Dreamscape Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.5

Dreamscape Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 31, 2016

A rather large assortment of people have been posting on various social media outlets that 2016 has been something of a bad dream if not an outright nightmare, but having just wended my way through Phantasm, Phantasm: Ravager and now Dreamscape, I personally am having kind of a hard time differentiating dreams from reality. That’s a joke of course (kind of, anyway), but there is at least a tenuous link between the Don Coscarelli franchise and this (at least somewhat higher budgeted) feature from 1984, in that both the Coscarelli films and Dreamscape exploit the thin veil between dream worlds and the vagaries of “real life”. Dreamscape is a little more literal in its approach, and in fact in a way kind of resembles a film which preceded it by a year, Brainstorm, a similar “what is real and what isn’t?” escapade that is remembered chiefly for being the film Natalie Wood was working on when she so tragically drowned. Dreamscape also presages a later horror effort, 2000’s disturbing serial killer opus The Cell, in that it posits a gifted man who has the ability to enter into other people’s minds when they’re dreaming. It’s a fun conceit, and one which Dreamscape manages to work into an appropriate froth once a potential presidential assassination enters the fray.

This is the latest in what has been a rather long line of re-releases that have ended up in my review queue lately, and as I’ve now mentioned repeatedly in other reviews, my hunch is most coming to this review are going to be more interested in how this release stacks up video and audio quality wise with the long ago Image release, as well as what this new release offers in the way of supplements, than they’re going to be in terms of a plot rehash. Therefore, I refer those of you wanting an overview of Dreamscape’s plot mechanics to my colleague Casey Broadwater’s Dreamscape Blu-ray review of the Image release.

Dreamscape Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Dreamscape is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Scream Factory, an imprint of Shout! Factory, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Shout! Is touting a new 2K scan, though they don't state what the actual elements utilized for the transfer were. While this is an undeniable upgrade from the Image release, one of the few major film releases from even the relatively early days of Blu-ray that I personally recall having been released in an interlaced presentation, there are still a few issues that some demanding videophiles may find problematic. As I've tried to do with other re-releases I've reviewed, there are several screenshots in this review which come close to replicating Casey's screenshots in his Dreamscape Blu-ray review so that fans can simply do a side by side comparison of their own rather than relying on my descriptive efforts. That said, there are several things which are noticeable from the get go in this release, including an overall darker ambience than the Image release (which may have been artificially brightened since its master, as Casey noted, was probably done for broadcast purposes), something which can lead to a perception of shadow detail deficits, but which also tends to give the overall palette a more nicely burnished and suffused atmosphere. The Image's tendency to tip toward the magenta side of things has been largely remedied in this new version, though some scenes still look fairly muddy (see screenshot 2 in both reviews). The opening credits sequence still shows considerable wobble, a tendency which calms down after the first couple of moments. The film is awash in old style opticals, and those bring an unexpected uptick in what is often pretty chunky and yellow looking grain, but even beyond that there are several moments, typically in darker scenes, where grain tends to look pretty coarse and gritty. There's a rather wide variability in sharpness and clarity levels, something that is again expectedly affected by the film's ubiquitous use of optical effects. The best moments here are the sunny outside scenes that are free from any visual effects handiwork. In these moments, sharpness and clarity are very good to excellent and the palette looks fresh and natural, with grain resolving generally very well, aided and abetted by what are overall fairly healthy bitrates in the mid to high 20s. Compositing issues in the many VFX shots are still apparent, but are obviously source related. Overall, this is (as stated above) an undeniable upgrade, but the film perhaps needs a more intensive (and no doubt expensive) effort to fully deal with some of these issues. Finally, as I've also stated in several previous reviews of re-releases I've done, I would caution against reading too much into a comparison of scores between my review and Casey's. There's no guarantee I would have scored the Image release as Casey did, and conversely Casey may well have scored this release differently than I have. A salient example of this is the fact that I evidently like Dreamscape at least a smidgeon more than Casey, hence my overall slightly higher score.

Dreamscape Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Dreamscape offers a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track (as did the Image release), along with a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track which I assume reflects the film's original theatrical exhibition. As Casey noted in his Dreamscape Blu-ray review, the 5.1 track (which to be fair I have no way of knowing is the same as on the Image release) isn't the most convincing rejiggered surround track, with what seems at times almost random channelization of discrete effects. Low end is actually kind of surprisingly anemic here, getting occasional jolts from some startle effects as well as Maurice Jarre's typically anachronistic sounding score. The stereo track offers a generally pleasing listening experience, spreading Jarre's music nicely and offering smart prioritization for dialogue and effects.

Dreamscape Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This release ports over some of the supplements from the Image release, while adding several new ones.

• Commentary with Bruce Cohn Curtis, David Loughery and Craig Reardon


• Dreamscapes and Dreammakers (1080p; 1:01:50) is a typically in depth Scream Factory retrospective with several good interviews and lots of background information.


• Nightmares and Dreamsnakes (1080p; 23:23) focus on the films visual effects.


• Dennis Quaid - The Actor's Journey (1080p; 14:50) is a good interview with Quaid, if you can get past that "An Actor's Journey" title.


• Bruce Cohn Curtis and Chuck Russell - In Conversation 2016 (1080p; 23:31) is an enjoyable interview.


• Snake Man Test Footage (1080p; 2:16)


• Still Gallery (1080p; 2:32)


• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 2:13)

Dreamscape Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There was a great old television salesman named Tom Peterson in my hometown of Portland who had a series of ads that were famous where he'd "knock" on your tv screen (from the inside, of course) telling you to "Wake up!" The hilarious thing (or maybe another hilarious thing) about these ads is they were frequently in support of late night movie offerings where goofy outings like Dreamscape might be broadcast. The whole "dream vs. reality" aspect of Dreamscape has now become a hoary trope (Inception, anyone?) but it's offered here in a kind of unadorned and unpretentious manner. Dreamscape is often lo-fi, but it features a committed cast and an intriguing premise which is decently developed and leads to a fun, if silly, climax. This new Scream Factory release offers upgraded video which still has some issues, as well as a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track in addition to the previous release's lossless 5.1 track. As is now expected of Scream Factory releases, the supplemental package is very enjoyable. Recommended.