The defence The Big-Idea Head
“Its refusal to behave is the point.”
The strange choices create the kind of friction that follows you out of the theatre and into the argument.
Back to trending 
Dead of Night
Horror · Thriller · 1945
An architect, visiting an English country house, realizes the other guests are familiar from his recurring nightmare. When they share their tales of the supernatural, he is filled with a growing dread.
Movie details
Dead of Night
“The unexpected, the tragic, the comic, the romantic, the dramatic...”
1945 Horror · Thriller 1h 43m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
7.2 / 10
Community rating
An architect, visiting an English country house, realizes the other guests are familiar from his recurring nightmare. When they share their tales of the supernatural, he is filled with a growing dread.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over Dead of Night?
For the defence
The Big-Idea Head
“You watch with your brain, not your gut.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Popcorn Loyalist
“Big screen, big feelings, no apologies.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
Unseen
Horror · 2023
Sam receives a call from Emily, a near blind woman who is running from her murderous ex in the woods. Can she survive using Sam as her eyes via video call?
The Incredible Shrinking Man
Sci-fi · 1957
A dangerous combination of radiation and insecticide causes the unfortunate Scott Carey to shrink, slowly but surely, until he is only a few inches tall. His home becomes a wilderness where he must survive everything from spiders living in the cellar to his beloved cat.
Bride of Frankenstein
Horror · 1935
Dr. Frankenstein and his monster both turn out to be alive after being attacked by an angry mob. The now-chastened scientist attempts to escape his past, but a former mentor forces him to assist with the creation of a new creature.
Monkey’s Magic Merry Go Round
Horror · 2026
After a mysterious bout of amnesia, a beloved children’s television host struggles to piece together his fractured memories, only to find his once-cheerful puppet co-stars behaving with sinister intent. As reality unravels, the line between performance and nightmare begins to blur.
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Fantasy · 1983
In a small American town, a diabolical circus arrives, granting wishes for the townsfolk, but twisted as only the esteemed Mr. Dark can make them. Can two young boys overcome the worst the devil himself can deal out?
The Haunting
Horror · 1963
Dr. John Markway recruits three strangers for a sleep-disorder study at the eerie and isolated Hill House. It soon becomes clear his real interest lies in the mansion itself and its sinister history, as they are forced to confront the nature of its horror…
Eradication
Horror · 2022
When an unknown disease wipes out most of the world’s population, a man with unique blood is isolated for study. Fearing for his wife’s safety, he breaks his quarantine – into a world overrun by monstrous Infected and a shadowy agency hunting them down.
House on Haunted Hill
Horror · 1959
Frederick Loren invites five strangers to the party of a lifetime and offers each of them $10,000 if they can stay the night in the reportedly haunted house. Armed with a gun for protection, each guest arrives in a hearse and will either leave in it much richer…Or dead.
The Devil Rides Out
Horror · 1968
The powers of good are pitted against the forces of evil as the Duc de Richelieu wrestles with the charming but deadly Satanist, Mocata, for the soul of his friend. Mocata has the knowledge and the power to summon the forces of darkness and, as the Duc de Richelieu and his friends remain within the protected pentacle, they are subjected to ever-increasing horror until thundering hooves herald the arrival of the Angel of Death.
The Hand
Horror · 1981
Jon Lansdale is a comic book artist who loses his right hand in a car accident. The hand was not found at the scene of the accident, but it soon returns by itself to follow Jon around, and murder those who anger him.
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Alberto Cavalcanti · Charles Crichton · Basil Dearden
Written by
John Baines · Angus MacPhail · T. E. B. Clarke
Mervyn Johns
Walter Craig (Segment "Linking Story")
Roland Culver
Eliot Foley (Segment "Linking Story")
Mary Merrall
Mrs. Foley (Segment "Linking Story")
Googie Withers
Joan Cortland (Segment "Linking Story" & "The Haunted Mirror")
Frederick Valk
Dr. Van Straaten (Segment "Linking Story" & "The Ventriloquist's Dummy")
Anthony Baird
Hugh Grainger (Segment "Linking Story" & "The Hearse Conductor")
Sally Ann Howes
Sally O'Hara (Segment "Linking Story" & "The Christmas Story")
Court is in session
Put Dead of Night on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist
“Oddness is not depth.”
A film can break every rule and still leave nothing behind but the memory of how hard it tried to be singular.