A common thread among horror aficionados is seeing some horror flick at an age that is far too young.  Maybe it was a whole movie, or maybe just snippets and scenes, but the movie terrifies and fascinates, leaving in indelible imprint on the impressionable young mind.

Often, we don’t even know the name of the film that affected us so.  If we’re lucky, we might stumble upon it years later, and go back to that time when we experienced horror for the first (or one of the first) time(s).

There were several such moments for yours portly.  Growing up with a Stephen King- and Halloween-loving mom, two that immediately come to mind are the It (1990) miniseries and the Salem’s Lot (1979) miniseries.  That little boy vampire scratching at the window still frightens me.

Another possible film is Deathdream (1974).  I’m not 100% sure if Deathdream is the movie I saw as a kid, but I remember seeing a flick as a kid that featured a deceased son who came back from the dead and was utterly soulless.  I think the film I saw was made a bit later, but Deathdream sucked me in because it seemed so familiar.  The soulless Andy—who is killed in the Vietnam War—is truly haunting.

The premise is straightforward, and I’ve already explained it:  Andy Brooks, a soldier in Vietnam, is killed.  His family is informed of his death, but his mother resists accepting this reality.  One night, Andy shows up in full uniform, seemingly alive.  Over the course of the film, Andy’s utter detachment from those around him, punctuated with bursts of terrifying violence, grows increasingly unhinged.

The film relies on the dramatic irony that the audience knows that Andy is dead—or is he?  We see him shot at the beginning of the film, and the military informs the family of his death.  But could he be alive?  We know that Andy was once a lively and fun-loving individual, and now he’s distant and cold.  Could that be a result of dealing with the trauma of fighting in a vicious war?

It’s pretty clear to the audience, though, that he is not the real Andy.  That Andy is dead, and there is something seriously wrong with whoever—of whatever—this “Andy” is supposed to be.  The extreme creepiness comes because we don’t know what Andy is—or what he will do next.

One of the elements of the film that is so unsettling is Richard Backus‘s portrayal of Andy.  Few people can manage to act so terrifying by just sitting still.  A good chunk of Andy’s scenes see him simply rocking back and forth incessantly in a rocking chair, ignoring the entreaties of his family, only responding with cold, unblinking non-answers.

Whatever “Andy” is, it is quite monstrous.  The handsome exterior façade slowly breaks down, one chilling murder after the other.  He manages to sustain himself for a time through consuming the flesh and blood of his victims, a la a vampire, but ultimately cannot sustain his bloodlust, and the whole thing ends in a truly chilling moment in the local cemetery.

Deathdream is currently on Shudder, and might be on other services.  Check it out if you can.