Dream No Evil (1970, dir. John Hayes)

I managed to steal some time last night to watch a film, and went straight to the second volume of Arrow’s excellent American Horror Project series. Dream No Evil, made in 1970 wound up exactly where I hoped it would by the time it finished: as a smart, offbeat regional Horror-tinged drama whose ambition frequently out runs its modest budget. I’m reluctant to loosen any spoilers, but this one takes place within the fractured delirium of a schizophrenic mind, and it’s as if writer-director John Hayes wanted to explore what domestic life might be like inside the Bates mansion: in this case, a young woman conjures up an idyllic childhood she never had with a loving father she never knew and murders anyone who threatens to come between them. 

Dream No Evil is not a full throttle Horror film, but manages to generate a weird enough atmosphere, and there are enjoyable tonal shifts throughout (which might have had more charge had the expository voiceover been dropped). Had you wandered into the film late, you might think you had stumbled upon a wholesome family western, as if the film’s big casting coup, Edmond O’Brien had stepped clean-shaven from The Wild Bunch which he appeared in the previous year. The rest of the cast are certainly capable (Michael Pataki is particularly good as a preacher without chewing the part up) and director Hayes steals some fine moments in the film thanks to some imaginative desert locations and there’s a particular striking shot of sun down on a faith revival that could have strayed from a classic rock documentary. Recommended.