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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.

Despite being saddled with one of those supremely irritating "dream vs. reality" type plots, DREAM DEMON is a surprisingly well-made British horror film which could be considered the British equivalent of A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET. The budget may have been low (especially considering the state of British cinema in the '80s) but the producers of this movie picked some fairly good actors and mixed them into a complicated plot involving a girl's dreams which become reality. This is a film which manages to be pretty suspenseful in places and even - wow! - scary on occasion. I wouldn't consider it a great movie but it passes the time nicely and has some over-the-top splatter for gore fans to enjoy, while displaying an imagination usually lacking in late '80s cinema.

Opening with a superbly crafted shock scene involving a decapitation at a wedding of all places, the film alternates between reality and dreamscapes repeatedly with the lines between the two becoming ever more blurred. Shots of heroines running down weirdly-lit netherworldly corridors deserve a nod to HELLRAISER, that other major late '80s British horror movie, but the script remains unpredictable at all times. The cast is an interesting one, with Jemma Redgrave giving a powerful performance in the leading role as the dreamer, with Kathleen Wilhoite as her imported American friend (shame about that dated haircut though). Surprisingly the heavies are played by Timothy Spall and Jimmy Nail, two well-known British comedy actors. The surprising thing is that they're actually very good as the two loathsome reporters, with Spall being particularly repulsive.

The splatter effects are kept to a minimum but tend to go over-the-top when they do appear. In all the film doesn't really make much sense (at least to this viewer), and with the flashback to the burning figure I wasn't really sure how that linked to all of the terror. Still, there is plenty to be entertained by for the horror fan including walls which crack and bleed and lots of shadowy menace. An intriguing effort.

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.

An interesting but old idea for a film is unfortunately a mixed bag. The director didn't know how to stage the scenes and the acting. The two leading ladies are certainly capable of better performances. This needs a better director with more expertise and a better written script. There are many good and spooky scenes in the film but they are interspersed with poor scenes and reactions that are clearly uncertain. Half of the movie is suspenseful but the other half lollygags due to dark humor and poor direction. As it is, the film might be improved with more crisp editing. There are too many things seen that make no sense or are old tired cliches. You are left with many questions about what you have seen at the end.

The last thing you expect from a low-budget 80's horror film with the word 'demon' in its title is complexity and confusion, and yet all you get from "Dream Demon" is complexity and confusion. This British production tries to be more intelligent than the classic it obviously imitates (Nightmare on Elm Street) with a very intricate "what's-a-dream-and-what's-reality"-structure. The highly ambitious script (co-written by director Cokeliss) intertwines the premarital nightmares of young virgin Diana with the blurry childhood traumas of punk-girl Jenny and, most of the time, you haven't got a clue what's really going on. Diana's dreams, revolving on dark secrets inside the mirrors of her house, connect her to Jenny, who lived there as a kid and returned to Britain to find out who her real parents were. In the meantime, Diana's dreams cause the violent deaths of some persistent journalists that are interested in her upcoming marriage with a local army-hero. Maybe if he had a little more budget (or talent...), director Cokeliss might had worked out the interesting ideas more carefully. The story really does have potential and there are obvious moments of ingeniousness, but the wholesome is shaky and unappealing. Too bad, because "Dream Demon" definitely has style! The atmosphere is often uncanny and the camera-work is very inventive. The acting performances are far above average and the gruesome make-up effects (although nearly not enough in my opinion) look very convincing. All in one...not recommended.

Well-heeled virginal bride-to-be Diana (Jemma Redgrave) is anxious about her impending nuptials and suffers from nightmares in which her Falklands hero fiancé Oliver (Mark Greenstreet) is far less perfect than she thinks. When Diana is hounded by two muck-raking reporters from the gutter press, spunky American Jenny Hoffman (Kathleen Wilhoite) steps in, seeing the journalists off by cracking one of them in the family jewels. Diana and Jenny soon become good friends, but there is a dark secret in Jenny's past that is somehow connected to Diana's new home and which plunges the women into a nightmarish world of shadows and demons.

If Dream Demon was intended to be Britain's answer to A Nightmare on Elm Street, director Harley Cokliss seriously dropped the ball: his film has none of the energy, fun or imagination of Wes Craven's film, and instead of an iconic movie monster, Cokliss gives us a pair of crap villains in the not-very-terrifying form of its loathsome supernatural news-hounds, played by Jimmy Nail and Timothy Spall. The film also doesn't make a lick of sense: one might argue that a movie dealing with the world of nightmares doesn't need to adhere to standard storytelling conventions, but 'dream logic' can only excuse so much, and this one goes way beyond what is acceptable, failing to give any kind of explanation for Diana's dreams, or for the presence of the disgusting demonic duo of Nail and Spall.

There are some impressively gory make-up effects along the way, including a splattery decapitation, a juicy punch through the skull, and an ear yanked off, but they are wasted on this dreadful mess of a movie that delivers little in the way of scares. If only Jimmy Nail had started singing... ain't no doubt THAT would have been truly disturbing!

Also shouldn't it be a Nightmare Demon? But Dream Demon does have a nice ring to it for sure. And the movie is quite nicely made. There is even a system behind the dreams, though you might not really decipher it from the start. Not everyone I reckon. And that's really a nice touch to add to the movie.

Still most of it is, where are we and are we? It's like a dream version of Total Recall. Sort of and with a touch of fantasy and imagination. Then again, that is what you need or dreams isn't it? I think so, but whatever the case, a good thriller/horror movie that has no Freddy Krueger in it, but still is entertaining and horryfying enough

"Dream Demon" features some imaginative visuals and clever camera shots, but is doomed by its terribly confusing, almost indecipherable plot. When it's all over, few answers have been given to the viewer and the rules of the dream-vs-reality game are never explained. This picture remains a blurry enigma from beginning to end. (*1/2)

British Working-Man Film-Maker Harley Cokeliss has a Frenzied Touch for Glossy Visuals.

But has a Tendency Here to Beat-the-Drum One Too Many Times Echoing the Samo-Samo Reveals Over and Over.

You Will Lose Count of the Number of Times Doors are Opened and the Fake Surprise of the 2 Heroines Enter the Identical Maze of Rooms, Stairs, and Mirrors Again and Again.

By the End it is an Irritant Prolonging the Movies End and is Just Puzzling in its Insecurity that the Audience Needs More and More Repeated Information or Another Similar Trope.

The Girls (Jemma Redgrave and Kathleen Wilhoit) are Fine but the "Comedy Relief" of (Jimmy Nail and Timothy Spall) again Outstay Their Welcome Going Over the Same Ground and Makes You Want it to STOP!... End the Damn Thing Already.

The Scare Resonate the First Time, as Does Yucky Vomit Wearing Timothy Spall the 1st Time He Shovels Food in His Mouth, but Wears the Upchuck Suit Way too Long and the "Humor" Beaten to Death's Door Until YOU may Do Your Own Purging.

Despite Returning to the Same Gags and the Same Mystery...it's Still...

Worth a Watch

Note...For the Fans who insist on claiming a "Nightmare On Elm Street" (1984) Rip-Off...let's be kind for all the effort and call it a "Homage".

Because this was British and starred Jemma Redgrave, I expected it to be classier. It's another of those dream horror movies where things happen according to no logical sequence but whenever the director feels like it. Yet it does have one great idea, which I know I've seen used in a story somewhere: the existence of a real house and its dream counterpart, connected in some occult way. In one scene of this movie the heroine's friend and partner becomes lost in the dream house, looking for a way to get out, while the heroine searches for her in the real one, looking for a way to get through. To me this is quite scary and evocative. But the idea only works if the two houses stay separate throughout; these dream horror movies rely on the shock of the dreams breaking through into the real world, or their mock-up of the real world. Some day a filmmaker with more restraint should take the idea and do it right.

No doubt this film appeals to people - judging by its IMDb rating, but I found it quite boring. I didn't want to waste any more time on it. But after stopping and restarting the film about 5 times, I got to the end.

It was a task to get through the darn thing.

There's no story. Just this young woman dreaming nightmares about her soon to be husband, people she knows, and the house she lives in crumbling. I thought it might lead somewhere after the first 30 minutes but it's the same thing over and over again.

There's also this other woman who sort of gatecrashes the life of the protagonist.

Both women are there for each other through the nightmares.

There's also a newspaper photographer and journalist who are there in real life and in the dreams.

As I said, some people like this kind of film. I read one other person's review who said it was an underrated gem. There's a reason it's underrated, there's no plot, and the script could have been written by a 10-year-old.

This film was an utter waste of my time.

1/10.

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.

It might be strongly argued that one of the more unique British Genre films produced in horror's heady 1980s heyday was imaginative writer/director Harley Cokeliss's demonically eccentric, visually inventive, playfully outlandish, generously practical Fx-laden, deliciously unpredictable 'Dream Demon' that proved to be a Big Box VHS knockout horror-hit upon its initial release, but, sadly, the grisly, gut-churning shocker slipped into relative obscurity, and the luminous, considerably more than welcome Arrow Video 2K restoration highlighting many of the nightmare-inducing film's eye-poppingly audacious, brain-fizzingly bonkers set-pieces, pleasingly exposing a wickedly warped wealth of devilish detail once lost in the frightful fug of fuzzy analogue video. Prim, beautiful, and upwardly docile Diana (Jemma Redgrave) is a sheltered, privileged, overly timorous young debutante anxiously awaiting her imminent marriage to no less picture perfect war hero partner Oliver (Mark Greenstreet) who, perhaps, hides a nefarious secret to rival that of the delightfully ominous abode Diana has been given by her wealthy socialite parents. The wonderfully torrid text by talented Hammer alumnus Christopher Wicking & Harley Cokeliss is a zesty, neo-Gothic delight, boldly eschewing most of the misogynistic stalk and slash tropes for a richly maniacal mine of mentally tormented maleficence! The giddy grand Guignol grandeur of 'Dream Demon' succeeds where all too many other low-budget Horror Films fail, being more imaginative, and forward-thinking, not merely utilizing talented actors Kathleen Wilhoite, and Jemma Redgrave as mere glamorous knife-fodder, but as spirited, 3-dimensional characters one can empathize with, their greatly imperilled, demon-infested journey of Diana & Jenny ( Kathleen Wilhoite) making for a deeper, more rewarding experience than e might initially expect. While 'Dream Demon' clearly gleans a smidgen of inspiration from 'Nightmare on Elm Street, and 'Bad Dreams' it has a searingly sinister singularity all of its own, in an increasingly monotonous era of enervating jump-scares, and tawdrily uninspired horror remakes, its majestically malign lustre shines ever brighter today!

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.

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.

"Dream Demon" follows Diana, a Londoner about to be married to a prominent man, who is suffering from disturbing nightmares after having moved in to her new house. She soon meets Jenny, a tourist from Los Angeles who claims Diana's new home was her biological parents' last address; she has no memories of her parents or her early years spent there, but feels drawn to them. Diana's powerful and terrifying dreams begin to impact reality, and the two women begin to delve into the home's history and Jenny's connection to it.

A relatively unknown British-set offering by American director Harley Cokeliss, "Dream Demon" is in the same league as a number of over-the-top supernatural horror films from the late 1980s, such as "Night of the Demons," "Mirror, Mirror," and "Witchboard" (the latter of which Kathleen Wilhoite, portraying Jenny here, also appeared in). The distinction with "Dream Demon" is that the film has a particularly English bent to it that borders on gothic at times.

Another distinguishing element here, and perhaps the film's most interesting feature, is that it toys with narrative quite cleverly as Diana's grasp on reality begins to tunnel in on itself, to the point that she (and eventually Jenny) cannot discern waking life from Diana's lethal slumber. There are elements redolent of "A Nightmare on Elm Street" in this case--Diana's dreams begin to impact her physical environment, endangering those around her (including a pair of crude journalists harassing her). Though not the most original idea, it is orchestrated nicely here, and keeps the viewer on their toes as the two characters venture through a topsy-turvy world.

Jemma Redgrave turns in a solid and understated performance here as the tormented Diana, and Kathleen Wilhoite offers a spunky performance as the mouthy California punkster who joins her. Things start to coalesce in the final act of the film, and the fragments from Diana's dreams begin to paint a picture of why the two women have been united in the first place. Though not really a twist per se, the revelation feels appropriate and I left the film satisfied despite a few loose ends.

Overall, "Dream Demon" is worth a viewing for fans of late '80s supernatural films, as it features a similar aesthetic and premise to its peers. The English bent adds a distinct flavor, while the screenplay is clever, if not entirely perfect. Recommended for genre fans. 8/10.

Basically...Kate Bush lets a complete stranger, Cyndi Lauper, into her house one day and together they unfold the psychological complexities of their personal turmoils through nightmares that seem to slowly be manifesting into their reality.

For such a buried film from the late 80's horror bunch, Dream Demon has an awful lot to offer. I watched this with a group of 4 and it left us questioning a bundle of things. Funnily enough, the biggest question was whether or not the film even had any deeper meaning in general, but when a film leaves you wondering, it's generally done something right.

Dream Demon is certainly one of those films, as many 80's horror films are, that sticks to its building formula of wandering through dreamlike landscapes while capitalizing on the concept of being chased or followed, for a majority of its runtime, especially in the second half, but its far more intriguing here than it is in your average slasher film, mostly because of the way that dream logic is presented and implemented. Many times in these dreamscapes the film reaches an almost Lynchian realm, and it is much welcomed. Mirror universes, distorted faces, men on fire running at you in slow mo...etc. It all works rather well. The further into the film you get, the more metaphorical and obscure it feels, all leading to a surprisingly epic climax. The film has some really cool music score cues and some pretty fierce cinematography at times.

Beyond everything else though, the thing that sticks the most is seeing character actor Timothy Stall, who you'll probably recognize from a bundle of films throughout the 90's and 2000's, in such a relentless and disturbing role. He always had the face for something so creepy - it's nice to see it capitalized on so thoroughly here. He just gets scarier and scarier as the movie goes on, and the same goes for his henchman played by Jimmy Nail. They really reach an iconic level in this film as far as horror villains go, but the movie is so slept on that people don't know. The lead woman's husband also stands out bringing a certain Den Harrow-like pompousness to his role - very amusing. There are a couple of gory scenes featuring these characters that you will never be able to forget.

Dream Demon is a buried gem that all fans of 80's horror should see!