Dreamscape

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!

It will earn your respect as a film and you will be intrigued, but not a film you'll write home about.

Alex Gardner (Dennis Quaid) is a psychic, he is in tune with his subconscious, once involved with the studies of Dr Paul Novotny (Max von Sydow) he is now an outcast, trying to live off the grid. He survives by gambling, his ability to predict horse race winners, makes this line of work easy pickings, accept there is a gang of thugs on to his abilities and want a cut of the pie.

Whether Alex is rescued or not is up for discussion, but he is whisked off to a campus and persuaded to work once again under his protege Dr Novotny in a project funded by the government. This project is to enter people's dreams, they then have the ability to alter the dream, curing night terrors etc. Something sinister is lurking though, otherwise we wouldn't have a movie.

Despite its obvious flaws, it is quite a solid flick and would be enjoyed by any sci-fi enthusiast. The cast are brilliant including Kate Capshaw as the beautiful Jane DeVries, David Patrick Kelly as the creepy Tommy Ray Glatman and a host of other names you'll recognise, Christopher Plummer, Peter Jason, George Wendt and Eddie Albert.

I might be a bit harsh to say the writing is bad, but there are enough kinks in its armour to say so, the flow is definitely off, whether this is due to writing or editing I don't know. It is a very good story, and it is as if there was a much bigger plan, but maybe money or something else got in the way of executing exactly what was wanted, it felt like it had lost 30 mins in the middle somewhere. All in all, a good watch.

Cheese moment: Not the cheesiest of films, but it has its moments. The scene when he is being chased by the govt agents, they are on foot while he is on a motorbike.

One of my favs from the 80's. There are certain pictures that grown-ups look to bring them back to the action/suspense/scare/titillation they felt as teen-agers. This fits the bill perfectly. I saw this as original release in the movies in my 30's, allowed myself to let the teenager within to take over, and have seen it at least 3-4 more times on TV. Just love it. Quaid is perfect as the charming/bumbling psychic recruited to (presumably) help people with dream problems. OK, so Kate Capshaw isn't a great actress, but she was quite good enough in the sexy-hot, yet resistant, scientist role she was meant to play. Max Von Sydow was perfect here as the main scientist. At first I was disappointed in Plummer's underplayed role, but I'm more forgiving in the subsequent viewings. The dream sequences were quite entertaining, some fun and some scares, and David Patrick Kelly (as Tommy Ray Glatman) did a FIRST CLASS job as a despicable psychopathic creep. And the ending was top-notch (on several levels, no spoilers). Despite comments that this seemed to copy others, I actually found this to be quite original. It had a plotline, continuity, and finale, and viewers didn't have to scratch their heads trying to figure out what happened or what would happen. I actually appreciate movies which don't rely on TONS of new wave computerized special effects, just enough from the 80's to set the scenery. I always recommend it highly to those who haven't seen it.

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.

Years after studying Alex Gardner (Dennis Quaid) for his psychic abilities, Dr. Paul Novotny (Max von Sydow) tracks him down to talk him into experimenting with psychic dream research. However, higher ups in the dream research program may have ulterior, nefarious motives.

Dreamscape may be a good candidate for "most misleading poster art". The theatrical poster, which is also the DVD cover, suggests a kid-oriented, slightly hokey adventure film--perhaps a combination of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), The Neverending Story (1984) and "The Hardy Boys Mysteries" (1977). Not that the combination sounds like a bad idea to me, but this film is much more adult, much more sci-fi, and more of a thriller. It's not really an adventure, although some of the dream material could be seen that way. The tone, if not content, is closer to something like Coma (1978), and later films like Flatliners (1990) and The Cell (2000), the latter being obviously influenced by Dreamscape. It also has a bit of the bizarre surrealist tone of late-1970s fare such as Phantasm (1979) (and this aspect also influenced films like The Cell).

Part of the reason the films works as well as it does is the cast. Dennis Quaid carries the film, frequently injecting enjoyable comic relief. Max von Sydow is always excellent. Kate Capshaw, as Jane DeVries, is also good as the research assistant and Alex' love interest. Although they're underused, Christopher Plummer, Eddie Albert, George Wendt and David Patrick Kelly all turn in superb performances as well.

Director Joseph Ruben frequently treats us to great dream sequences, with often-subtle touches. Note, for example, the different colors upon entering different persons' dreams. For the relatively benign construction worker, the entry is blue. For the child troubled with nightmares, there is a complex of colors. For Jane, who is giving Alex the cold shoulder, the color is an icy silver-white. Although the film was relatively low budget, and effects relatively primitive at the time, I thought all of the effects worked well. I even loved the part stop-motion, part guy-in-a-costume snake-man. At times the stop motion work briefly resembled Harryhausen. I especially loved the more surreal and more horrific aspects of the dreamworlds, such as we see from Eddie Albert's character, the expressionistic sets for the child's dream, the zombies, and so on.

Surprisingly, perhaps, Dreamscape is also much more effective on the suspense/thriller end than I expected it to be. There are a few great chase scenes, and one brutal (though not graphic) murder on-screen, one off-screen. It was also steamier than I expected in one section.