Toxique

You can tell the negative reviewers were expecting a "horror movie" with "scares." Fever Dream is not a spooky ghost movie. It's a psychological drama with an element of magical realism. The story is very coherent and very clearly explained; it would only be confusing to someone who thinks "supernatural" elements must fit into a well established trope, like a curse or a haunting. The original novella had a more surreal, more disturbing sense of desperation, confusion and sadness that would be difficult to translate to film, and they didn't fully do it justice, but it's still competently made. Bottom line is that the book was better but the bad reviews are still mostly just clueless.

I watched with English audio.

I assume it makes more sense in Spanish. The Spanish title does.

Rescue Distance. It is the "thread" that makes it make sense. It is repeated continuously. And somebody chose Fever Dream instead?!

I have more questions. And very few answers.

Madres made sense. The poetry in this film seems lost in translation.

Starts out mysterious and great. But shuts down and ends before ever beginning. Explanations left short and cut and suddenly the build up we've been expecting ends. It never evolves. And then it's just over.

Fever dreams ... or crazy reality? And caused by what exactly? I am still rather confused by many things depicted by the movie. That may be enticing or it may be annoying to you. Depending on how much time and will you have to fully take this in and digest it ... well that will determine how much you probably will like it.

You can't just watch this while doing something else. Like having your phone and doing stuff on it while "watching" the movie. I have done this with lesser titles, so I am not judging. Some movies are more than predictable and do not really glue you to the screen. This is different ...

It's a decent creepy cautionary horror tale reminding us that unintended consequences often accompany the best intentions. The film is another take on W. W. Jacobs', The Monkey's Paw. Unfortunately the 1980s slashers film has convoluted what younger people consider horror. Horror is equated to slasher horror films. But horror genre is much wider than this and traditionally consisted of cautionary tales about the evils that can result from tempting fate. Usually, these tales had a main idea behind it that could be applied to everyday life.

The film has good cinematography and the actors did a fine job. I personally enjoyed it. We just need to get past the nonsense that horror = blood splatter so that we get more original and creative stories on to film. If you are a mother, then you likely feel the sense of dread watching what happens in the film.