Dreamscape (1984)

Director:

Joseph Ruben

Writers:

David Loughery (story)
David Loughery (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

15 August 1984 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Sci-Fi | Thriller | Horror

Tagline:

Alex Gardner has an extraordinary gift. To keep it may cost him his life...

Plot:

A government funded project looks into using psychics to enter people's dreams, with some mechanical help...

Plot Keywords:

Dream | Psychic | Heart | Nightmare | Helicopter

Awards:

1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Dennis Quaid	...	Alex Gardner
Max von Sydow	...	Doctor Paul Novotny
Christopher Plummer	...	Bob Blair
Eddie Albert	...	The President
Kate Capshaw	...	Jane DeVries
David Patrick Kelly	...	Tommy Ray Glatman
George Wendt	...	Charlie Prince
Larry Gelman	...	Mr. Webber
Cory 'Bumper' Yothers	...	Buddy
Redmond Gleeson	...	Snead
Peter Jason	...	Babcock
Chris Mulkey	...	Finch
Jana Taylor	...	Mrs. Webber
Madison Mason	...	Fred Schoenstein
Kendall Carly Browne	...	Mrs. Matusik

Also Known As:

A Morte nos Sonhos (Brazil) [pt]
Dreamscape (France) [fr]
Dreamscape, fuga nell'incubo (Italy) [it]
El túnel de las pesadillas (Argentina) [es]
Höllische Träume (West Germany) [de]
La gran huida (Spain) [es]
O efialtis tou proedrou (Greece) (TV title) [el]
Salainen siirto (Finland) [fi]
Ucieczka w sen (Poland) [pl]

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

USA:PG-13 | Iceland:16 | UK:15 (cut) | UK:15 (re-rating) (2000) (uncut) | Netherlands:12 | Australia:M | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Finland:K-16 | France:-12 | Norway:15 | West Germany:16 | USA:R (original rating) | USA:PG-13 (edited for re-rating)

Filming Locations:

Los Alamitos Racetrack - 4961 Katella Avenue, Los Alamitos, California, USA

Company:

Zupnik-Curtis Enterprises

Trivia:

Dennis Quaid was the first and only choice for Alex Gardner, after the producers loved his dedication for the role and the project during it's pre-production stage.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Alex is playing his saxophone in his apartment near the beginning of the film, he is clearly not playing the instrument.

Quotes:

Tommy Ray Glatman: In this world, Alex, you're nothing. And me, I'm God.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Xiao sheng meng jing hun (1987)

Soundtrack:

Baby, Can't We Take It Home

Good Stuff!

Dennis Quaid plays Alex Gardner, a psychically gifted young man who agrees to participate in a revolutionary program where others of his kind are projected into people's nightmares. Alex learns that pompous government man Bob Blair (Christopher Plummer) has a sinister motive for supporting this program...

Thoroughly entertaining movie offers plenty of thrills, intrigue, and effects. It may not be anything truly special, but it's certainly above average of its type. The cast is enjoyable, too. I do have to agree with others on the music score, though - it does sound like somebody just aimlessly pounding away on a keyboard. It just doesn't work.

"The Snakeman" is sort of an interesting monster. It doesn't altogether succeed because it frankly isn't that scary, but it's pulled off fairly well, using a combination of animation, makeup effects, and performance (by character actor Larry Cedar, who also played the "airplane monster" in "Twilight Zone: The Movie").

I do like this cast - I enjoyed the work of Dennis Quaid and Max Von Sydow as I always do. Veteran, diminutive movie psycho David Patrick Kelly turns up as the evil counterpart to Quaid's character, and 'Cheers' barfly George Wendt is a horror novelist who is observing the program for the purpose of research and figures out that Plummer is not to be trusted.

"Dreamscape" is a stylish, nicely realized picture that moves along well although it does waste a little bit of time with the subplot of the attraction between Quaid and Kate Capshaw. The movie establishes that these two are hot for each other and then does little beyond that. I would have rather had a picture without an obligatory romantic subplot (or sexual tension) because it just didn't seem necessary to me. But that's just my opinion.

It was released the same year as "A Nightmare on Elm Street", coincidentally, so that's at least two films released in 1984 set largely in the world of dreams. And, like "A.N.o.E.S.", this film submits the idea that if a person dies in a dream, they will die in the real world as well.

Now, of course, I realize that the 2000 picture "The Cell", starring J-Lo, Vince Vaughn, and Vincent D'Onofrio, actually rips off the central concept of this film!

I gave it eight out of ten.