Dreamscape (1984)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

Joseph Ruben

Writers:

David Loughery (story)
David Loughery (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

15 August 1984 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Sci-Fi | Thriller | Horror

Tagline:

Alex Gardner has an extraordinary gift. To keep it may cost him his life...

Plot:

A government funded project looks into using psychics to enter people's dreams, with some mechanical help...

Plot Keywords:

Dream | Psychic | Heart | Nightmare | Helicopter

Awards:

1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Dennis Quaid	...	Alex Gardner
Max von Sydow	...	Doctor Paul Novotny
Christopher Plummer	...	Bob Blair
Eddie Albert	...	The President
Kate Capshaw	...	Jane DeVries
David Patrick Kelly	...	Tommy Ray Glatman
George Wendt	...	Charlie Prince
Larry Gelman	...	Mr. Webber
Cory 'Bumper' Yothers	...	Buddy
Redmond Gleeson	...	Snead
Peter Jason	...	Babcock
Chris Mulkey	...	Finch
Jana Taylor	...	Mrs. Webber
Madison Mason	...	Fred Schoenstein
Kendall Carly Browne	...	Mrs. Matusik

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

USA:PG-13 | Iceland:16 | UK:15 (cut) | UK:15 (re-rating) (2000) (uncut) | Netherlands:12 | Australia:M | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Finland:K-16 | France:-12 | Norway:15 | West Germany:16 | USA:R (original rating) | USA:PG-13 (edited for re-rating)

Filming Locations:

Los Alamitos Racetrack - 4961 Katella Avenue, Los Alamitos, California, USA

Company:

Zupnik-Curtis Enterprises

Trivia:

Originally there was a love scene involving Alex and Jane that was supposed to have taken place in the middle of the film involving nudity, but it was deleted for pacing issues and also because of the MPAA's new PG-13 rating guidelines. The love scene was featured in the film theatrically and on its original video release, but for its "Image" dvd release a PG edited cut print or TV version of the film was used for the transfer.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Alex is playing his saxophone in his apartment near the beginning of the film, he is clearly not playing the instrument.

Quotes:

Tommy Ray Glatman: In this world, Alex, you're nothing. And me, I'm God.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Xiao sheng meng jing hun (1987)

Soundtrack:

Baby, Can't We Take It Home

Good of its type

Psychic Alex Gardner (Dennis Quaid) is recruited for a government-funded institute. In it psychics are able to get into peoples' dreams and interact with them. However one subject dies while in this state and Alex realizes something is wrong. And the President (Eddie Albert) is going to visit the institute for some nightmares he is having...

I enjoyed watching this but realized, after it was over, that it didn't make a whole lot of sense and there were plot holes left and right. Still, it moves quickly and the dream sequences themselves were lots of fun. This was also the second PG-13 rating ever released. It was cut to get that (a sex scene between Quaid and Kate Capshaw was almost completely dropped) but there were some complaints about the amount of violence (none of which was cut) that was allowed in. By today's standards though it's not that bad.

Quaid is good--he's young, handsome and not taking any of this seriously. Max von Sydow is very good as the head doctor of the research. Kate Capshaw is pretty terrible as his assistant. Christopher Plummer seems to be proving he can say his lines without moving a muscle in his face. Albert is lots of fun as the President and David Patrick Kelly almost runs away with the movie as Tommy Ray Glatin.

So a quick, fun little movie. Just don't think about it too much.