Co-writers Eric Durham and Derek Sulek really like 1996’s “Scream.” The Wes Craven picture (and its many sequels) is a mighty influence over “Dead of Night,” which is essentially a “Scream” remake, attempting to make a mess in a California town with multiple characters, various motives, and a masked killer in a robe hellbent on slaughtering a good chunk of the local population. The film doesn’t have much imagination for the macabre, and its mystery elements are lukewarm at best, leaving audiences with a feature that’s derivative and silly, as so much of the movie desperately wants to reheat whatever appeal Craven brought to his endeavor. “Dead of Night” is a tough sit, but perhaps for those who live, eat, and breathe slasher cinema, there’s something here to embrace, as Durham and Sulek (who also directs) clearly want to celebrate the subgenre with a new round of community terror and kill sequences. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com
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