Dream Demon - Traumdämon

The musical scores reminded me of Hellraiser. There was a lot of effort put into making the movie look and feel like a nightmare which I thought was great. Almost a crossover between Hellraiser (1987) and A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984).

The lead character Diana played by Jemma Redgrave reminded me a lot of the character Kirsty from Hellraiser who was played by Ashley Laurence. The similarities where uncanny.

Dream Demon could easily fall into the category of weird horror. There is a lot of strange imagery through out the movie a lot of which ends up making sense at the end. Fun and enjoyable.

I was very pleased when I saw this film. I rented it thinking it would be a cheesy, unlikable horror film, but it is a lot better than that. I'd say it is a gem in its own right.

Made in 1988 but not released on video until 1993, Dream Demon is about an English bride-to-be who begins to have terrible, horrifying dreams. Not sure why she is experiencing them, and not able to find help from those close to her, she confides her trouble to an American woman (played by Kathleen Wilhoite, who is a very underrated actress) visiting London, who seems to be connected to the dreams in some way. It is then that the dreams turn more serious, as anyone unfortunate enough to be around the bride-to-be when she falls asleep can be pulled into the dream itself!

From the opening scene (I was caught by surprise there, a rarity for me) this movie grasps you. It is a clear and rare case of a movie that could have been done extremely poorly done very well thanks to fine performances by the two female leads and a director who knew what to do when others would flop. It isn't an edge-of-your-seat horror film, but it is freaky and well-done; worth checking out. Zanatos's score: 7 out of 10.

Diana, engaged to military hero Lieutenant Oliver, is plagued by nightmares - mostly horrible visions of Oliver abusing her. With Oliver being a local hero, Diana is being harassed by reporters Russell and Paul, enquiring not just about their wedding plans, but also intimate details.

Jenny Hoffman, who just arrived in London, comes to Diana's rescue when she fights off the reporters. As the two women become acquainted, Jenny tells Diana she believes she once lived in Diana's apartment, but can't remember. She also only recently discovered she was adopted, with very little memory of her real parents.

Diana's dreams intensifies until they eventually turn life-threatening. Diana unintentionally pulls Jenny into her dreams, endangering her life also. Wait, is this premise starting to sound all too familiar? Let's just say, if the character of Russell was replaced with Freddy Krueger, this would have been a worthy installment in the 'Nightmare on Elm Street' franchise. 'A Nightmare on Elm Street 7: Dream Demon'. Yup, definitely has a ring to it!

Just like the Elm Street movies, 'Dream Demon' is atmospheric and the transition from real life to the nightmare world is equally effective, and spooky. The film boasts very good effects, and the lighting effects are also brilliantly well done. The film looks so good with such a modern feel to it that its hard to believe this movie was made nearly four decades ago!

'Dream Demon' felt like a combination of 'A Nightmare on Elm Street', 'Poltergeist', and 'Hellraiser 2: Hellbound', yet at the same time it felt original. I also rather enjoyed Jenny's back story, and how well her story compliments Diana's story, resulting in them finding themselves in very similar situations, with both fighting for answers. Very clever indeed.

This movie is an under-rated gem.

It's genuinely scary, without being filled with blood & gore like many low-budget horror movies are.

Its has its flaws, but if you can get past them, you will be rewarded with a genuinely original horror movie. I had to watch it at least twice, before the full implications of the story became apparent to me.

There are many scenes, where you don't know what is real & what is a dream and for me, this adds to its effectiveness.

The soundtrack is also interesting because it was composed by Bill Nelson (ex Bebop Deluxe) during his "ambient music" phase of the 1980's.

I don't wish to discuss the story in any detail, because this might spoil the movie for you.

Unfortunately, this is currently unavailable on DVD, long since out of print in any other format, and might not be available again for some time to come, because it would appear that the rights ownership have become confused by bankruptcy. The only way to see it is to get hold of an old 2nd-hand VHS copy.

Thoroughly recommended.

Sort of a send-up of "A Nightmare on Elm Street", "Dream Demon" must be the only horror flick that references the Falklands War. The plot is pretty routine - woman starts having nightmares and it turns out that they relate to her past - but I liked the gag that they pulled in the opening scene; seriously, not even the Evil Dead movies thought of that! The only cast member whom I recognized is Timothy Spall (Wormtail in the Harry Potter movies). His character got to experience the REALLY ugly stuff, and I suspect that it was fun to create those makeup effects. Overall, this movie is probably worth seeing once.

PS: at the 1988 Fantasporto festival (held in Porto, Portugal), "Dream Demon" got nominated for Best Foreign Film.