Vamp or Not? Death Bed: The Bed That Eats

I love the idea of vampiric objects and Death Bed: The Bed That Eats could be deemed to feature just such a thing – which is what we will explore, of course. It was a film that was directed by George Barry but didn’t get distribution in 1977 when completed. Yet it managed to gain a cult following through bootleg releases and eventually was formally released in 2003.

The film concerns a bed that eats people, indeed that is described as always hungry, with the film narrated by an artist (Dave Marsh, voiced by Patrick Spence-Thomas). The artist was not consumed by the bed – possibly because he had tuberculosis – but imprisoned behind his own painting, probably in a state of undeath and likely in a liminal space. The style of the art has led to an assumption that the artist was in fact Aubrey Beardsley.

the first couple

Split into three parts – Lunch, Dinner and Just Desserts – in lunch we see a couple arrive on foot at the house. The bed, as well as hungry and sentient, displays its reach by closing and locking doors into the house except for one leading to the cellar where it sits. It eats the couple and the method of doing so includes a digestive fluid bubbling up around them, in a foam, and them being drawn into the bed and its digestive area – which is bigger than the spatial reality of our world. We also see that victims can be drawn up from under the bed into the same liminal stomach. Angered by the artist taunting it, it telekinetically destroys the house, leaving only the cellar.

flowers bloom

Next three women, Dianne (Demene Hall), Suzan (Julie Ritter) and Sharon (Rosa Luxemburg) arrive. Dianne needs to get away from the city and a friend who is liquidating the estate the house belonged to has allowed her to use the house – though its destruction is clearly unknown. The bed seems to fear Sharon and her presence injures it, though it eventually devours the other two. Its reach is shown when it kills Suzan as it mysteriously removes her bones from its liminal stomach so they are buried in the grounds and red flowers appear at the spot.

demon's eyes

The reason it fears Sharon is discovered when the artist explains how the bed came to be and to be alive. A demon resided in a tree and decided to float on the breeze until it saw a woman (Linda Bond). Invisibly it seduced her and then created the bed and took human form (bar his red eyes as a demon’s eyes are always filled with blood), calling the woman to him. They made love on the bed, but its unnatural nature killed her – more accurately put her in a state between life and death – and she was buried in the grounds. The demon was saddened by this, its eyes shattered and it cried tears of blood onto the bed. 

the bed

That blood brought the bed to life and gave it the hunger that defines it. Incidentally the events occurred in 1897 – the year Dracula was released. The demon fled to a tree again, though when it sleeps (every ten years) it finds the bed in its nightmares and the artist can briefly communicate with the living. For the bed to be destroyed the original woman needs to be resurrected and make love to destroy it; “a coupling began and a coupling will destroy”. It fears Sharon (and is injured by her presence) as her eyes remind it of the original woman whose death led to its birth.

a victim

So, the death methodology for the bed doesn’t fit into vampire tropes – though the resurrected woman could be said to be undead. The creation of the bed, as a sentient thing, through a demon fits in with some folklore, whilst using blood as a catalyst, and its hunger is clearly a trope that fits in with vampirism. We see it devour food, wine and hear it eat a fly, but it clearly wants human flesh and blood. So, is it vamp? Obviously not in the conventional sense but its uniquely demonic origins and supernatural powers, the fact that its hunger (and means of filling that void) sits within a liminal space, the devouring of flesh (and absorption of blood spilt on its sheets) suggest that if you have a broad view of what it means to be vampiric then I think you could class it.

The imdb page is here.

On Blu-Ray @ Amazon US

On Blu-Ray @ Amazon UK

Fantastic Four Vol. 4: Fortune Favors The Fantastic – review

Author: Ryan North

Art: Carlos Gomez & Ivan Fiorelli

First published: 2024

Contains spoilers

The Blurb: Ryan North continues his ever-surprising FANTASTIC FOUR run! Franklin Richards has been an immortal, a god, an Omega-level mutant and more. He's created life and entire universes - and been worshipped for it. He's ended life and been cussed out with just as much sincerity. But there's something else about Franklin Richards nobody else in the universe knows about - until now! Then, things take a noirish turn, and the only one who can solve the mystery…is hard-boiled private detective Alicia Masters! Plus: Ben Grimm and Johnny Storm get part-time jobs to raise some cash! Surely these old friends can work together, side by side? But when the skies turn black with Darkforce energy and vampires swarm the Earth, the Fantastic Four join the Blood Hunt! Can the brilliant Reed Richards find a cure for vampirism before it's too late?

The review: Where the Venom sojourn into the Blood Hunt event felt like a bit of a tag on to the event, this Fantastic Four volume may have been standalone, not impacting the wider Blood Hunt moments, but somehow felt more substantive as part of the event. The first three stories in the volume are nothing to do with Blood Hunt but they all worked as individual shorts, with the 'Ben and Johnny getting a job' one being genuinely amusing and the Alicia Masters as a hardboiled detective in a noir story being both clever and really well put together.

The Blood Hunt story was longer than the others and sees Reed Richards and Alicia Masters on a trip to the city to an art installation when the skies blacken and the vampires attack. Reed’s rubber body is impervious to vampire attack and he is able to protect Alicia but finds his resources stretched (sorry, deliberate pun) when they rescue other survivors. The interesting part, to some degree, was his disbelief and him having to force himself to think differently when facing something supernatural and his science failing him – though he quickly refocuses and manages to develop something to disrupt the vampires (with peril added for himself as he stretches too quickly and opens wounds, which could let in infection). Meanwhile the rest of the team are facing vampires out in the country. The event’s ending also has a direct impact on Richards as it involves a power leap for his nemesis.

This was fun and whilst it had no in-event impact, it was certainly worth a read with the other stories being good too. 7.5 out of 10.

In Paperback @ Amazon US

In Paperback @ Amazon UK

Round the Decay – review

Director: Adam Newman

Release date: 2025

Contains spoilers

A creature feature, the creature within it had overtones of the wendigo and aspects that seem vampiric but is actually called a wrexsoul (Rachel Pizzolato). A google only revealed the name used for a boss in Final Fantasy VI. The film suggests that it is a possession of a dead individual and that it feeds both on flesh and souls.

The opening of the film sees a native woman (Kamarra Cole) running through forests. She is captured and brought before colonial leader Whelon Newport (Roger Clark) and his wife, Mary (McKenna Parsons). The woman doesn’t respond to his questions, despite the fact that he supposes she does understand him. He starts lecturing her and mentions a sacrifice being needed – at which point he stabs Mary. He explains that only monsters can hunt monsters (clearly equating the indigenous people with monsters), Mary seems to come back to life and the woman screams.

Victoria Mirrer as Kenzi

In a modern day setting we see a gazebo at night, Kenzie (Victoria Mirrer) sits in it and is approached by a man, Zach (Topher Hansson). She is engaged but, it becomes apparent, her fiancé is Zach and his approach is a game, but one she is not responsive to. As the film goes on we discover this is a flashback to a vacation where she broke the engagement off, he went missing in a cave and she has returned for closure. The hotel she stays at has just been bought by Bart (Cary Hite). At a town meeting he tries to offer his vision for tourism but is shouted down by a hostile audience of locals who have heard it all before. Also staying at the hotel is Munroe (Damian Maffei, Nikos the Impaler) a professional monster hunter.

booby trap

The town leader is Gregory Newport (Jamie Dufault), descendent of Whelon. He and the town are aware of the wrexsoul and feed people to her – they arrange for itinerant hotel worker Roz (Sienna Hubert-Ross) to be knocked out and dropped down a shaft into her cave. There are also a group of hikers, some of whom enter the (poorly blocked) cave. The cave has booby traps – one of the hikers (Sassan Saffari) is garrotted on razor wire and another, Aida (Alexis Safoyan), flees with Roz… The wrexsoul is on the hunt and no one in town is safe.

the wrexsoul

The creature itself is clearly what has become of Mary’s body. It has heavy feet, claws and a face that is all teeth and monstrosity. The practical effect was good except for the times it wasn’t. The wrexsoul’s head is clearly a mask but the shooting uses darkness and not showing the head often to maintain an illusion of the monster. Unfortunately the body suit is clearly that, which is a shame. The creature feasts on flesh but eating the soul is mentioned, its speech is an echolalia of victims' words, and it has their memories – so it knows Kenzie as it ate Zach. It hasn’t got the best vision (it might walk past someone staying still), though it detects movement and has sharp ears.

wrexsoul vision

Munroe has been called in by a disgruntled group that live in the town, who themselves had been drafted in to boobytrap the cave (a precaution after Zach became lost there), His sources suggest that, to kill the creature, he first needs to end the bloodline of the one who created it – in other words kill Gregory – and then kill it. Due to its toughness he thinks that fire should be employed. The creature, as I mentioned, feels a tad wendigo but the spirit at the heart of the wrexsoul is vampirically possessing the body of the sacrifice (Mary) and eating flesh and souls and so the film has that vampire aspect though for the most part it is creature feature.

Cary Hite as Bart

And it does the creature feature well enough, though it is pretty by the numbers. The central characters are quite numerous but the filmmakers keep track of them for the viewer competently. The issue with the characters is that had there been fewer they would have been able to be expanded on them that bit more. The gore, when we see it, is done well, but more may have been better. Overall, competent but it won’t set the world on fire. 5.5 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

Diva in the Netherworld – review

Director: Takafumi Nagamine

Release date: 1980

Contains spoilers

My word, what did I just watch? This has to be up there in the most bizarre of Japanese fantasy films. Vampires, cannibals, werewolves and a (pretty dragon-like) kaiju all make an appearance.

It starts with two women speaking to camera. One of them, who identifies herself as Donald (Kiyose Fujiwara), gives the news that she is to retire from professional wrestling and will concentrate on a pop career. The other woman is called Micki (Yôko Kurita) – so yeah, a Disney reference – and is her partner in the new venture, the pair making up the singers of Idol group The Bloodies.

recording

We see them in a car, with their manager driving. He has arranged a show but out in the countryside – we see a rather fake looking mountain in the distance of the landscape. Suddenly he loses breaks and they are going rather fast, the car flies off the road, lands and he breaks but pops a tyre. As they change the tyre (with Donald lifting the car) a man on a bike approaches. He is the servant in a mansion and his Master would be delighted to host them.

the homeowners

The mansion is Western style and he takes them through the house, the manager getting separated when he stops to phone the venue (and gets the servant who suggests the mansion occupants are rather nice and they should stay the night). The servant opens one door and our view is filled with Hanako, the kaiju. This does not seem out of place and then leads them to the lady of the house (who is the master he referred to).

Donald the vampire

They essentially are getting them to stay to kill and eat as they are cannibals but they don’t have the measure of their impromptu guests. You see Donald is a vampire – known to the others and whenever she vamps out they have a supply of blood to inject her with. As well as this is appears she occasionally snacks on Micki when she is asleep. Also, it’s a full moon that night and the manager is a werewolf – hence when he gets decapitated later, his head remains alive and animate for some time after. As well as getting wolfen when the moon comes from behind clouds, light reflecting on a serving lid causes him to grow an instantaneous beard.

the werewolf

It is entirely mad and please do not expect it to make any sense whatsoever. It runs along with some level of comic book energy, following its own rules but, despite its madcap scheme, it makes less sense in a narrative way than, for instance, House. The repeated song by the Bloodies, which bemoans older generations, is catchy but overused in the short running time. 5 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

Blood & Rust – review

Director: Jeremy Herbert

Release date: 2026

Contains spoilers

Set in Redpatch, Ohio, a Rust Belt town, this film offers a commentary on industrial decline and economic decay, with the vampires sucking the life from a town that was almost undead economically as it stood. This is reflected in the locals who seem almost like lost souls and design principles, such as having the vampires bleed red dust, underline this aesthetic.

noises in the house

It starts with Joe (Jonathan Tazewell) in his house, sleeping in front of the TV, it appears. The glass he holds drops and, on waking, he thinks he heard something. He looks around the house, eventually going into the basement. In there he sees a window has been broken and blames kids. As he leaves we see hooded figures swarm. He hears another noise, looks round again and sees a figure. He runs to a room, blocking a door and phones the local diner.

Mark Kelly as Belko

The reason for phoning there, rather than calling 911, is because he owns it and his son, Lamont (Morgan McLeod), works there on the night shift. Lamont, however, is busy with a customer and doesn’t answer straight away. At Joe's, we’ve seen a hooded figure come through another door and by the time Lamont picks up he can hear growling and screams. The film goes into credits, with images of small-town USA and a feeling of urban decay. We see Belko (Mark Kelly, Angel, Jakob’s Wife & Little Bites) arrive in town in his truck.

Morgan McLeod as Lamont

He attends the funeral, where Lamont is stood before the mourners. It is somewhat excruciating and deliberately so. Though he does carry memories of his father that we see in flashback, and is shown to be grieving later, his outer stoic demeanour and awkward jokes are displayed here and tells us much about him, and by proxy the town itself. Lamont is asked by his mother (Laketa Caston) what he will do now – the answer of working the diner till he dies amplifies the characterisation. Later we hear that she wants him to give his father’s share to her so she can change it to a dollar store. Joe’s death has been blamed on coyotes, incidentally. Lamont is more than the sum of what we’ve seen and we discover that he prepares food for the town’s homeless population. Those who pick up the food confirm that one of the camps seem to have left town.

a vampire drone

So, Lamont is attacked by a vampire and saved by Belko, which leaves them working together. Belko is a vampire hunter who tracks them through animal attacks (Lamont’s girlfriend, Marlene (Diana Frankhauser), is animal control, incidentally). He explains that the vampires we mostly see are drones. Animalistic, they serve a boss (Ross Partridge), who can control if they attack, feed, or simply capture a victim for taking to a bleeding room for him. We later see a bleeding room, but we also see him infusing directly from a victim. He has a strong line in eye mojo. His presence in town has been facilitated as a form of direct action against the homeless – though clearly they are attacking beyond that. Killing a vampire is achieved through piercing the heart and/or beheading, incineration is used to make sure.

the boss being infused

I really liked this, beyond the central narrative about small town decay and authoritative misuse of the homeless, this was a nicely down vampire flick where the vampires are dangerous. It steps away from the glamorous and carves a space into the monstruous. Even the Boss, despite being erudite and well presented, carries an air of the monstrous. They built enough around Lamont so that, despite his stoicism, he was genuinely likable as is Belko. The film is clearly on a budget – perhaps shown most in the fact that the town felt empty as we saw little of people and less of attacks on them, however, these are observations and not criticism. The film deserves a strong 7 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On Demand @ Amazon US

On Demand @ Amazon UK

Short Film: Love American Style Season 2 Episode 36 Love and the Vampire

Not actually a short film, but a segment (one of three) from a Season 2 episode of the series Love American Style, the segment was directed by Charles R. Rondeau and comes in about 10-minutes, first airing in 1971. However, as someone has kindly (as I write this) put the segment on YouTube then it fits neatly into the short film category as a standalone piece.

It starts with newlyweds Mryna (Judy Carne) and Wayne (Robert Reed, Fantasy Island: The Lady and the Longhorn/Vampire) who are stood with the eccentric looking Mr Foss (Tiny Tim). We quickly get the background that their car has broken down during a storm and he is rendering aid by giving them his room for the night – after all he expects to be out all night.

Foss, Myrna and Wayne

Once alone, Myrna starts having worries. Foss’ tongue was red and his face was pale – indeed it was a typical set up, breakdown in a storm – she comes to the conclusion that Foss is a vampire. When she notices that there is a casket (or a trunk, according to Wayne) she becomes convinced. She decides she needs protection.

garlic on honeymoon

That involves Wayne leaving the house and getting garlic, which he does but the smell puts him off Honeymoon nuptials. Noticing a couple of pinpricks on his neck leads her to believe that he has been bitten (he thinks he has, by mosquitos). The viewer is aware, however, that Foss is making himself up, using a mirror, to attend a midnight horror film showing and so can it all be in Myrna’s imagination? The show is very sit-com pitched, Carne and Reed are old hands and know what they’re doing with the material and the show even throws in a werewolf gag.

The imdb page is here.

Honourable Mention: Venom Vol. 7: Exsanguination

Author: Various

Artist: Various

First published:2024 (tpb)

Contains spoilers

The Blurb: Venom vs. Carnage in their bloodiest battle yet! Carnage is back! Born anew in symbiote goo and blood, Cletus Kasady is more dangerous and violent than ever before - and he has his sights dead set on an unsuspecting Venom! Untested against the might of his symbiotic sibling without his father by his side, can Dylan Brock hold the sadistic serial killer at bay? Will Carnage live up to its namesake and leave another brutalized symbiote host in its wake? Or is Dylan just bait for Eddie Brock, the King in Black himself? In the greatest depths of space and at the end of existence, some carnivorous new species has blossomed. Something blood-red, with thorns - and an appetite! Plus: There's one thing that can still kill Carnage: Anti-Venom! And if things weren't wild enough, the BLOOD HUNT begins, and Venom must unleash lethal justice on hordes of vampires!

The Mention: I have looked through the Marvel Blood Hunt event extensively where it comes to volumes that were directly part of the event and where the volume majority tied in with the event. I have also looked at post-event vampiric consequences. In the case of this Venom volume, however, I have made it an Honourable Mention as it is a minor aspect within a storyline, events happening during Blood Hunt rather than impacting it/impacted by it.

I also have to be honest and admit that seven volumes in, the primary storyline confused me. Issues around Eddie Brock, his son Dylan being Venom’s host and Carnage trying to destroy Venom. All of this probably demands a wider knowledge of the previous volumes and therefore reading this for the Blood Hunt side (of which there are two storylines) is probably for completists only.

In one storyline we get Dylan, abandoned by Venom, approached by a priest who had been turned. The important part of this story is that when the priest bites Dylan his blood is poisonous to vampires as it has been altered by his half-symbiote physiology. He is also immune to the bite. The priest, in pain due to the blood, is then staked by Dylan. This means that Dylan/Venom could have played a pivotal role in the wider event had the writers desired it.

The second vampire storyline concerns the alien Threkker aka The Captive. He absorbs life force and was imprisoned on Earth, and subsequently captured in a high tech coffin that was found by Dracula and released during the Blood Hunt to hunt symbiotes. It reanimated a previous symbiote host (Lee Price) as a sort of zombie symbiote to lure in Venom (who at this point is host-less and dying). The Captive’s plan is to feed on Venom’s life energy but natural protections come into play, causing the Captive’s bite to begin a feedback loop that makes him feed on himself and desiccate. Not one of the undead vampires, a full back-history being presented (rather than touched on) could have embedded this in the event but this is more a throwaway and more significant to the Venom storyline, I feel.

In Paperback @ Amazon US

In Paperback @ Amazon UK