the audience applauded

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

I had just recently viewed this again, and I must say, it was another fun view. Bad Dreams is like another side of Elm Street. What I dig about, is it's intriguing storyline. Surviving a mass cult suicide, beautiful, innocent, virtuous Cynthia, Jennifer Rubin, wakes up after a thirteen year coma, (apparently we learn the longest is 37 years). She starts off her recovery in a mental ward, still clinging to her dead friends, one big happy family at the beautiful Unity Fields, out yonder, where they swallow all of that, you know. And one thing you'll never forget about Unity Fields, the devoted cult leader, Harris, played by the evil faced, Richard Lynch, an ugly Rutger Hauer'ish looking guy, the one true acting standout in this. Cynthia strikes up a kind of relationship, with her principal psychiatrist, Alan (Bruce Re-animator Abbott) the only one who really agrees this is the wrong environment for her. Cynthia's sanity isn't really helped, or convincing to others of the medical field, when starts seeing things, mainly a resurrected Harris, who keeps reappearing, sometimes in not the most the healthy states. Or poor young Cynthia could be delusional. And why are the patients, suiciding, one by one, some of them in pretty gruesome ways, a couple making a death pact, choosing to go through a mini turbine creating a blood shower, as you will. Is it Harris, taking them, for Cynthia not holding up her end of the bargain. I don't want to give anymore more away, just to say, Bad Dreams works just as well as a horror as it does a thriller. The familiar actors, though you would have to be more of a eighties type to know 'em, give their mentally unbalanced characters, spark and oomph, especially Dean Cameron, a comedic asset to this slick horror, that will surprise and appease gore hounds who hasn't vide'd this one. Harris Yulin, an acting treasure again gives a fine, performance, as a shady veteran shrink. You wouldn't think this film of b grade appeal, barely making a showing at the cinema back in 88, would surprise you with such an effortful storyline, but Bad Dreams does, it's title indeed one of sarcasm. It's a short nifty horror, that's bloody entertaining, especially thanks to that handful of patients, and Harris.

Cynthia reawakens from a 13 year old coma after a tragic fire murdered off her fellow cult members called "The Unity." She is sent over to a mental institution and placed in with the Borderline Personality therapy group. She begins dreaming and hallucinating about the leader of the Unity named Harris. Soon members of the therapy groups begin dying in apparent suicides. This may be because Cynthia made a pact to die with the unity, yet she survived.This movie had a similar Nightmare on Elm Street feel, but Harris is no Freddy. He is a genuinely spine-chilling phantasm, especially when he appears as his burned skeleton form in the elevators and hallways of the institution. The acting was convincing enough, and the leads did a very good job. The actor who played Ralph was the best. There is one cliché', the fellow patient who warns Cynthia "There is no escape from him." And something similar. Not too mention the evil psychologist with bad intentions and a love affair.Overall watch this movie if you can. It deserves a B+ for how it is put together. I recommend this to any horror fan.

Well well, this surely surprised me. I didn't know what to think about this flick. The cover showed me some deformed hand holding a face. I catched this at a garage sale, 3 movies for 1 dollar. So I bought it. Glad that I could put it into my collection. First of all, it's a typical era movie, the end of the eighties. The slashers were over and movie makers were searching for new things, so they decide to make supernatural flicks, with the most famous Elm Street. Bad Dreams isn't bad after all, it's watchable for everybody in the genre. The storyline is simple, a girl is in a cult, the cult made a suicide, she's the only survivor. And waking out of a coma she suddenly has bad dreams about the leader of the cult. It's bloody, not gory. The filming is perfect and the score is nice too, only at the end they stated My Way as from a band but it's Sid Vicious, sure of it. Perfect performance by the girl and the leader of the cult. If you can catch it cheap, you won't be disappointed.

I'm kind of caught here. I somewhat liked it, but came away rather under-whelmed because it was all too familiar and there was something more interesting within this strange horror/thriller premise than what was chalked up. Even with some creative cracks, it should've been better. The story's direction seems a little uneven if it wants to go out to shock (a good amount of blood splatter is spilt), or play its cards for psychological torment. Something about it never entirely fulfils. The performances are the main reason this one doesn't slip off the mind too quick. The beautiful Jennifer Rubin is exceptional in brining out a vulnerable side, which is counter-punched by determination. Alongside her are a very good Bruce Abbott and a towering Richard Lynch brings an uneasy subtly to his menacing character. Harris Yulin, Sy Richardson, Susan Ruttan and an amusingly batty Dean Cameron chip in with durable support. Andrew Fleming's leisured direction is stylish, but has that breakable quality to it. Good use of lighting, colouring and composition in pockets drips of atmosphere. The material is enjoyable (if minimal), as the protagonist tries to overcome the hallucinations that might be because of her unstable state of mind or the simple reality of being haunted by a restless spirit. There's some black humour evident, but the by-the-numbers script goes about things rather seriously. As well it has a fine and compelling soundtrack to boot. The special effects and make-up FX stands-up well enough. A decent little film.