when Karen, working from home, hears strange noises coming from that upstairs room. She goes up, jiggles the handle, and nearly pees her pants when she hears a woman’s voice shouting, “Help me!” She calls Art and has him force the door…

…And naturally, nobody’s there. And nobody could have been there; it’s a sealed, windowless room. The only things in it, covered by decades of dust, are a stand-up mirror, and old cylindrical record player on a dresser, and (bum bada bummm…) an iron-framed bed.

As with anybody who’s ever seen Antiques Roadshow, Karen’s eyes light up at the sight of the bedframe, and she forgets all about the bloodcurdling shrieks of minutes earlier. They bring it down, clean it up, and darned if it doesn’t look great. Unfortunately for Karen, we know something she doesn’t; specifically, we saw a little black-and-white prologue scene in which a surpassingly ugly man (Dukie Flyswatter) tied a young flapper (Meagan Mangum) to that very bed in that very room, had some kinky sex with her, and then strangled her with his necktie.

“Banana who?”

The echoes of the bedstead’s history start to assert themselves immediately, as Karen greets the homecoming Jerry wearing something slinky and inviting, and asserts herself in bed like he’s never seen. Thus far, then, it seems like a good thing, right? And it is, until Karen starts getting little flashes of the events of the past in her dreams and during sex. And until she tracks down the fact that seven women were found strangled in this area in the ’20s, with no killer ever caught…

In many ways, this movie is like a one-act play; very little of it takes place outside the confines of the loft apartment. But thanks to some skillful story construction before the fact, it doesn’t feel claustrophobic or unduly confined by budget. That’s assisted in part by the physical dimensions of the loft itself; with that much open space, it’s hard to feel confined. And a large part of it is the level of performance given by our main actors. Tanya Dempsey has always managed to exude personality through all of her roles, and here she dominates the action well, believably giving us everything from cute to worried to outright vixenish. (She manages to deliver one of the sexiest performances I’ve seen in months, despite no actual nudity. Kudos to her.) Newcomer Brave Matthews, though not called upon to exhibit the same range, still handles his role with an easy professionalism, and the scenes of the couple together are very believable, no matter how their dynamic changes.

“Want some dessert? It’s CHEEEEEESEcake!”

This is also the first of Draven’s movies that hasn’t been filled out by some hard-to-ignore padding (driving montages, pointless bickering banter, or “hey, let’s all stop and stare at the stripper” scenes). I obviously have to attribute much of that to John Strysik’s script as well as Draven’s directing, and I hope the two of them collaborate again in the future. (My one major quibble: There’s an almost hidden plot thread about Karen dealing with childhood sexual abuse. This certainly isn’t one of those premises that should be thrown in for window dressing; it should either have occupied center stage, or have been excised from the script.)

So, the promised (or at least hinted-at) pontification: How has Danny Draven grown as a director? Well, thanks to the lack of padding, his pacing is much better, and he seems to have more confidence in letting the storyline carry the movie. He also seems to have more skill in eliciting a better-than-average performance from his cast (though, as I said, the cast itself is pretty darned good). And overall, he seems better able to wring a good movie from a pitiful budget.

All of that being said, I worry about him. I know that horror is his first love (just look at the design of his website to confirm it). And he shows no sign of falling into a rut. But all the same, I can see how one could easily burn out, being called on to crank out horror flicks under these limitations, and that would be a shame. He may be this decade’s answer to Ted Nicolaou, the Full Moon house director of the Subspecies series and Ragdoll, who showed greater promise than most of his compatriots, but never seemed to break out and reach a wider audience. And at least Nicolaou managed to branch out a bit in subject matter, if not in budget; he also directed several of Charle Band’s “Moonbeam Entertainment” children’s features like Dragonworld and Leapin’ Leprechauns, and even tried his hand at sci-fi comedy in Bad Channels.

Egh. Go put on your face, woman.

Granted, as a comedy, Bad Channels falls pretty flat, but the point (you probably thought I had forgotten) is this: I’d love to see Draven get a bigger budget that gives him some elbow room. But if that doesn’t happen soon, I’d hate to see Danny Draven grow stale and fall out of love with filmmaking. And I’d absolutely love to see him cut loose with a comedy.

A final note: The full video title is “Stuart Gordon Presents Deathbed,” owing to Gordon’s executive producer role (a much more active role than that of the other executive producer, Charles Band; the behind-the-scenes footage shows Gordon consistently on set). It’s more than a little appropriate that the double-feature DVD also contains Gordon’s own Castle Freak, not just because of Gordon’s involvement, but because both of the movies share a thematic element of a horrific outside element intersecting with a couple’s troubled sex life. They make (pardon the pun) appropriate bedfellows.