Death Bed: The Bed That Eats (1977) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

The bed comes to life in 1897 when a demon falls in love with a woman and creates a bed for their love-making. When the woman dies during the act, the demon weeps tears of blood that fall onto the bed, awakening it with a demonic hunger for human flesh and life essence.

• bed origin
• blood tears
• demon
• demonic bed
• 1897

The artist Aubrey Beardsley is the only person the bed chooses not to kill. Instead, the bed condemns him to immortality trapped behind a painting where he must witness every gruesome feeding for decades. This appears to be a cruel punishment, forcing him to watch victims die without being able to intervene.

• aubrey beardsley
• artist trapped
• painting
• immortality
• witness

When one of the three women (Diane) resembles the demon's lost love, the woman who died creating the bed, the bed reacts with agonized bleeding. This reveals the bed's deep connection to its origin and the emotional wound left by the mother's death, causing it physical pain to encounter her likeness.

Foreshadowing: The bed's origin in 1897 establishes the demon's grief over losing the woman he loved.

• mother
• resemblance
• bleeding
• pain
• emotional wound

When the demon falls asleep, the bed becomes temporarily powerless. The artist reveals a ritual that requires two elements: first, the surviving woman must carry out the ritual to teleport the bed and revive the mother, which costs the woman her life. Then the mother must complete the ritual by having sex with the brother, which triggers the bed to burst into flames and be destroyed.

• ritual
• mother
• destroy
• fire
• sacrifice

The bed's awakening is tied to the demon's sleep cycle. The demon sleeps for ten-year intervals, and during this time the bed lies dormant and powerless. When the demon awakens, the bed's evil returns and its hunger for victims is unleashed, which is why the bed's attacks happen in ten-year bursts.

• ten years
• cycle
• dormant
• sleep
• demon

Suzan's brother searches for her and eventually finds the surviving woman in the bed's chamber. When he tries to rescue her, the bed bites his hands to the bone, preventing any escape. The bed's telekinetic and physical defenses are designed to trap victims and ensure it completes its feeding.

• brother
• hands
• eaten
• trap
• rescue

The ritual to destroy the bed requires a sacrifice. When the surviving woman carries out the ritual to teleport the bed and revive the mother, she is killed in the process. This sacrificial death is the price demanded to break the bed's curse and restore the original mother.

• ritual
• sacrifice
• death
• surviving woman
• mother revived

The bed's mother, revived through the ritual, must complete the destruction by engaging in a final act with Suzan's brother. This act triggers the bed to burst into flames, destroying it completely. The ritual mirrors the original creation, the bed was born from a sexual act between demon and mother, and it is destroyed through a sexual act that reverses that creation.

Foreshadowing: The bed's origin began with the demon making love to the woman on the bed itself.

• mother
• brother
• sex
• final act
• destruction
• ritual completion

After the young couple is devoured, the artist taunts the bed for its folly. In response, the bed uses telekinetic force to tear through much of the house, destroying everything except the room where it resides. This demonstrates the bed's power and establishes that its hunger can extend beyond just feeding to include violent retaliation.

• house destroyed
• telekinesis
• couple
• artist taunt

The artist Aubrey Beardsley is freed only after the bed is destroyed through the ritual. With the bed's evil ended and the demon's control broken, the artist can finally pass on from his centuries-long vigil, released from his eternal role as witness to the bed's horrors.

• artist freed
• pass on
• eternal vigil
• released
• painting

Suzan is the first of the three women to be attacked. The bed uses her own crucifix necklace to strangle her before devouring her. This suggests the bed has telekinetic control over objects and uses them to subdue victims, even using religious symbols against the faithful in a disturbing twist.

• suzan
• crucifix
• strangle
• necklace
• attack

The young couple trespasses into the abandoned mansion and makes love on the cursed bed. This act of intimacy on the bed's surface awakens its hunger, and it devours them in a single brutal feast. The bed appears to be particularly triggered by sexual activity on its surface, linking back to its creation through the demon's love-making.

Foreshadowing: The bed was created as a place for the demon and his lover to make love.

• young couple
• trespass
• making love
• devoured
• awakened