Dead of Night

The inspiration for Dean Stockwell's make-up in Blue Velvet? Dead of Night (dir. Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden, & Robert Hamer, 1945).



Nightmare faces.



Miles Malleson.

This British anthology thriller is politely creepy if not exactly bone-chilling for the first three quarters or so, and then comes the famous section with Michael Redgrave and the ventriloquist's dummy, directed by Cavalcanti. But, but, but, and then comes Basil Dearden's conclusion to the linking narrative, which contains some of the freakiest uncanny imagery ever put on film. When the little guy gets up and walks, we're talking permanent goosebumps--the kind you get as a kid when you see something like this on late-night TV and it messes you up for life.