Dan Curtis' Dead of Night Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.5

Dan Curtis' Dead of Night Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman May 13, 2026

Dead of Night is a collection of three short films, all directed by Dan Curtis, which promise "for your entertainment, three tales of mystery, imagination, and terror" as the introduction states. Indeed, the three shorts offer a full spectrum working on the human psyche that explore loss in some way: loss of dreams and loss of fate in "Second Chance," loss of control in "No Such Thing as a Vampire," and loss of life in "Bobby." Originally intended as the beginning of an anthology, Dead of Night instead now stands on its own as an effective cross-section collection of shorts that are compelling for different reasons and reach far enough apart to attract a somewhat diverse audience that will come to appreciate the swiftness, but also the depth, each tale has to offer.

"Second Chance"

Frank (Ed Begley Jr.) purchases the wreck of an old Jordan Playboy for $100, a car that was years ago hit by a train and killed its driver and passenger. Frank restores the vehicle to like-new condition and takes her out on a backroad drive where he passes several other vintage cars. One might be a fun coincidence. Two seems strange. And soon, Frank comes to realize that he has drifted backwards in time to 1926. But how? And why?

"No Such Thing as a Vampire"

Alexis (Anjanette Comer) is living in unspeakable trauma. She often awakens to find herself bleeding from the neck, and all signs point to vampire attacks. Her husband, Dr. Gheria (Patrick Macnee), is eager to stop the attacks and begins taking measures to combat the supposed vampire visits, including hanging garlic throughout the home. But nothing is working. Finally, Dr. Gheria calls in Michael (Horst Buchholz) in an effort to put an end to the madness. And, indeed, Michael's arrival certainly seems destined to put an end to the attacks once and for all.

"Bobby"

Grieving mother Alma (Joan Hackett) turns to witchcraft to resurrect her son Bobby, who some time ago died by drowning. Her ritual proves successful: later that night, Bobby (Lee H. Montgomery) appears at the front door. But it does not take Alma long to realize that the Bobby she knew is not the Bobby that has returned to her. It's very reminiscent of Pet Sematary.

Dan Curtis' Dead of Night Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Kino's 1080p Blu-ray presentation of Dead of Night is fairly consistent across the three shorts, but there is some visual variance. Here's a quick breakdown of the image basics for each short. In "Second Chance," there is some black crush at work in the opening shots, with the darkness absorbing details like bushes. That's probably the most glaring weakness with this one. Otherwise, good detailing and satisfying color expression prevail. "No Such Thing as a Vampire" is easily the best looking of the trio. Many beautiful filmic elements are in play. Look at the opening minutes. It looks much better than "Second Chance:" less diffuse, far crisper, nearly perfect in every way. Grain is steady and satisfying, too. But, black levels look washed out rather than crushed (look at about the 28:10 and 33:16 marks). White balance and brilliance are very good, especially in the well-lit bedroom shots, and colors are organically bold and pleasing. "Bobby" looks quite good, too. The dark shots — and there are many — deliver satisfying black level balance. It's imperfect, but the spread between washed out and crushed is not extreme. Detail is quite good, image crispness and grain authenticity are solid, and colors are satisfying in the low light.

Dan Curtis' Dead of Night Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

A DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 lossless soundtrack accompanies all three shorts, and across all three the results are universally identical: the track conveys the basic audio elements without much flair or flavor. It's a rather flat and unassuming listen overall, and perhaps nowhere is that so evident as it is in "Bobby," where cracks of thunder and stormy noises, vital to the plot, are bereft of any true sense of identifiable power or immersion. The sounds are present but hardly delivering the sort of "oomph" that might have benefited the scenes in which they are heard. Of course, it's not as if the original sound design was anything monstrous to begin with, so that's more an observation of the sound design limits and less a criticism of the audio encode; it's more of a "what to expect" observation. But, things like music play with suitable front-end presence, fine width across the stage, and good foundational clarity, again within the confines of the source elements. Dialogue is always intelligible across all three shorts and images nicely to the front-center area.

Dan Curtis' Dead of Night Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of Dead of Night contains a nice assortment of extra content, headlined by an audio commentary track and made for television film. No DVD or digital copies are included, but Kino does ship this release with a non-embossed slipcover.

• Audio Commentary: Novelist and Critic Tim Lucas discusses the film.
• Dead of Night Introduction by Jeff Thompson (1080p, 7:51): A discussion of what was supposed to become an anthology-style production (I was thinking of Masters of Horror as I was listening). Thompson also provides an overview of the stories in this trilogy.
• A Darkness at Blaisedon Introduction by Jeff Thompson (1080p, 7:13): Thompson explores Curtis' career and his work to fill an order for a nighttime ABC TV show centered on the supernatural. A Darkness at Blaisedon, the story of a psychic investigator, was to be the kickoff for the series, which would have been titled Dead of Night. Thompson breaks down the pilot.
• A Darkness at Blaisedon: 1969 TV Pilot (1080p upscaled, 4x3, DTS-HD MA 2.0, 51:53): The above-referenced plot, presented in its entirety.
• Robert Cobert's Music Score Highlights (480i, DD 2.0, 46:04): This is Cobert's score, set against a static, repeating loop front door image taken from "Bobby."
• No Such Thing as a Vampire -- Deleted Scenes (480i, 10:31): A handful of scenes with identifying texts.
• Deleted Extended Opening Title Sequence (480i, 5:18): As the title suggests, an alternate open for the film.
• Trailer (480i, 2:30): For Burnt Offerings.

Dan Curtis' Dead of Night Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Dead of Night delivers a well rounded trio of short films that range from Twilight Zone-inspired curiosity with a feel-good spin ("Second Chance") and a twisty Hammer- and gothic-esque chiller ("No Such Thing as a Vampire") to a Stephen King-like tale of resurrection and horror ("Bobby"). Kino has done well with the set, delivering solid video and audio, paired with a fine assortment of extra content. Recommended!