On the level of interesting concepts, there can't be many films more promising than Dreamscape. The finished product might not be particularly great, but the central idea upon which the entire story is built is very impressive indeed. Dreams are such a weird and personal phenomena. They throw up so many fascinating possibilities and questions. And most importantly of all, EVERYONE has dreams, which means that Dreamscape is a film that people can identify with universally.
Psychic Alex Gardner (Dennid Quaid) joins a dream research project run by ambitious scientist Dr Paul Novotny (Max Von Sydow). Dr Novotny has devised a sophisticated laboratory where he can carry out these studies of dreams. More innovatively, the doctor has also made a breakthrough in the idea of "dream-linking", a process by which one person can enter another's dreams and have a direct influence over the events taking place. Gardner becomes a dream linker and learns how to enter the dreams of other people. During his dream linking he has various outlandish experiences, including helping an insecure man to catch his wife having sex with his brother, and helping a young nightmare-plagued boy to defeat a snake-man who haunts his dreams. Gardner also dream links with one of Dr Novotny's assistants, Dr Jane Devries (Kate Capshaw), and together they share an erotic fantasy. The research takes a turn for the sinister when the President of the USA (Eddie Albert) comes forth admitting that he has been experiencing recurring nightmares about a nuclear holocaust. Gardner has begun to suspect that dream linkers may have the power to murder people in their dreams, thereby causing them to die in real life. He figures out that government conspirator Bob Blair (Christopher Plummer) has pumped funding into the dream research project, but all along has harboured the ulterior motive of sending in an assassin to kill the President in his dreams. Gardner is the only person who knows of the assassination plot, so he enters the President's dreams to protect him from the dream-linking assassin, Tommy Ray Glatman (David Patrick Kelly).
Dreamscape is imaginative and rather philosophical stuff, with enjoyable dream sequences. The special effects are a little dated, especially during the snake man sequence, but for the time are just about acceptable. Quaid gives a likable performance as the reluctant hero, with Von Sydow in his usual commanding form as the innovative scientist in charge of the research. Kate Capshaw is intelligent as the love interest, while Plummer does another of his shadowy villain roles with customary silky menace. The film eventually settles down to become a political-assassination thriller, and at this point the fantastical, limitless possibilities inherent in the story suddenly become all too conventional. But, for the majority of the way, Dreamscape is an enjoyable and thought-provoking film.
Psychic Alex Gardner (Dennid Quaid) joins a dream research project run by ambitious scientist Dr Paul Novotny (Max Von Sydow). Dr Novotny has devised a sophisticated laboratory where he can carry out these studies of dreams. More innovatively, the doctor has also made a breakthrough in the idea of "dream-linking", a process by which one person can enter another's dreams and have a direct influence over the events taking place. Gardner becomes a dream linker and learns how to enter the dreams of other people. During his dream linking he has various outlandish experiences, including helping an insecure man to catch his wife having sex with his brother, and helping a young nightmare-plagued boy to defeat a snake-man who haunts his dreams. Gardner also dream links with one of Dr Novotny's assistants, Dr Jane Devries (Kate Capshaw), and together they share an erotic fantasy. The research takes a turn for the sinister when the President of the USA (Eddie Albert) comes forth admitting that he has been experiencing recurring nightmares about a nuclear holocaust. Gardner has begun to suspect that dream linkers may have the power to murder people in their dreams, thereby causing them to die in real life. He figures out that government conspirator Bob Blair (Christopher Plummer) has pumped funding into the dream research project, but all along has harboured the ulterior motive of sending in an assassin to kill the President in his dreams. Gardner is the only person who knows of the assassination plot, so he enters the President's dreams to protect him from the dream-linking assassin, Tommy Ray Glatman (David Patrick Kelly).
Dreamscape is imaginative and rather philosophical stuff, with enjoyable dream sequences. The special effects are a little dated, especially during the snake man sequence, but for the time are just about acceptable. Quaid gives a likable performance as the reluctant hero, with Von Sydow in his usual commanding form as the innovative scientist in charge of the research. Kate Capshaw is intelligent as the love interest, while Plummer does another of his shadowy villain roles with customary silky menace. The film eventually settles down to become a political-assassination thriller, and at this point the fantastical, limitless possibilities inherent in the story suddenly become all too conventional. But, for the majority of the way, Dreamscape is an enjoyable and thought-provoking film.