Dead of Night [Region 2] DVD - Classic Horror Movie for Halloween Nights & Movie Collections

This is a review for the Blu-Ray edition of 'Dead of Night' (1945) released in 2019.*****NOTE 1***** For those who are not familiar with this movie. This is a new release of a black & white, very early 'anthology' horror (sort of) movie made in 1945.BLU-RAY: This is a new 4K scan of the original archival materials. There are many imperfections throughout. I don't know how much effort was put into cleaning up the picture's flaws but the scan is real nice. The picture is quite sharp. For me, that is the most important part of a picture upgrade. I'd much rather have a sharp picture with flaws and be able to see details over a soft or low resolution picture without any flaws. I'm giving it a 7/10 overall. The movie is shown in a 1.37:1 aspect ratio.EXTRA'S:-Audio Commentary with film historian Tim Lucas-Documentary: 'Remembering Dead of Night' - This is a modern 75 minute documentary about 'Dead of Night' that features many writers and historians giving their commentary. I found this to be on the dull side. It's mostly just a bunch of guys sitting there and talking. You won't see very many film clips other than a few here and there from 'Dead of Night'.-Trailers-Subtitles*****NOTE 2***** For this review, I have decided to not provide any spoilers. As this is a relatively unknown movie, I don't want to give anything away. To some, this may be well known, but to me it is not. Being that I am a big classic horror and science fiction fan and had not heard of this movie until I saw this release pop up in my recommendations, I am going to assume that this is going to be the case with at lease some other fans as well.PLOT/SUMMARY: Being that this is an anthology movie, it is divided into several parts. There is a framing story with 5 short stories. The stories are as follows:Framing Story: An architect, Walter Craig, is having terrible nightmares. He goes out to the country for a job. He has been asked to do some renovations on a country home. Once he gets there, he has a feeling of 'deja vu'. He insists that he knows what is about to happen. He tells everyone, that he has seen them all in a dream and he predicts all of their actions. While at the party, a bunch of people tells stories, to try and rid Craig of his worries. One by one they tell their stories....'The Hearse Driver''The Christmas Party''The Haunted Mirror''The Golfer's Story''The Ventriloquist's Dummy'After after the stories are done, obviously the second half of the framing story plays out. There is a classic 'twist' ending and that's all I'm going to say about that!PRODUCTION/COMMENTS: This is a 1945 movie made by Eagle-Lion Films of the U.K. It was distributed in the U.S. by Universal.IS 'DEAD OF NIGHT' THE FIRST ANTHOLOGY FILM?: No it is certainly not. There have been anthology movies for a very long time. 'Inheritance' is a 1915 movie that follows four different story lines. It's not done in the same way. The story covers over 2000 years and it cuts back and forth between the stories. Another early anthology film is 'WaxWorks', made in 1924, about a writer who goes to work for a waxworks exhibit. These anthology movies could be of any genre of movies, not just horror. There are many examples in every era of Hollywood, including movies that are made today either for television or theatrical releases.OTHER PRODUCTION/COMMENTS:-One of the stories, 'The Golfer's Story', is based on an H.G. Wells story.-Martin Scorcese has this movie listed as one of the scariest movies of all time. I completely disagree. However, I think he would be correct if he meant it was one of the most influential horror movies of all time. If a poll had come out in, say the 1950's, then you might say that it was scary. By today's standards, this movie is very mild and would not scare anyone.-Most horror fans will notice a lot of similarities between these short stories and television episodes of later years. An obvious example would be 'The Ventriloquist's Dummy'. This is very similar to the Twilight Zone episode, 'The Dummy'.-'Dead of Night' is not the first anthology film, but it is probably the most influential early anthology film.CONCLUSIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS: I would recommend this movie for anybody who is a fan of 'anthology' horror movies such as those made by Amicus in the 60's and 70's. Those anthology movies basically follow the exact same format as this movie. That in itself makes this movie interesting to watch. The stories themselves aren't necessarily great stories but they are certainly not bad. Fans will notice a lot of similarities to films that came later. In fact, it makes one wonder how many of these later movies used ideas from 'Dead of Night'.RATINGS:Picture: 7/10 or 3 1/2 stars - Not perfect, plenty of imperfections, but the picture is sharp.Plot: 7/10 or 3 1/2 stars- It's pretty good for the era but not what I would call exceptional.Extra's: 6/10 or 3 stars- You get an audio commentary and trailer, along with a tribute documentary. Unfortunately, these extra's are a bit dull.Influence: 9/10 or 4 1/2 stars- Even though this movie isn't tremendously well known, it has proven to be a very influential film.Overall: 8/10 or 4 stars - As I often do, I'm going to bump it up 1 star just because Kino Lorber gives us a new Blu-Ray picture along with extra's that provide plenty of information on the movie. So...Final Grade: 5 stars