Dreamscape [DVD]

They're sitting at a table in an off-campus restaurant close to Thornhill College. A pitcher of beer sits between them. "Let's play a little game," says Dr. Paul Novotny, head of a secret psychic research project, to Alex Gardner, who had been one of his top subjects a few years ago. "Let's pretend that a man, with a little help from science, could psychically project himself inside the dream of a sleeping person. Then pretend, once inside the dream, he becomes an active participant in it. He'd actually be there, right in the middle...would feel the dream...experience it...even shape and alter the dream itself. What would you say to a notion like that?"

Alex (Dennis Quaid), who had left Dr. Novotny (Max Von Sydow) previously because he was tired of being an experimental subject, reluctantly agrees to help a man he respects and likes. He meets Paul Novotny's associate, Jane DeVries (Kate Capshaw), and an edgy, tentative romance starts. He enters the dream of a nebbishy husband with sexual inadequacy issues and helps identify the cause of the problems. He volunteers to enter the dream of a small boy who has debilitating nightmares about a horrific snakeman and guides the boy, within the dream, to conquer fear. And he meets Bob Blair (Christopher Plummer). He learns Blair is the head of the government's covert intelligence operation, and that it is Blair who is funding Novotny's research program. Just think, Blair says at one moment, how important it could be to have U.S. agents enter the dreams of our enemies...or our friends. Unspoken is the potential to assassinate through dreams. Blair has a problem. The President of the United States (Eddie Albert) is having nightmares about nuclear destruction; he is determined to come to an agreement with the Soviets on nuclear disarmament. Blair is opposed...and sympathetically convinces the President to come to Thornhill College where the special dream program may just be able to help. What Blair doesn't mention is that one of those trained to enter dreams is his creature, and this person, Billy Ray Glatman (David Patrick Kelly) is a psychopathic killer. Blair intends to solve the President's nightmare problems permanently by having Billy Ray be the one to enter the President's dreams.

And the plot deepens. Alex and others learn of the plot. Some die. Alex must find a way, while being hunted by Blair's men, to enter the President's dream, cancel out the presence of Billy Ray and bring the President back safely. If he's successful, he will also have to find a way to deal with Bob Blair, who is an unforgiving sort of man.

I like this movie a lot, but it seems often overlooked. It has a weird, interesting premise, a performance by Quaid that is crafty and very attractive; Von Sydow is immensely sympathetic and solid, and Plummer is smooth and ruthless; the story line moves along at a fairly rapid pace, taking its time to set up the story, then moving fast to the climax. The movie carries along a romance and some comedy, but plays it serious when it gets down to business. The dream sequences, in particular, I think are well handled. They aren't overpowered as they would be today by Computer Generated Overkill. We find ourselves in strange landscapes, red dusks, ruined escalators diving down into blasted buildings, odd time shifts, hounds with glowing red eyes, swaying steel girders high above the streets, twisting pits and endless staircases, deep shadows in dark greens and purples, odd-angled railway carriages, the dead with radiation scars and dripping wounds, the snakeman all scales and teeth. And in the president's dream we have Billy Ray out to kill, changing shape, merciless. When he tells Alex to have a heart, he means it.

Starring an extremely young looking Dennis Quaid, 'Dreamscape' focusses on the exploits of Alex Gardner, who is recruited into an exciting new experiment into dream research, in which trained dream linkers actually enter the dreams of volunteers. Quickly establishing himself as one of the project's more talented dream linkers, Alex finds himself drawn to the beautiful Dr Jane DeVries (Kate Capshaw). Together, the pair discover a sinister plot to murder the President in his dreams. The only person who can prevent this is Alex - he must enter the President's dream and confront his own darkest nightmare.

By today's standards, 'Dreamscape' looks extremely dated, but it has some imaginative ideas and some of the dream sequences look amazing. By far the creepiest sequence is the one in which Alex enters the dream of a young boy suffering from recurring nightmares. One dream linker has already been 'taken away in a basket' after entering the boy's dream, so is Alex brave or foolish to think he can help? All I'll say is, watch out for the snake man!

The DVD comes with a double sided insert so that you can decide which picture to display. One side shows a portrait of Alex, the other a montage of characters and scenes very reminiscent of 'Raiders of the Lost Ark'. This could be very misleading to younger viewers if they got hold of the DVD by mistake, expecting a light-hearted kiddies adventure. Some of the dream sequences could be quite scary for youngsters. So keep the DVD out of reach of tiny hands if you like to display the montage picture!

With a bigger budget, this could have been an amazing movie and I'm suprised no one has attempted to remake it, because the ideas are certainly worth expanding on. As it stands though, 'Dreamscape' makes for entertaining viewing, but keeps us wishing for more long after the credits have rolled. If only there had been a sequel ....

Fond memories of this film, although it's looking a little dated now. Interesting that the DVD states region 2 on Amazon yet all of the sellers are USA ones with R1 versions - a bit misleading...

Interesting that with all of the recent remakes this one hasn't been redone - would think it could be done quite well too, after all, men in rubber suits don't really carry much sway nowadays!