It may be possible to pick up a film even more obscure than Death Bed - The Bed That Eats, but I'd be hard pressed to think of what that other film would be. Truth of the matter is that Death Bed has never been legitimately released on home video until right this very minute. There was indeed a pirated copy released in the UK apparently, but this is as close to a spot in Blockbuster as Death Bed has ever seen. Cult Epics has rescued Death Bed from eternal obscurity onto DVD for generations upon generations to embrace and enjoy. While Death Bed is most certainly not a film for everyone, there is a market for this type of cinema out there, it's bizarre, edgy, weird, cheap and kitschy - c'mon you know who you are.

The behind the scenes story of Death Bed is almost (if not more) fascinating than the film itself. I would have loved to see more extras, but more on that later. The narrator of our story is a young man who happens to be trapped in the wall behind a painting. He sits back with the thoughts in his head, in the same room as the Death Bed that the title would seem to suggest. The bed resides in a room in a mansion, and I have to tell you - bed of death or not, it looks very comfortable. The film splits itself up into courses, breakfast, lunch and dinner, with each meal telling its own delicious tale. Breakfast involves a spunky young couple on a picnic that consists of apples, wine and a bucket of chicken. Now that's class. Lunch and Dinner primarily revolve around a group of three young ladies on a countryside expedition, with the eventual appearance of one of the young ladies older brother. Needless to say, the bed does indeed chow down on many a victim.

Now, I can't even begin to imagine what's running through your mind as you read this. Having never heard of Death Bed prior to this screening myself, I sympathize. The film was shot on 16mm for very little money. The idea was to sell it off and make a small, yet tidy profit on any returns. The only problem here was that companies were reluctant to spring for the cost of a 35mm blowup, which was apparently essential at the time. It took 5 years for Death Bed to actually be finished (72-77) and beyond that, it still never saw a legitimate release. You'll gather a lot of this info from the introduction and liner notes, but I figured it would be best for me to put some of this into perspective.

The film itself is part horror, part light-hearted comedy and part fable/fairy tale. The whole thing comes across very tongue in cheek, but at the same time, these characters are quite sympathetic and understanding. They'll break off into soliloquy or quietly share thoughts with inanimate objects. The bed itself is quite gruesome when it comes to feeding time, emitting a yellowish-orange liquid that bubbles and dissolves just about anything that it sucks in. Easily not without its problems, there are plenty of continuity errors, especially when one considers the many editing faux pas and inconsistencies. However, Death Bed still comes across as quite charming and entertaining, making it easily recommendable to the more adventurous moviegoers out there.

Light on gore, but not light on the creep factor or black comedy, I was also surprised at the amount of nudity the film featured, ahhhhhh the 70's. There is some blood, but not too much happening here for the gorehounds, which is actually quite respectable. There are some great and memorable set pieces, including just about every victim that's submerged in the bed's digestive juices and one young lady who is dragged back to the bed kicking and screaming be a forceful bed sheet.

As I said earlier, Death Bed was shot for very little money on what was most likely super cheap film stock, and surprisingly enough, looks pretty good here. Sure there's grain, dirt, blemishes and the occasional scratch, but overall I'd have to say that the film looks much cleaner than I had anticipated. The mono soundtrack features a bit of background hiss from time to time, but overall sports nice clear dialogue, music and effects, also a pleasant surprise.

Extras are limited to liner notes (which are quite interesting) and a short video introduction with director George Barry (also quite interesting). Needless to say, I would have liked to have seen more extras, including an audio commentary (which I think would have been even more interesting) but alas, it was not meant to be.

In the end I'd have to say that Death Bed is a valiant effort that had my attention from start to finish. Like I said, it's certainly not for everyone, but if you're into the eclectic indie film types with a gritty 70's twist, then Death Bed is definitely worth checking out. Not for nothing, but Cult Epics is to be commended for picking up a title like this, releasing it on DVD and showing it the respect that it deserves after all of these years.

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