Death Bed: The Bed That Eats

Death Bed: The Bed That Eats
DVD cover
Directed by George Barry
Produced by George Barry
Written by George Barry
Starring Demene Hall
William Russ
Julie Ritter
Linda Bond
Patrick Spence-Thomas
Music by Ossian Brown
Mike McCoy
Cyclobe
Cinematography Robert Fresco
Edited by Ron Medico
Distributed by Cult Epics (USA; DVD)
Release date
  • October 26, 1977 (1977-10-26)
Running time
 80 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $30,000 (estimated)

Death Bed: The Bed That Eats (alternately titled The Death Bed) is a 1977 American surrealist horror film written, produced, and directed by George Barry in his only feature film. The plot centers on the title antagonist as it is passed on through generations, bringing tragedy upon those who come across it.

Plot

Long ago, a demon fell in love with a woman and conjured up a bed on which to make love to her. The woman died during the act, and, in his grief, the demon wept tears of blood which fell on the bed and caused it to come to life. While the demon rests, the bed's evil is contained, but once every ten years, the demon wakes, giving the bed the power to physically eat human beings. Only one man, an artist identified as Aubrey Beardsley, was spared, as the bed condemned him to immortality behind a painting, where he must forever witness the bed taking victims. The bed passed from owner to owner until the present day.

Breakfast

A young couple trespass into the building and discover the bed. They make love on the bed, and the bed devours them. The artist mocks the bed for its stupidity. Enraged, the bed telekinetically destroys most of the house except for the room it is in.

Lunch

Three women discover the now-destroyed house. The bed eats one of the young women, but reacts to one of the other women by bleeding in agony. The artist realizes that the bed reacts with pain to the woman because she resembles its "mother" (the woman whose death caused the bed's creation). Elsewhere, the brother of one of the women goes out looking for her.

Dinner

One of the two remaining women sleeps on the bed. She wakes as the bed begins eating her, but as she tries to escape, the bed snares her in its sheets and drags her back to be eaten. The last woman unsuccessfully tries to save her. The brother locates the surviving woman, only to have the bed trap them both. The brother attempts to rescue the previously eaten woman, only to have his hands eaten to the bone by the bed.

Just Desserts

The demon that created the bed falls asleep, which renders the bed powerless and allows the artist to communicate with the woman. The artist describes a ritual that will destroy the bed. The woman carries out the ritual, which teleports the bed out of the room and revives the bed's real "mother," but at the cost of killing the surviving woman. The bed's mother completes the ritual by having sex with the brother, causing the bed to burst into flames and die, allowing the artist to finally pass on.

Cast

Patrick Spence-Thomas as Voice of the Artist

Release

Home media

The film was released on DVD by Full Moon Features on September 23, 2002.[1][2] It was also released by Wizard Entertainment the following day.[3] It was later released by CAV Distributing on November 11, 2003. Cult Epics would released the film both on DVD and Blu-ray on 2004 and 2014, respectively.[1]

Reception

Dennis Harvey from Variety wrote, "Death Bed is a horror flick destined for some small place in the hearts of psychotronic fans who already treasure such extreme oddities as Blood Freak, not to mention Andy Milligan’s entire ouevre."[4] Barry Meyer from Film Monthly gave the film a slightly positive review, writing, "Death Bed is such a true original that you have to overlook all its faults and just go with it and enjoy this whimsical drug induced nightmare."[5] Brian J. Dillard from Allmovie called it "a major classic in the what-were-they-thinking school of horror".[6] Joseph A. Ziemba from Bleeding Skull! gave the film a positive review, stating that the film "goes toe to toe with Doris Wishman’s A Night To Dismember as one of the most disconnected and impressive low budget horror films of all time."[7] HorrorNews.net gave the film a negative review, calling it "curious but nothing more than the kind of film that you’d see lumped together on a budget 50-title film set".[8] Adam Tyner from DVD Talk criticized the film's erratic pacing, and minimal characterization. Tyner also wrote, "On the other hand, Death Bed wields a strange and unique charm that kept entrancing me even when I was bored stiff. I'll always take an interesting failure over some uninspired, by-the-numbers horror flick."[9] Ain't It Cool News liked the film, calling it "a nightmarish dream existence", and compared the film's oddness to Quentin Dupiex's Rubber.[10]

References

  1. 1 2 "Death Bed: The Bed That Eats (1977) - George Barry". Allmovie.com. AllMovie. Retrieved 17 July 2018.
  2. ↑ "Amazon.com: Deathbed: Tanya Dempsey, Brave Matthews, Joe Estevez, Meagan Mangum, Michael Sonye, Lunden De'Leon, Constance Estevez, Rick Irvin, Mona Lee Fultz, Samantha Smith, Max Schlimm, Mattie Moonbeam, Danny Draven, Stuart Gordon, Danny Draven, Adamina Jones, Charles Band, Dennis Smith, Josephine Soegijanty, Stuart Gordon, John Strysik: Movies & TV". Amazon.com. Amazon. Retrieved 17 July 2018.
  3. ↑ "Amazon.com: Deathbed: Dukey Flyswatter, Tanya Dempsey, Brave Matthews, Meagan Mangum, Joe Estevez, Danny Draven, Charles Band: Movies & TV". Amazon.com. Amazon. Retrieved 17 July 2018.
  4. ↑ Harvey, Dennis. "Bed: The Bed That Eats – Variety". Variety.com. Dennis Harvey. Retrieved 17 July 2018.
  5. ↑ Meyer, Barry. "Film Monthly.com – Death Bed: The Bed That Eats (1997)". Film Monthly.com. Barry Meyer. Retrieved 17 July 2018.
  6. ↑ Dillard, Brian. "Death Bed: The Bed That Eats (1977) - George Barry". Allmovie.com. Brian J. Dillard. Retrieved 17 July 2018.
  7. ↑ Ziemba, Joseph. "Death Bed: The Bed That Eats (1977)". Bleeding Skull.com. Joseph A. Ziemba. Retrieved 17 July 2018.
  8. ↑ "Film Review: Death Bed -The Bed That Eats (1977)". HorrorNews.net. HorrorNews. Retrieved 17 July 2018.
  9. ↑ Tyner, Adam. "Death Bed: The Bed That Eats (Blu-ray) : DVD Talk Review of the Blu-ray". DVD Talk.com. Adam Tyner. Retrieved 17 July 2018.
  10. ↑ "1st wk of June 2014's PICKS & PEEKS: DEATH BED, NAZISPLOITATION, CANNIBALISM & JERRY LEWIS!!!". Ain't It Cool.com. Ain't It Cool News. Retrieved 17 July 2018.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.