Dream Demon Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.5

Dream Demon Blu-ray Movie Review

Is there an Elm Street in London?

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 4, 2020

A number of international myths or folklore tales feature so-called “dream demons”, including entities like Lilith, Batibat and the ancient Germanic/Slavic creature Mare, whose name was appropriated for the English term “nightmare”. That very term is salient in more than one way in terms of understanding Dream Demon, since this arguably lesser known 1988 British horror entry doesn’t really feature anything like an incubus or a succubus (or any other kind of “bus”), but which owes its genesis, as is discussed in several of the supplements included on this disc, to A Nightmare on Elm Street. While Dream Demon does traffic in some of the same “is this really happening or is it only a dream?” angst that infuses A Nightmare on Elm Street, it doesn’t offer a “Freddy” in any real way, and instead derives most of its scares from more “psychological” issues like repressed memories and (just for good measure) some tangential sidebars featuring two members of the British paparazzi who are attempting to get information on one of the film’s two focal females, a British woman named Diana (Jemma Redgrave). The film in fact begins with a bad dream, as Jemma imagines her upcoming nuptials to British war hero Oliver (Mark Greenstreet), a wedding ceremony that goes seriously awry when Diana first finds herself unable to say “I do”, and then who rather unexpectedly beheads her prospective groom with a right hook to the face. This opening vignette, while both kind of shocking and funny, also introduces one of the film’s subtexts (as disclosed in the scene specific commentary by director Harley Cokeliss and producer Paul Webster), which is a repeated reference to the then au courant British obsession with Princess Diana (hence the British character’s name in the film), which of course included what might reasonably be seen as outright harassment of the poor woman by various members of the press. That’s a rather odd element to add to what was evidently supposed to be a more straight ahead horror outing, and it may be even more odd that the film takes a pair of muckraking journalists out to get a scoop on Diana and Oliver and turns them into, well, demonic presences in various nightmares Diana and an American woman named Jenny (Kathleen Wilhoite) experience.

Diana has just been gifted with a rather luxe apartment house in London by her father as a wedding present, and when she ventures into the basement to relight the pilot on an ancient furnace, she discovers a rather horrifying doll stuffed into a cardboard box full of stuff supposedly left by former tenants. Like a typical horror film fool, she brings the doll up to her apartment, and falls asleep with it in her arms, which leads to yet another bad dream. Meanwhile, the film kind of disjunctively cuts to Jenny, also shown sleeping, as if to suggest these two characters are bound together in some kind of REM based third circle of hell. Ultimately, Jenny shows up at Diana’s flat, claiming to have amnesia but feeling like she may have lived in the house previously with her parents, neither of whom she can remember.

But it's in this very plot point that Dream Demon kind of is at odds with itself. Both women are haunted by memories or at least experiences which refract into nightmares, and in fact you could even say they share some memories and/or nightmares at various points, but the film seems to be about two separate and completely unrelated traumas. Jenny's is the one that's frankly more relevant to the house where the two women find themselves, and deals with her troubled past as a child there. But Diana's is more "present" in that she's chased in her nightmares by ghoulish versions of the idiot press people played for obvious laughs by Timothy Spall and Jimmy Nail. The two elements never really weave together very well, and in fact some elements, as in the nasty paparazzi chasing Jenny (instead of Diana) frankly don't make a whale of a lot of sense (other than the fact that the women become "lost" in each other's nightmares).

Director Harley Cokeliss does invest this tale with considerable style, especially in some of the dream sequences, which are appropriately surreal. But other elements, like a brief allusion to Oliver's infidelity, are just kind of thrown into the mix without much rhyme or reason and certainly without any development. It is fun to see the scions of two venerable British acting families, the Redgraves and the Greenstreets, performing together, and Wilhoite brings a certain "Method" to her madness.

Dream Demon Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Dream Demon is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Arrow's insert booklet contains the following information on the restoration:

Dream Demon was restored by the BFI and was funded by the Unlocking Film Heritage project. The film is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with stereo sound.

The original 35mm interpositive was scanned in 2K resolution, colour graded and restored at Deluxe Restoration, London. Further colour grading and editiorial changes to complete the Director's Cut version of the film were completed at The Film Room at Pinewood Post.

The original optical negative reels of the stereo mix were remastered at the BFI National Archive's sound facility.

All work was overseen and approved by director Harley Cokeliss.

This is another beautifully curated cult title whose presentation here should delight longtime fans accustomed to only relatively lackluster previous (VHS!) releases. The palette pops beautifully throughout much of this transfer, with some of the kind of almost sepia or auburn toned scenes featuring Diana looking nicely burnished and warm. As can be seen in some of the screenshots accompanying this review, some of the dream sequences definitely get on the hallucinatory side, and fine detail levels can occasionally falter as a result. Even some of the dream sequences, though, can feature some really nice fine detail (take a look at those impressive nose hairs in screenshot 4). The opening dream sequence, which features dissolves and optically printed credits, looks pretty rough (see screenshot 19), and there are occasional moments, typically during darker scenes, where things can look slightly splotchy and blue (see screenshots 17 and 18), but otherwise grain resolves naturally throughout.

Dream Demon Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Dream Demon features a nicely expressive LPCM 2.0 track. The film's synth laden score may sound pretty "era specific", but it resonates clearly and with an overall full bodied sound. Dialogue and sound effects are also problem free, and I noticed no issues whatsoever with regard to damage, dropouts or distortion.

Dream Demon Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Original Theatrical Version (1080p; 1:29:23) arguably simply substitutes one incomprehensible ending for another.


• Dream Master (1080p; 27:22) is a new interview with director Harley Cokeliss.


• A Nightmare on Eton Avenue (1080p; 37:22) is a new interview with producer Paul Webster.


• Dreaming of Diana (1080p; 16:00) is a new interview with Jemma Redgrave.


• Cold Reality (1080p; 9:44) is a new interview with Mark Greenstreet.


• Sculpting the Part (1080p; 8:58) is a new interview with Nickolas Grace.


• Angels and Demons (1080p; 9:20) is a new interview with Annabel Lanyon.


• Demonic Tones (1080p; 15:13) is a new interview with composer Bill Nelson.


• Foundations of Nightmare: The Making of Dream Demon (1080p; 26:26) is a fun archival piece done at the time of the film's production which includes some enjoyable candid footage and interviews.


• Original Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 1:56)


• Image Galleries

  Promotional (1080p; 2:50)

  
  

  Behind the Scenes (1080p; 8:50)

• Scene Select Audio Commentary with Harley Cokeliss and Paul Webster (1080p; 46:21)


• Introduction (1080p; 00:42) is by Harley Cokeliss and can be found under the Play Menu.


• BD-ROM Content includes the original screenplay, selected continuity script notes, and complete storyboards by comic book artist and illustrator John Bolton (one assumes not that John Bolton).

Additionally, the release also includes a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Christopher Shy, a folded mini- poster, and a well appointed insert booklet containing essays (including one by Harley Cokeliss), stills and technical data.

Dream Demon Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Dream Demon has some angsty moments, and some of the makeup effects on the increasingly disfigured press people played by Timothy Spall and Jimmy Nail are quite impressive (the commentary gets into how they were the result of then innovative gelatin techniques). But the story here is a kind of weird mishmash with conflicting elements that are never convincingly woven together. Arrow is once again offering a lesser known cult item with solid technical merits and some really outstanding supplemental features, for those who are considering a purchase.