Dreamscape Reviews

DREAMSCAPE is a perfect B movie for the 1980s: light and trashy, with political overtones and a blend of science fiction and paranoia, all calculated to provide fun for an audience disinclined to take matters seriously. Quaid is a psychic who is recruited by scientist von Sydow to help at a hospital research clinic for patients suffering from persistent nightmares. Von Sydow's solution is to have gifted psychics enter his tortured patients'dreams, find their fears, and alter the finales of the dreams. Quaid is against the idea but is convinced by Plummer, the overzealous government agent who holds the purse strings for the project. Two of the patients at the clinic are a young boy whose sleep is plagued by monsters and the President of the US (Albert), a man understandably troubled by nightmares of nuclear war. This is an interesting and original idea that doesn't quite live up to its premise. Made on a tight budget, the special effects are never very convincing, but the performances are all good. If you're willing to suspend disbelief, this is a neat thriller that's enjoyable from start to finish.