His father, Charles, and sister, Cathy, begin to grieve, but his mother, Christine, becomes irate and refuses to believe that Andy has died.

Meanwhile, local police investigate the murder of the trucker, who was found with his throat slashed and his body drained of blood.

Andy's behavior escalates: he attacks a neighbor boy who attempts to demonstrate his karate skills, then kills the family dog when it tries to protect the child.

When Christine tells him that Andy is on a double date with Cathy, his high school sweetheart Joanne, and his best friend Bob, Charles gets his gun and goes looking for them.

The police pursuit ends at the cemetery, where Andy's decayed corpse is discovered writhing in a shallow grave beneath a tombstone on which he had scrawled his own name and the dates of his birth and death.

[6] Filming lasted three months, with the shoot presenting certain logistical issues, such as finding locations for cemetery scenes and avoiding Christmas lights during the holidays.

[7] In a contemporary review, Chuck Middlestat of the Albuquerque Journal deemed the film a "light-weight spooker that starts off pretty slowly but builds into a good nail-biter in the last half-hour," but noted the dialogue as weak, adding that "the actors... do as well as they could with sophomoric lines.

"[5] In a retrospective review, Glenn Erickson of DVD Talk wrote, "The reason Deathdream works is its superior dramatic staging.

"[9] Paul Corupe of DVD Verdict wrote, "Deathdream, the second collaboration by director Bob Clark and screenwriter Alan Ormsby, is a marked artistic and technical leap forward from the pair's overrated debut feature, Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things.

"[11] Glenn Kay wrote in Zombie Movies: The Ultimate Guide that Deathdream is "one of [Clark's] creepiest and most thought-provoking works".

[13] Special features include an audio commentary by Bob Clark,[14] an audio commentary by Alan Ormsby,[14] the featurette Tom Savini: The Early Years,[14] the featurette Deathdreaming: Interview with Star Richard Backus,[14] alternate opening titles, extended ending sequence,[14] trailers, and a poster and still gallery.

[14] In August 2003, Oliver Hudson and John Stalberg purchased remake rights to the film and optioned for Eli Roth to direct.

[18] By June 2008, financing fell through, leading to Michael Douglas' Further Films taking over producing duties from Dark Lot.