Sick Product of a Sick System

A different way of telling a story

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

"Dreamscape" (1984) deals with dreams and such, lame as it may be... directed by Joseph Ruben, who later did Sleeping with the Enemy (1991) and Money Train (1995), "Dreamscape" presents quite a cast with Dennis Quaid, Max Von Sydow, Christopher Plummer, Kate Capshaw, Eddie Albert, and even George Wendt (Norm!). "Dreamscape" is actually an entertaining film that, luckily, doesn't take itself all that seriously. It is the old battle of evil verses good. And if you have ever had a bad dream or even what is technically called a night terror (the ones that make you sweat and scream) then this film may unleash a few of your own evil dream spooks! Rather scientific and psychological in its approach, there is an attempt made on the president's life in order to overthrow the government by the military-industrial complex... sound familiar? The special effects, while seeming quite dated now, were actually very good for the time this film came out, especially the dream sequences of the President detailing post-apocalyptic visions of decimated cities and ruinous wastes. The stop motion work, while not really appreciated by many, is really pretty good and reminds me of those old Ray Harryhausen films I love so much. The film itself is a hybrid of several different genres part horror film, part political conspiracy thriller, part speculative science fiction, and part comedy and director Joseph Ruben manages to pull of an impressive balancing act by seamlessly integrating all of these elements into a cohesive whole that actually holds together pretty well. Ruben keeps the action moving nicely and brings a truly memorable flair to the film's dream sequences. As stated previously, the Snake Man (a creation that would simply be a cartoonish computer-generated image if the film were made today) is still truly frightening and the President's nightmares, with their images of nuclear devastation, still retain their power to disturb. Ruben also gets uniformly good performances from his cast with special praise going to David Patrick Kelly who creates one of the most memorably quirky and hateful film villains of the 1980's. All in all, "Dreamscape" is a blast from the past that is more than worth tracking down.Overall rating: 8 out of 10.

After reading all of the positive reviews, I was a little bit disappointed by this movie, since it played like a very good made- for-TV movie, instead of a major motion picture. Still, on the whole it was a pleasant blast-from-the-past, and I don't regret watching it. The special effects, especially at the ending were pretty interesting, but the acting was strictly mediocre TV grade, and I could not make an real emotional connection to anybody in this movie because of that. I often like to watch older, less polished movies from the past like this one, because, while so many modern films are super slick, they are also often "plot-lite" and utterly soulless--this film is like Shakespeare compared to any from the Transformers franchise. The big logical problem I had with this film is that I kept wondering why somebody with very strong psychic abilities kept winding up in life threatening situations . It seems like you should "see" these problems coming. I mean, really, you can pick winning horses at the track, but thugs trying to kill you take you by surprise?

I watched this as a teenager in the theater. This movie was one of the few movies in my life that I continually reflected upon.Do dreams really matter, how important are they, and can you truly control dreams as though you lived in the Matrix? I loved this movie then, and after watching Inception, i wanted to go back and rent this movie again. Will watch it in the coming week.Nothing is more exciting than to think that every night we enter our own alien world where we have more control and more power than we have ever realized.We don't have enough dream research going on.

Less an outright "horror" film than a sci-fi/fantasy actioner, DREAMSCAPE gets the score it does from me for reasons of fondly-remembered nostalgia, and because of its strategy of making up for the super low-budget special effects by front-loading the movie with some of the best actors ever assembled for an indie project like this. Dr. Paul Novotny (FLASH GORDON'S Ming, Max Von Sydow) has developed an extraordinary system that allows psychically-gifted subjects to enter the subconscious minds of other subjects and actually affect the shape and the outcome of their dreams, (hence the title.) His most gifted subject, Alex Gardner (Dennis Quaid) is the one he wants to work with the most. But it seems Alex abandoned Novotny's experiments some years ago, in favor of using his gifts to play the ponies AND the "honeys."With a little "friendly persuasion" from the project "facilitator", the sinister Fed Bob Blair (Christopher Plummer, still shaking off his SOUND OF MUSIC image), Alex comes reluctantly 'back into the fold', where Paul Novotny's associate, the curvaceous Dr. Jane DeVries (Kate Capshaw, the future Mrs. Spielberg) makes the prospect of participation a lot easier for Alex.Once on board, Alex immediately butts heads with the only other psychic who has successfully navigated the "dreamscape," the sociopathic Tommy Ray Glatman (David Patrick Kelly from 48 HRS. and THE WARRIORS), a very disturbed - and disturbing - individual who would seem a very unlikely candidate to be allowed to go stomping through somebody's head. Things become a lot more clear and sinister when Alex has a "chance" encounter with horror author and conspiracy theorist "Charlie Prince," (George Wendt in a very different role from 'Norm' on CHEERS.) I guess when Stephen King saw this movie, he must have taken this character as a sign that he had truly 'made it to the big time.'Charlie explains the situation to an already suspicious Alex: it seems that the President (Eddie Albert) has been having some vivid and horrifying nightmares about a nuclear holocaust, and his dreams have influenced his decision about what action to take at an important upcoming summit with the Russian government (yeah, THAT is how old this flick is, folks.) So, do the math. It isn't very hard to figure out what Blair and Glatman's connection is with Dr. Novotny's experiments, or that it's really important that Our Hero Alex steps up his game to stop them.So, yes, DREAMSCAPE obviously cribs from A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET and even some parts of THE TERMINATOR. And the special effects, considered state-of-the-art in '84 are more than state-of-the-hokey now. (With all the newly advanced CGI technology, maybe it's time to dust this one off for a remake.)But the casting definitely works as everyone (particularly Kelly) deliver some strong, believable performances, and there are cameos by some familiar genre favorites, (Chris Mulkey, Kelly's co-star as part of the TWIN PEAKS ensemble, and John Carpenter favorite Peter Jason just to name two). And there you have it. For what it's worth to those who saw it decades ago (like Yours Truly), DREAMSCAPE still holds some entertainment value. For those who have never seen it, it's an interesting example of '80's indie film-making, and a chronicle of how far effects and makeup work have come since.