Dream Demon (1988) - Movie Review

What do you get when an American director gets all coked up and goes over the pond to make a British Giallo?

To be honest, I’m still trying to figure that out.

Let’s discuss.

Dream Demon is a 1988 British Horror movie brought to us by writer/director Harley Cokeliss with writers Christopher Wicking and Catherine de Pury.

Remind me, class, what is our rule concerning more than 2 writers on a film? That’s right, it’s normally a sign the movie is complete shit. However, in this case—it works out. I have no idea how, but it does. Harley Cokeliss is a terrible director who is mostly known for directing episodes of classic television like 1994’s Hercules the Legendary Journeys and the most boring action movie ever made in 1986’s Black Moon Rising. Writer Christopher Wicking has an impressive resume including 1971’s Murders in the Rue Morgue and 1970’s Scream and Scream Again, but he was long past his prime by this point. Which is more than I can say for the third writer, Catherine De Pury—who I’m fairly certain isn’t real. As she has no credits before or since and no biography anywhere I could find. Best guess is that it was a pseudonym for whatever unfortunate writer was underpaid to stitch together the disparate work of Cokeless and Wicking.

Which would normally be disaster.

But…

…somehow it worked.

This insane mishmash of styles and stories somehow is so entertaining, that I ignored the many, many flaws.

Here’s an early spoiler—The trailer for the film is 2 1/2 minutes long and shows a ton of footage, which appears to spoil the film. However, the film is so bat-shit bananas that you could study the trailer for a few hour and not have anything spoiled for you. It’s almost impossible to describe this film, but I’ll give it a shot.

The film focuses on a young school teacher named Diana who is battling crippling nightmares that are bleeding into her everyday life. Having come from money, she hires the best psychiatrist in town, and with the support of her dashing, war hero fiancé she attempts to work through the anxiety. Things only seem to intensify when Diana is hounded by two unscrupulous paparazzi looking for dirt on her fiancé. One of their attacks leads to a chance meeting with Jenny, an American visiting London. The two become fast friends and confide in one another that both are haunted by events that transpired in Diana’s house. Jenny was a British orphan adopted by an American couple and has no memories of her childhood, but something drew her to the house. Her arrival is the catalyst that causes Diana’s dreams to blur the lines between reality and illusion. They are never sure if they are asleep or awake, alive or dead, but they keep moving forward—diving deeper into the nightmarish plane. Will they each find the answers they seek or will they fall victim to the demon moving between their dreams?

I rewrote that about four times in an attempt to shorten it up.

Simple terms: This is a weird, Avantgarde film that avoids the pretentious pitfalls that description normally implies.

This is an artistic horror film for the masses. It’s a fun, popcorn flick that also packs a frightening and shockingly-gory punch.

Where it’s light in plot, the quality of the filmmaking on display here is impeccable. The film only cost 2 million dollars to make, but you could easily assume it was in the 10 million range.

The set design and decoration are better than most modern films that I’ve seen. The dream sequences are gorgeous, Cabinet of Dr. Caligari-meets-Dreamscape nightmares that are so vivid and well imagined that M.C. Escher’s head would be sent spinning. The dream sequences blend in and out of reality so well that they almost always catch you by surprise.

Combined with the incredible soundtrack by Bill Nelson, doing his best Tangerine Dream, the scary portions of the film are actually scary. And unlike movies that use the dream trope, Ala Nightmare on Elm street, the film doesn’t rely on jump scares. This film is about atmosphere, paranoia, and tension.

The acting isn’t great, but it’s solid. This was the debut film for Vanessa Redgrave’s niece, Jemma Redgrave. Who turns in a pretty good final girl performance alongside low-key legend of a character actor, Kathleen Wilhoite. You couldn’t throw a stone in a video store in the 90’s without hitting a movie that had her in the credits. She’s still super active, appearing in every police procedural show that’s ever existed.

But the real stars of this movie are the legendary British actors Jimmy Nail and and Timothy Spall. They have been a near constant presence in television and movies for decades. They have appeared together multiple times, my favorite appearance being in the criminally underrated 1998 comedy, Still Crazy. They are such fantastic slime balls that ooze menace and sleaze. Spall is such a perfect perv-villain. I mean, he was the rat, Peter Pettigrew in the Harry Potter films.

This film is such a rarity that the only thing I could compare it to is Dario Argento’s coup de grace, 1977’s Suspiria.

And while Argento’s ballerina themed horror was a home run, Dream Demon is a solid double.

I think it’s admirable to even be in the same league with the greats. So, there’s no shame in being just a few rungs farther down the ladder.

This film was lost for sometime, and that’s a shame. I wish I’d seen it sooner. I’d recommend it over the original A Nightmare on Elm Street. The artistry and execution are much cleaner and well shot. The cinematography is beautiful and shot with such a unique eye that the film stands out.

So what if the story is a convoluted mess.and the characters are a little flat?

It’s a fun, scary film to watch with friends.

I’d take that over an Oscar winner anyway.

Check this out streaming on Amazon Prime Video and Shudder.