Dream No Evil Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		2.5

Dream No Evil Blu-ray Movie Review

Psychette?

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 21, 2019

Note: This film is available as part of American Horror Project Vol. 2.

American Horror Project Vol. 1 offered an object lesson in what I called “WEHT” syndrome, by which I meant that the “whatever happened to” query that is often aimed at people might be targeted at films themselves. This second volume of offerings from curator Stephen Thrower courtesy of Arrow Films is another “WEHT” extravaganza, though in this case it may indeed also refer to performers, and in fact might be subtitled “hey, actors gotta work, too, you know,” as two of the three films in this set feature late career work by two fairly iconic and Academy Award winning stars, appearing here in what might be charitably termed less than Grade A material. That said, all three of the films in this set offer at least some of the same patent weirdness as was found in the first American Horror Project release, though even diehard genre fans may not consider any of this trio to be undiscovered masterpieces.

Proving the probably obvious thesis that even people you personally may never heard of, or at least not heard much of, have a devoted fan base, Dream No Evil’s writer and director John Hayes is provided with quite a bit of analytical supplemental material on this disc. That “analysis” may be especially relevant, as evidenced by what were evidently major traumas in Hayes’ life which he sought to “work out” in several films, at least according to his wife, who is quoted several times in some of the extras. That “therapeutic” aspect evidently is widely on display in Dream No Evil, especially with regard to a late sister of Hayes’ who developed psychological problems after having been put in foster care.

Dream No Evil in fact begins with a little girl named Grace McDonald experiencing a rather frightening nightmare in some kind of foster care facility. There’s some interesting ambiguity in this first sequence, with the adult supervisor kind of toeing a weird line between the more harridan aspects of someone like Annie’s Miss Hannigan, and a more concerned, if still no nonsense, adult who is attempting to get Grace to realize that Grace’s father is not going to come rescue her from the orphanage, since he is evidently dead.

In just one of several fairly inexplicable elisions, Dream No Evil first seems to suggest Grace is adopted (it really isn’t made clear), and then the film just kind of skips forward a couple of decades to find Grace (Brooke Mills) as an adult. Some not very helpful narration supposedly provides at least a bit of context, stating that Grace has stayed with an adoptive church family, even though the church itself has turned into something of a traveling carnival, replete with a fire and brimstone preacher named Jessie Bundy (Michael Pataki), and with Grace gainfully employed (?) as a sideshow performer who climbs a 30 foot high ladder and dives into a pile of foam rubber.

While I’ll start this paragraph with a “spoiler coming alert”, it really isn’t that much of a spoiler since the ever helpful if somnambulistic narrator lets us in on the fact that Grace’s grasp on reality is fading and she’s entering a world of fantasy. That evidently means her being part of an Elmer Gantry meets The Greatest Showman traveling circus and/or church was “reality”, but I probably digress. One way or the other Grace’s obsession with finding her lost father informs all of this “intrigue”, with her spurning the amorous advances of her fiancé, Patrick (Paul Prokop), a medical student who actually may be carrying on with classmate Shirley (D.J. Anderson).

Grace’s attempts to find dear old Dad end up with her visiting a kind of combo platter old folks home and brothel (as you do), where she meets a mysterious undertaker (Marc Lawrence), who finally introduces her to her father Timothy (Edmond O’Brien). Unfortunately, Timothy is deceased and about to be embalmed, which is when things tip over into a “gender bender” reworking of Psycho, albeit one without much of a surprise factor since everything has been “explained” so thoroughly. (That doesn't stop the film from offering a patently Psycho-esque wrap up with a psychiatrist, played by Arthur Franz (!), laying it all out in plain English, for those who may have missed the previous explanations.)

There's a patently lunatic edge to this film which may well appeal to some viewers. That said, it's perhaps a bit sad to see a noted character actor like Edmond O'Brien trying to make something out of a screenplay that doesn't offer a ton of nuance and/or heft. The film is surprisingly stylish at times, but it's also often laughably inept.

Dream No Evil Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Dream No Evil 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 No Evil has been exclusively restored by Arrow Films and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with mono audio.

The original 35mm negative was scanned in 2K resolution at EFILM.

The film was graded on Digital VIsion's Nucoda Film Master and restored at R3Store Studios in London.

The mono mix was remastered from the original optical negative at Deluxe Audio Services.

All materials provided by Kit Parker and UCLA Film and Television Archive.

This is a generally commendable looking presentation, with an understanding that there are fairly wide variances in clarity, detail levels and grain structure depending on available light. The transfer can look pretty rough in the darkest moments, with almost pixellated looking grain and lower levels of general and fine detail (see screenshot 19). There are also some signs of age related wear and tear, including several almost ludicrously large yellow circles which appear on the right side of the frame that I'm assuming are reel change markers. Some darker moments actually look rather good, with some nice differentiation between blacks (see screenshot 6). In the better lit moments, though, things pop surprisingly well, with a very robust looking palette (perhaps a bit reddish at times) and generally excellent detail levels. Grain is also less "chunky" looking, though still clearly visible and without any major resolution issues.

Dream No Evil Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Dream No Evil features a serviceable LPCM Mono track which capably supports the film's pretty limited sound design. A rather evocative score by Jaime Mendoza-Nova features some cues for flute that sound reasonably full bodied, though there's a certain undeniable boxiness to some of the music and dialogue. Dialogue is presented cleanly and clearly, and the occasional sound effect, especially some of the outdoor ambient environmental sounds, are similarly fine sounding.

Dream No Evil Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Melancholy Dreamer (1080p; 9:16) is an appreciation of the film by this series' curator, Stephen Thrower.


• Hollywood After Dark: The Early Films of John Hayes (1080p; 34:09) offers Thrower again, this time giving a very enjoyable overview of Hayes' career up through this film. There are some excerpts from a Rue McClanahan audio interview included (see below for more).


• Edmond O'Brien: An Actor for All Seasons (1080p; 22:08) offers Chris Poggiali in a retrospective of the actor's career, which actually bears the perhaps better title From Leading Man to Character Actor.


• Audio Interview with Rue McClanahan (1080p; 29:44) stems from 2005 and plays to some fun stills of McClanahan.


• Audio Commentary with Kat Ellinger and Samm Deighan is another fun tour through cult cinema. They occasionally can't keep from giggling about it all, which is part of the fun.

Dream No Evil Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Somewhat like its sibling in this set Dark August, Dream No Evil could have benefited from more ambiguity. Instead, a lame brained narrator pretty much spills the beans from the get go, though the hilarious part is even with the narration nothing makes much sense here. The film is weirdly moody and it certainly offers an, um, eclectic cast. Video is pretty widely variant, depending on lighting conditions, and so those considering a purchase are encouraged to parse the screenshots accompanying this review. The supplemental package is very enjoyable, per Arrow's standard operating procedure.