Fred Hoyle

(On TV, December 2021) If Dead of Night feels just a little bit too obvious and familiar today, it’s because it has proven to be so influential — as an anthology of five eerie stories, it clearly inspired many, many imitators — to the point where its best ideas (such as a ventriloquist controlled by his murderous doll) now seem to be clichés. But horror circa-1945 was far more sedate than today’s genre films, and so Dead of Night’s impact on its intended audiences (especially as a relatively rare example of 1940s British horror) cannot be properly appreciated by twenty-first century viewers. The result may feel a bit bland today — the five segments can be mildly interesting, with a decent framing device to tie it up together. (Amazingly enough, the framing device is said to have partially inspired astrophysicist and SF writer Fred Hoyle in his theory of a steady-state universe.)  While most segments are straightforward eerie narratives (more spooky than scary, in keeping with the standards of the time), the fourth segment does for a more comedic approach. While best appreciated as a historical piece, Dead of Night still carries some entertainment value: the premises may now have crossed into cliché, but their execution is not bad and the period atmosphere can be intriguing in itself.