by MATTHEW HAYS

It was Toronto-based film guru Robin Wood who once suggested that, due to their dismissal as mere cultural waste, horror movies were often allowed to go places more mainstream films weren't. This, he argued, often meant that cheapie horror exploitation films were laced with radical political positions.

This couldn't be truer of Bob Clark's '72 oddity Death Dream (aka Dead of Night), a truly horrifying shocker about a presumed-dead Vietnam soldier who returns home in a catatonic state. His parents (Lynn Carlin and John Marley, who also played a couple in John Cassavetes' Faces) are thrilled to have their son home, despite his rather off-kilter behaviour. Sonny (Richard Backus) doesn't want to eat, barely speaks and has developed a rather macabre sense of humour. Oh well - so long as the family's back together, what the hell.

And that's just what breaks out, as the family becomes tormented in reunion. Seems Backus is the living dead, a quasi-zombie who needs blood to live and who threatens his victims, saying, "I died for you, why shouldn't you repay the favour?" This, in the midst of a very bloody war in Vietnam, where thousands of young men were returning home in body bags, years before Hollywood was able to deal with the conflict in any kind of forthright way. (The Vietnam War was already reflected in big-budget genre movies, of course, but seen through the heavy makeup of metaphor and barely veiled symbol.)

As well as a solid dose of social satire, Death Dream boasts some top-notch creepiness and excellent performances throughout. It's also worth looking at from the auteur perspective, given Clark's loony CV, which includes Porky's, A Christmas Story and Black Christmas. As with Black Christmas, in Death Dream Clark pleasingly wavers back and forth over the thin line between trashy horror and deliciously cheeseball comedy. Don't miss this rare chance to see an entirely original '70s horror entry, one that's now set to be remade by Eli Roth (Cabin Fever).

Death Dream screens at the Cinéma du Parc this weekend. See repertory listings for showtimes

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