The Dreaming

Cathy Thornton (Penny Cook) is a hard working doctor whose life is thrown for a loop when her archaeologist father Bernard (Arthur Dignam) unleashes a curse by going on a particular dig. Several months after the dig has taken place, a group of young aborigines try to pilfer artifacts from a university, believing the artifacts belong to them. One of them is mortally wounded during the attempt, and after Cathy has attended to the girl in the hospital, she becomes plagued by nightmares of savage dudes who resemble vikings and wield weapons that look like hockey sticks.

"The Dreaming" is not for those genre addicts who prefer really meaty and straightforward narratives. This story of exploitation and mistreatment of indigenous people is more like a waking nightmare captured on film, with lots and lots of genuinely spooky atmosphere. If potential viewers are so inclined, they'll simply go with the flow and enjoy the unrelenting doom and gloom. Things do get violent but never especially gory. The antagonists are definitely quite creepy and malevolent. The acting is quite solid from our three main performers. Cook is appealing enough for one to feel some sympathy watching what she goes through. Dignam (of the cult hit "Strange Behaviour") is effective as the dad, and Gary Sweet rounds out the star trio by playing Cathy's concerned & perplexed companion. John Noble of the "Lord of the Rings" franchise and the TV series 'Fringe' makes his film debut as Dr. Richards. The images are often striking and distressing, and everything is beautifully photographed (by David Foreman) on scenic locations and the music score by Frank Strangio is wonderfully sinister.

Recommended to fans of the weird and the obscure.

Seven out of 10.

The Dreaming stars Penny Cook as doctor Cathy Thornton, whose father, archaeologist Professor Bernard Thornton (Arthur Dignam), disturbs an Aboriginal burial ground on a remote island, which causes all sorts of strange occurrences. Before long, Cathy is experiencing bizarre dreams in which centuries old whalers slaughter indigenous people with metal hockey sticks. Seeking answers, she visits her father on the island, only for dad to turn into a deranged killer.

A large percentage of this film consists of confusing hallucinations and nightmares, but even the stuff between the dreams is difficult to fathom; by the end of the film, I was none the wiser. There are a couple of cool visual moments - an animated x-ray and a cloud of mist clearing to reveal a kid impaled on scaffolding poles - but the film is, by and large, a boring and impenetrable mess.

Picturesque and technically sound but abysmally boring Ozploitation 'thriller' attempts to leverage the contemporary popularity of Penny Cook (fresh from 'A Country Practice' duties), but fails to excite. It's reminiscent of 'The Omen' in some imagery, and whilst the basic plot (concerning possession) is coherent, the pacing is tedious and the characters shallow.

Peroxided surgeon Penny Cook spends most of the film confused by the apparent apparitions she's begun seeing, the result of her archaeologist father's (Arthur Dignam) selfish (almost megalomaniacal) obsession with the excavation of an ancient Aboriginal burial ground. Gary Sweet also featured as Cook's legal eagle husband, becoming increasingly concerned by his wife's hysteria as it starts to impact both their apparently successful careers.

The water bill from the rain-making machines must've accounted for half the film's budget, trying in vain to cultivate a mysterious ambience which the laboured plot can't conjure. Heavy-handed symbolism denies the film any momentum, whilst cliched and over-used audio-visual cues (squeaky doors, creaking floorboards, howling winds) attempt cheap thrills which leave the film looking superficial and amateurish.

I'm not sure if the makers were attempting to make a deeper statement on colonialism, but the only dreaming I found myself doing was wishing I'd watched something else.

This film is one of the most impressive films ive ever bought for less than £3. It really shocks on all levels then spirals towards an incredibly tense finale which will leave you wishing to take stock of what is important to you in life.

And theres a bit where an X-ray starts screaming. Genius.

Snappy as any Hitchcock film.

Beautiful as a retro Maxell cassette ad.

Acted so subtly that I KNOW those people from my life, even though most people only get a few solid moments to establish their character.

This one's good. Don't skip it.

(skip the first 3 minutes of intro credits though, gd)