Dreamscape: Höllische Träume

Excellent cast heading up this Fantasy/Horror film with excellent early F/X (seems amateurish to today's standards). The reason I love this film so much is that it spotlights the subconscious and its hidden agendas. It's a classic war between good and evil. The plot is solid, and it's a real headgame when you think about the dream world as another realm completely. Great chemistry between Quaid and Capshaw, and Sydow delivers his usual solid performance. Excellent conclusion!

The idea is fantastic. Can you imagine being able to get into other people's dreams, watch them, interact with them. The problem is, the plot is inconclusive and becomes kind of a TV movie along the way. It would make a fantastic remake with a stronger cast and director. However, movies about dreaming are always scary because they touch on something so close and yet inexplicable to all of us. I saw recently a short movie from Italy entitled "Xchange" which is the closest to this one in terms of innovation insofar as the subject is concerned. Not an easy area to tell a long story about. Dreams are often used as omens or hints of psychological discomfort in movies. Instead, it would be great if they could be regarded as something different: a world of their own, a parallel state of mind no less real than real life itself. Someone should redo Dreamscape!

"Dreamscape" does require a little more suspension of disbelief that most entries in the sci-fi genre, but adds up to well-paced, generally enjoyable, occasionally exciting film. Effects are somewhat dated today, but Quaid's charming, confident performance makes up for that. Definitely a minor picture, but still unjustly neglected.

Psychic Alex Gardner (Dennis Quaid) is recruited for a government-funded institute. In it psychics are able to get into peoples' dreams and interact with them. However one subject dies while in this state and Alex realizes something is wrong. And the President (Eddie Albert) is going to visit the institute for some nightmares he is having...

I enjoyed watching this but realized, after it was over, that it didn't make a whole lot of sense and there were plot holes left and right. Still, it moves quickly and the dream sequences themselves were lots of fun. This was also the second PG-13 rating ever released. It was cut to get that (a sex scene between Quaid and Kate Capshaw was almost completely dropped) but there were some complaints about the amount of violence (none of which was cut) that was allowed in. By today's standards though it's not that bad.

Quaid is good--he's young, handsome and not taking any of this seriously. Max von Sydow is very good as the head doctor of the research. Kate Capshaw is pretty terrible as his assistant. Christopher Plummer seems to be proving he can say his lines without moving a muscle in his face. Albert is lots of fun as the President and David Patrick Kelly almost runs away with the movie as Tommy Ray Glatin.

So a quick, fun little movie. Just don't think about it too much.

I just saw Dreamscape on television. Despite some flaws, it's not a bad movie at all. It's very well-acted (though George Wendt is wasted in a thankless plot-device role) and features some very impressive, CONVINCING effects. If you want gratuitous computer-cartoon crap, look elsewhere. The "snake man" is impressive, and the actual dreamscapes themselves feature some inventively bizarre set design.

Of course, I must mention the flaws. Though Dennis Quaid and Kate Capshaw have appeal, their characters are only partially developed, and the romantic angle of their relationship is quite standard and seems a bit forced. The motivations of several characters seem muddled, and the film tries to be too many things (horror, political conspiracy drama, Raiders of the Lost Ark-inspired adventure) for too many audiences. Also, despite creepy bits, it does seem to pull some punches. It's too explicit to be purely psychological, yet it stops just short of being a visual nightmare. Basically it lacks a hard edge...of course, as I said, I saw it cut for TV.

Still, despite the problems, it's worth watching if you run across it. It's well-made and effective, with engaging performances and some sufficiently eerie passages.