BED OF THE DEAD (THE DWELLING) (2016)

Studio:       Black Fawn Films
Director:    Jeff Maher
Writer:       Jeff Maher, Cody Calahan
Producer:  Chad Archibald, Cody Calahan, Christopher Giroux, Jeff Maher
Stars:     Colin Price, Alysa King, Gwenlyn Cumyn, Dennis Andre, George Krissa, Hamza Fouad, Alex Loubert

Review Score:

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Summary:

Four friends find themselves trapped on a cursed bed that haunts them with horrifying hallucinations.

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

In the past, four robed druids hang a man from a tree and stab him to death. Later, an unknown man cuts down the tree and uses the wood to craft an ornate bed frame.

In the present, alcoholic homicide detective Virgil Carter is called to The Anarchist, a private sex club, to investigate the deaths of five people alongside fellow detective Ellis. The patrons died in room 18, which has also been linked to previous cases of murder and suicide, and now contains the cursed bed.

Two hours earlier, Ren bribes club worker Elise to book him room 18 for he and his girlfriend Sandy Miller as well as their friend Nancy and her boyfriend Fred. The four friends get on the bed and begin experiencing horrifying hallucinations.

Virgil’s investigation continues in room 18, where the foursome’s corpses lie around the bed, now destroyed by fire.

While the others sleep, Fred is lured off the bed by a vision of his old dog Rocky. Fred is then supernaturally mauled and dragged under the bed. After experiencing more strange visions, Ren, Sandy, and Nancy conclude that they are paranormally prevented from leaving the bed without dying violently.

The club’s agitated owner Brass shows up demanding to know why Elise rented room 18. The cops arrest him. Over the course of their confrontations, Brass goads Virgil over his notoriety for killing an innocent black man shortly after losing his daughter to a gang member.

Ren is supernaturally attacked and torn apart while suspended above the bed, showering Sandy and Nancy in blood.

A sleazy club patron named Allan enters the room. Sandy and Nancy plead for his help, but Allan is lured toward the bed by a vision of the two women seducing him. Allan suddenly convulses and flees to the hallway where he is killed by a crawling woman.

Sandy is able to retrieve her cellphone from the floor and call for help. Inexplicably, Sandy connects with Virgil and the two of them eventually realize they are able to communicate even though their timelines are two hours apart. Virgil begins believing he might be able to prevent Sandy’s death, even though it already happened.

A vision of her euthanized mother draws Nancy off the bed. All of Nancy’s bones break and she dies on the floor.

Virgil visits Carrie Ensler, whose pedophile husband Doug died on the bed several months earlier. Virgil learns that Carrie touched the bed, but did not die. Carrie tells Virgil her belief that the bed punished Doug for abusing a child.

Sandy sees a vision of her previous boyfriend Jake, who died protecting her from a gunman. Ren’s hanging body breaks the pipes above and gas starts filling the room. A lighter falls from Ren’s pocket and Sandy contemplates suicide because of her guilt over Jake’s death.

Virgil calls Sandy. Sandy tells him of her plan to kill herself by taking the bed with her. Virgil tries convincing Sandy that their connection must mean she doesn’t have to be punished for Jake’s death. Sandy risks getting off the bed and is able to leave the club without incident.

Virgil wakes suddenly in room 18 where the bed is again fully intact. Virgil calls Detective Ellis, who is in a parallel room 18 where Virgil lies dead. Realizing that he has traded places with Sandy to be punished for his crime of killing an innocent man, Virgil sits on the bed and shoots himself.

In the aftermath, the antique bed is sold at auction.

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NOTE: “Bed of the Dead” was re-released as “The Dwelling.”

Review:

In offering thoughts related to why curses in fiction are better left unexplained, “Oculus” director Mike Flanagan once wrote regarding his haunted mirror that, “…no matter what we said, it would not be satisfying. ‘The mirror frame was carved from a tree where they hung witches,’ ‘the glass was made from sand from a beach where the devil played volleyball’ – there simply isn’t an answer to the question ‘where does evil come from’ that isn’t, frankly, stupid.”

“Bed of the Dead” opens on a scene straight out of Mike Flanagan’s mouth.  Four robed druids of some sort, one of whom holds a book of occult mumbo jumbo, tie a man to a tree and viciously stab him to death.  Some unspecified amount of time later, an unknown man chops down that tree and from the wood carves a headboard that somehow ends up haunting a bed frame.

Roll eyes or sigh at seeing this is the start of the story and the film has already lost you.  Though if your mouth curls with the guffawing grin of a mind open to unusual entertainment, “Bed of the Dead” brings exactly the sort of offbeat eeriness anyone would expect of something with such a title.

A cursed bed only makes as much sense as it has to.  I wouldn’t spend a single minute arguing against anyone deigning to lump its origin into Flanagan’s accurate definition of horror movie “stupid,” yet I suspect, director Jeff Maher might not either.  In this anomalous case, “Bed of the Dead” rightfully has no reason to care about breaking any rules of realism.

“Bed of the Dead” is the kind of idea usually birthed by a brainstorming session populated by more laughter and beer than genuine inspiration and better sense.  But by treating its silly premise seriously, and by having capable resources to present the production with a measure of sincerity, “Bed of the Dead” finds its way past the easy way out of comic campiness to muster merit for midnight movie cult status.

The film doesn’t waste time ramping up.  It goes for gruesomeness from the gate with parallel timelines telling the present tale of a down and out detective investigating a sex club’s haunted bedroom while the past shows the story of Sandy, Ren, Nancy, and Fred.  For these friends, a half-hearted foursome turns fearsome when they discover they cannot escape from the bed without being paranormally, and painfully, butchered to death.

After one of their own perishes in a gory gush of blood, the group immediately buys into their unbelievable scenario.  Instead of meaninglessly shouting, “what is happening?” at the first sign of inexplicable activity, someone simply says, “we’re in big f*cking trouble.”  By not stopping to indulge in typical supernatural slasher tropes of slow setups moving characters to where the audience already is, viewers aren’t afforded immediate opportunities to stop and consider how outrageous everything is.  It’s either get onboard or get left behind, and one of those destinations is a far more fun place to be than the other.

There’s nothing innovative about an alcoholic cop grieving a dead daughter or obnoxious twentysomethings looking to party on a city’s seedier side.  “Bed of the Dead” intentionally employs elements like these stereotypes however, since it is standard practice for its EC Comics and vintage VHS tone.  Even with facades of familiarity to flat personalities, characters still squeeze out a few clever quips to put a little lightness into the heavy carnage of blood waterfalls, broken bones, and exploding internal organs.

“Bed of the Dead” lets on that it has more minutes in its runtime than gas in its idea tank during a sleepy midsection of inconsequential flashbacks and dream sequences fleshing out backstories that barely matter.  Several of these scenes could burn away entirely without the film suffering a consequence other than being under an hour in length.  This lull is distracting, though not a dealbreaker, and the third act recovers before spreading the plot additionally thin.

“Bed of the Dead” evokes the appeal of 1980s horror without resorting to trendy retro tricks like an overdone synth score or feathered hairstyles hammering home the notion that it fully understands what it wants to be.  The film trusts you to recognize its throwback type of terror without knowingly winking or screaming for attention through overinflated irony.  Appreciate the straightforward style of a wildly weird premise with slick scares, and you might not need a curse to become locked inside “Bed of the Dead.”

Review Score:  75

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