Dreamscape Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		2.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

Dreamscape Blu-ray Movie Review

“Let's pretend that a man could, with the help of science, psychically project himself into another man's dream…”

Reviewed by Casey Broadwater April 19, 2010

Was there ever a better time than the 1980s for sci-fi/fantasy? And I’m not just talking about high- concept brain-benders like Brazil, Blade Runner, and Videodrome. The Reagan era, with its newly established home video market, played host to the triumphant return of the B movie, cheesetastic little genre pieces with low budgets and high ambitions. For but one example, we turn to 1984’s Dreamscape, an independently financed, low rent cult classic that combines a nifty sci-fi premise—psychic “dreamlinking”—with flashes of jump out and grab you horror and a political subplot that played into the nation’s collective Red Menace fears of nuclear annihilation at the hands of the Russians. And check out the Indiana Jones-aping cover art, with Kate Capshaw hanging off of a conspicuously Harrison Ford-ish looking Dennis Quaid. The periphery of the poster is where it’s at, though: Demon eyed wolves! Dirtbike jumps! Three federal agents doing their best Charlie’s Angels impersonation! A nunchaku-wielding David Patrick Kelly! A creepy anthropomorphic snakeman! It basically screams guilty pleasure.

That dress deserves to be destroyed in an atomic blast.

The story wouldn’t look out of place in the pages of Analog magazine. Dennis Quaid is Alex Gardner, a psychically gifted young rebel who once ran away from a research study after “months of intense parapsychological testing,” and now spends his days placing bets on winning horses at the local racetrack. Alex’s one-time mentor, Dr. Paul Novotny (a fantastically mustachioed Max von Sydow), tracks him down and blackmails him into signing up for a new project, a governmentally-backed study into the cure of sleep disorders via a newfangled technique called “dreamlinking,” which involves sending a psychic into the consciousness of a dreaming patient. (Think The Cell meets The Matrix.) Alex turns out to be a pro at this, curing one poor husband’s impotency, rescuing an extremely tired-looking kid from his snake monster nightmares, and prompting fits of childish jealousy from rival psychic Tommy Ray Glatman (David Patrick Kelly), who was top dog before Alex came on board. A growing infatuation with Dr. Novotny’s assistant, Jane DeVries (Kate Capshaw), prompts Alex to sleazily abuse his powers as he sneaks into one of Jane’s dreams, where they totally get it on, very nearly resulting in an on-screen nocturnal emission. (Thankfully, she wakes up before Alex makes a mess of himself.) Awk-ward.

It’s not all psychic rivalries and wet dreams, of course. There are far more sinister plots afoot. You see, the president (Eddie Albert) has been having these horrible nightmares where he feels responsible for causing WWIII—mutant children in bunkers, DC as an apocalyptic wasteland, his wife devoured by a mushroom cloud—and this atomic anxiety has him on the verge of signing an arms treaty with the Russians. Uber-powerful government agent Bob Blair (Christopher Plummer) doesn’t want to see America’s nuclear defense system castrated by a wimpy commander in chief, so he conspires with Tommy Ray to kill the pres, who is coming to Dr. Novotny’s center to receive treatment. As in The Matrix, if you die in a dream, you die in real life, making the R.E.M. cycle the perfect place for a covert assassination. It’s all played straight faced, but Dreamscape is quaintly ridiculous in retrospect, saved from Mystery Science Theater 3000 lampoon worthiness by some surprisingly solid acting. Dennis Quaid is a likeable hero, smartassing his way through the picture with that boyish grin and the justified swagger of the confident and capable. Christopher Plummer is tight-jawed, conspiratorial, like a more suave Charlton Heston. And then we have Von Sydow, who’s is a long way from The Seventh Seal—or even The Exorcist—but never lets the caliber of the admittedly goofy script affect his performance. David Patrick Kelly isn’t as memorable here as he is in The Warriors (“Warriors, come out and play-ay!”), but he does get to twirl some laser-tipped nunchaku and morph into a giant snake—pretty much the epitome of 1980s awesomeness. He deserves to be airbrushed on a black t-shirt, or, better yet, the side of a van.

If there’s one reason to revisit Dreamscape it’s because the film has a naïve, eager-to- please-the-audience vibe that seems characteristic of 1980s sci-fi—especially lower budgeted productions—with nostalgically dated special effects that rely on handmade ingenuity rather than digital trickery. Director Joe Ruben—who would go on to helm The Good Son and The Forgotten, among others—has a lot of fun here, turning each of the dream sequences into its own mini-movie. The little boy’s nightmare is the best, featuring distorted architecture straight out of some German Expressionist film and a long, rickety staircase that descends into inky blackness. The film’s climax, with Alex escorting the president through a post-apocalyptic fever dream, is surprisingly intense—zombies and demon-dogs, Tommy ripping the heart out of a train conductor and chucking it out the window—but the whole snake monster bit seems clumsily executed, switching back and forth jarringly between stop-motion claymation and David Patrick Kelly in a rubber suit. Still, it’s all part of the film’s aw, look how earnestly they tried charm.

Dreamscape Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Let me put it this way; if Dreamscape was being demoed at big box stores across the country, I don't think too many high definition newcomers would pony up for a Blu-ray player or HDTV. This certainly isn't the best that Blu-ray has to offer—neither is it the worst—but considering the film's cult status and low budget pedigree, I'm inclined to think that, if not the best the film could look, this is the best it's going to look without a full restorative overhaul, and I don't see too many studios coughing up the cash for that. Presented with a 1080i/AVC encode, this version of Dreamscape is very likely a high definition, made-for-TV-broadcast master. The source print is as skuzzy as they come, with white flecks flurrying over the image like a storm of dandruff, and the composite shots displaying bits of hair, dust, and other debris. Black levels hover around a hazy gray most of the time, and contrast is generally lifeless and flat. The same goes for the film's colors, which, with few exceptions—like the dream sequences—are pallid and dull. That said, overall clarity gets a noticeable boost from previous DVD iterations. I'm not about to call the image sharp, but moderately fine detail is present and everything looks a little more refined. Grain is quite thick at times, but it doesn't always look entirely natural, and I wouldn't be surprised if some DNR filtering was applied to remove excess noise. Over-sharpening doesn't appear to be an issue, however, and there are no real compression-related distractions. Dreamscape does look better than ever, but that really isn't saying much.

Do note that as it was essentially impossible to capture usable screenshots in 1080i, all of the screens in this review were captured in 720p and do not represent the full visual quality of the image.

Dreamscape Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Dreamscape's original stereo audio elements have been spread out for this release into a decent DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround mix, though the increase in channels sometimes leads to some wonky sound design. For example, in a scene where Alex and Dr. Novotny are walking down a hallway towards us, you can hear their footsteps reverberating in the rear speakers, sounding strangely out of place. There are similar moments scattered throughout the film where directionality doesn't really match up with what we're seeing on screen. Still, the addition of surround sound does make several scenes more intense, like the post-pep rally shooting, and the dream sequences, which feature swirling, impressionistic sound with haunting, disembodied voices. Maurice Jarre's creaky, carnivalesque electronic score benefits from the extra channels as well, frequently lurking in the rear speakers and pouncing for the big jump scares. There's plenty of depth and breadth considering the material, but bass output is fairly unresponsive. Dialogue is mostly clean and clear— there are a few instances when it's overpowered by the music—but the lack of any subtitle options will be a disappointment for hearing-impaired and non-English-speaking fans.

Dreamscape Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Commentary with Producer Bruce Cohn Curtis, Writer David Loughery and Special Effects Artist Craig Reardon
No Dennis Quaid, no Kate Capshaw, and no Joe Ruben, but this is a solid, informative track— recorded in 1999—led by producer Bruce Curtis, who steers the conversation through all the usual topics. Not exactly essential listening, but a nice bonus for fans.

Photo Gallery (SD, 2:35)
A self-playing photo gallery focused largely on the stop-motion animation of the snake monster.

Behind the Scenes (SD, 2:13)
Behind the scenes is a bit of a misnomer; this is really a camera test of the enormous snake suit featured in the film.

Dreamscape Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Dreamscape is 1980s sci-fi at its most endearingly ridiculous, filled with latent WWIII, Red Menace fears, cheesy martial arts, dirt bike stunts, zombies, "dreamlinking," and some surprisingly decent acting. It would make a great double feature with David Cronenberg's slightly more sinister Scanners. The film's not about to win any awards for Blu-ray picture quality—it's a bit dirty and dull here—but the upgrade from prior home video versions is appreciable. For fans only.