Dead of Night The Queen of Spades

Buy This Item Dead of Night The Queen of Spades by Starz / Anchor Bay  Available from Amazon  $26.99  on 9-20-2008     DEAD OF NIGHT A group of strangers is mysteriously gathered at a country estate where each reveals a chilling tale of the supernatural. First, a racer survives a brush with death only to receive terrifying premonitions from beyond the grave. Then a teen's innocent game of hide-and-seek leads to an encounter with the macabre. Next, a young couple purchases an antique mirror that unleashes a horrific power from its past. In a lighter vein, two competitive golfers play for stakes that may haunt the winner forever. Finally, a renowned ventriloquist descends into an abyss of madness and murder when his dummy develops a mind of its own. But even after these frightening tales are told, does one final nightmare await them all? Britain's venerable Ealing Studios brought together four brilliant directors -Charles Crichton (THE LAVENDER HILL MOB), Basil Dearden (THE MIND BENDERS), Alberto Cavalcanti (NICHOLAS NICKLEBY) and Robert Hamer (KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS) to create this classic chiller that remains one of the most influential horror films ever made. This is the uncut and complete UK version of DEAD OF NIGHT, now newly restored from original archival materials for the first time in decades. <P>THE QUEEN OF SPADES "Unusual And Macabre!" ~ Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide A gambling craze is sweeping 19th century St. Petersburg, yet a dashing Russian army captain (Anton Walbrook of THE RED SHOES) is too impoverished to participate. But when he learns that an aging countess (an award-winning performance by Dame Edith Evans of TOM JONES) may hold the ultimate key to gaming riches, the desperate young officer will stop at nothing to steal the sinister secret for himself. When fortunes are won and lost with the turn of a card, will one man wager his very soul on a final twist of fate? Yvonne Mitchell (DEMONS OF THE MIND) co-stars in this brilliant British chiller directed by Thorold Dickinson (GASLIGHT), featuring extraordinary cinematography by Otto Heller (PEEPING TOM, THE IPCRESS FILE) and based on the celebrated short story by Russian poet Alexander Pushkin. Includes AN 8-page Collector's Booklet. Reader Reviews I bought this double disc set from Anchor Bay for one very well regarded and respected "anthology" horror flick. And although "Dead of Night" was indeed everything it was cracked up to be, for me it was disappointing in two ways: 1.) The audio was more "horrid" than the tales of "horror" told therein, with every male voice sounding like "Leslie Howard on helium" and every female like "Billy Burke in a bubble"! 2.) The film destroyed all previous ignorant notions I had that Rod Serling and his writing staff on "Twilight Zone" were originator's, (despite the obvious "evil dummy" thing), when in fact they were merely a group of very creative/talented imitator's, (ie: "Room for one more..?") But neither of these little qualms of mine even mattered. It's very good! However, as many others have previously stated, or like me have just discovered, the second truly remarkable film in this "2-Fer" that turned out to be Anchor Bay's "Ace up the sleeve" was a genuine "lost gem" of a film called "The Queen of Spades"! So, rather than describe the film's plot, (again!), or gush over its quality, (again!), or the extraorinary talent displayed by the film's cast and crew, (again!), I'll continue to quote the rest of the lines from the creepy old bookshop owner which I felt perfectly described what the characters, (and viewers!), were in for from the start: "This is a very rare book! I wouldn't recommend it to everyone... That's a lot, I know. But there are plenty of people who believe in things neither looked for nor heard of. What mean these premonitions, these hauntings, these aparitions, these tales of horror in a far sight in time and space? Believe me, there are things to be seen the eye has not seen and things to be heard the ear has not heard. Who knows what you might learn from it. Why, you might end up by gaining a fortune... Or losing your precious soul!"

Dead of Night The Queen of Spades Available from Amazon Price: $26.99 Updated on 9-20-2008.

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