Breakfast: A demon inhabits a bed that is in the basement of an abandoned house. On the wall is a painting. Behind the painting is imprisoned the spirit of a man (Dave Marsh) who was an artist and created the painting. The man has been imprisoned for decades. He can do nothing but watch as events unfold. A young couple (Ed Oldani and Dessa Stone) has hiked to the abandoned house to spend some time together. The demon locks the doors. The only way into the house is through the basement door. The bed waits. The couple makes love on the bed. The bed eats them. The spirit behind the painting (voice Patrick Spense-Thomas) mocks the bed. Enraged the demon of the bed destroys the house, except for the basement room.
Lunch: Three women, Diane (Demene Hall), Susan (Julie Ritter) and Sharon (Rosa Luxemburg) drive up looking for the house. All they find is the basement room with the demon bed. The bed ends up eating Susan but has a visceral reaction to Sharon. The artist in the painting figures out that Sharon looks like a woman that the original demon had fallen in love with. The woman (Linda Bond) had died on the bed while making love to the demon. Blood from the demon’s tears created the demon that was trapped in the bed. In essence Sharon looks like the bed demon’s mother.
Dinner: Not finding Susan, Diane sends Sharon to town for help. She stays behind in case Susan comes back but is herself eaten by the bed. Sharon has car trouble and walks back to the basement room. Seeing Diane get eaten makes Sharon’s mind snap. Sharon’s brother (William Russ) shows up having been sent by their mother to find her. When he tries to stab the bed, it eats the flesh off his hands.
The Just Dessert: When the demon falls asleep the artist behind the painting tells Sharon what to do to destroy the demon.
“Death Bed: The Bed That Eats” AKA “Death Bed” was completed in 1977 and was directed by George Barry. It is an Independent American horror movie. Also written by Barry, it is a very low budget surreal fantasy film. Barry couldn’t find anyone to distribute the movie. The film had been pirated and developed a cult following. An official released was not done until 2003.
It’s a weird film. The movie starts out with a lot of crunching noises which means the bed is eating someone. After that there’s a lot of boring going on. There are some interesting and or amusing spots like when the bed takes a couple bites of an apple, drinks some wine and eats a bucket of chicken. As far as eating people, most of the time you just hear some screaming, crunching noises and a little slurping. What you see is a lot of foam and what looks like acid and blood mixing together. There is also a little nudity and some blood.
*Spoilers: In the ritual the girl Sharon dies and the woman who originally died and created the demon comes back to life. She then has sex with the brother which kills the demon, sets the bed on fire and releases the spirit behind the painting.*
The movie was filmed at the Gar Wood mansion on Grayhaven Island in Detroit. The mansion was used as a rock and roll commune from 1969 to 1972. After several raids the mansion was shut down. In the seventies Barry used it to shoot his movie. Eventually the mansion was struck by lightning and burned down.