Dreamscape (1984) #456

 

One of my favorite horror movies when I was a kid was "Dreamscape", starring Dennis Quaid, Kate Capshaw, David Patrick Kelly, and Max Von Sydow. It's only PG-13, there's no excessive profanity or sexual situations, but there are some truly effective scary scenes in this movie and a real sense of dread in some of the dream sequences. Once again, a PG-13 film proves it can be just as effective as an R rated movie when it comes to horror. 

A very young Dennis Quaid plays Alex Gardner, a gifted psychic who spends his days using his unique abilities to win horse races and charming women. He is recruited by a secret government agency that is experimenting with technology that allows psychics to enter and influence peoples dreams. Alex is gifted and highly intelligent, and Mr. Quaid plays Alex as arrogant, confident, but caring. He delivers a great performance and shows a real sense of vulnerability and fright when he comes face to face with a little boy's nightmare. 

David Patrick Kelly, best known to horror fans as T-Bird from "The Crow", steals the show as the psychopathic Tommy Ray Glatman. Tommy Ray is the original psychic at the agency and considers himself as the master of the dream world. When Alex and Tommy Ray first meet, Tommy Ray makes it clear that he's the best and the only one that can influence peoples dreams. Without the agency finding out, Tommy Ray has learned how to control his surroundings and manipulate the dreams from within.

The supporting cast is rounded out with Max Von Sydow ("The Exorcist") as Dr. Paul Novotny and Kate Capshaw as his assistant Jane DeVries. Both of their performances are great and their characters greatly add to the narrative. Dr. Novotny has previous history with Alex and is the reason why Alex decides to stay. Jane becomes Alex's love interest and helps him when the agency is taken over from the good doctor. 

An important theme that is a driving narrative point in "Dreamscape" is the fear of nuclear war. Like "The Dead Zone", flashes of nuclear use haunt the dreamer, and in this case it's the President of the United States. Unlike Greg Stillson, this President wants to avoid this horrible outcome. This was a real threat and fear to many at this time and it's interesting to see how it's used in film as a narrative device.

  

The Wolfman (2010)

The 2010 remake of "The Wolfman" will not be remembered as fondly as the original. It may not contain the awkward forwardness of Don Chaney Jr's character towards the the women in the film, it may use state-of-the-art special effects and make-up (which won an Academy Award), and it may indeed star the usually amazing Anthony Hopkins, but somehow this film still comes up short. Benicio del Toro does look a bit like Don Chaney Jr in this film but I don't think that he was a good fit for the role. It's difficult to care for his character or for the other characters that directly interact with him. Anthony Hopkins doesn't fully own his character in the same way that he owned Van Helsing in "Bram Stoker's Dracula". And Emily Blunt's role just feels too forced, not by anything that she does herself, but just by being there for no other reason than as a story device. The ending is different and somewhat satisfying but it isn't enough to save the movie. The strongest part of this production is the performance delivered by Hugo Weaving, which really doesn't come as much of a surprise; it's a shame that he enters the film so far into it. An uncredited and brief appearance by Max von Sydow is a pleasant surprise.

The world renown Shakespearean actor Lawrence Talbot returns to his childhood home of Blackmoor, England after he receives news that his brother has been violently killed. Lawrence has an uneasy reunion with his father, Sir John Talbot, who still resides at his grade estate with his assistant Singh and his brother's grieving fiancee Gwen Conliffe. Being back at his old home causes Lawrence emotional distress, including dreaming flashbacks of his mother's suicide and his former mental issues. Lawrence tries to find out what happened to his brother on his own and while visiting a gypsy camp near-by, he is attacked and mauled by a wolf-like beast. With Gwen's help, Lawrence is nursed back to health incredibly fast which makes the locals very uneasy. When Inspector Aberline arrives in town to investigate a recent string of murders, he comes to suspect the odd acting Lawrence. Unfortunately the timing is right for Lawrence to change in to the Wolf, and discovering that his father is one and has locked himself away, Lawrence falls under the power of the beast and goes out into the night to kill. The next morning, Aberline arrests Lawrence and brings him back to London where he is admitted to the haunting asylum that he spent his childhood after his mother died. With vengeance in his heart and a hatred for his father, will Lawrence be able to control the Beast within when the full moon rises once more?

Exorcist 2: The Heretic (1977)

Even if you don’t like “The Exorcist” you have to admit that it has made a major impact in the world of horror and has influenced many films, actors, directors, and fans since it came out. So the idea that a sequel so horrible, so ill conceived, so insulting as “The Exorcist 2: The Heretic” is hard to imagine. And yet there it is, a steaming pile of crap that even the actors and director wish never happened. What started off as a project to essentially recreate the original film (why?) turned out to be a complete mess that was rewritten more times than a script should ever be touched and yet was still being rewritten and adjusted as the actual filming occurred, so by the time the filming was finished, the story was nothing like the one that the actors had agreed to help make and star in. Some people want to place all of the blame on director John Boorman but I don't want; he has gone on to make some wonderful films and had some classics before taking on this doomed project

Besides the constant shifting of events and story ideas, the concept that the demon that possessed Regan from the original was just a bunch of evil locusts and that Regan was some powerful healing psychic is just laughable. Indeed, William Peter Blatty, the author of the original “Exorcist” novel laughed out loud, a lot, during the first public screening of this film. This is  a great example of yet again it’s often a great idea to never explain the EVIL!

I found this film very difficult to watch because of these factors as well as the fact that this movie’s visuals are SOOO 70’s! Form the fashions, the decorum of the rooms, to all of the browns and oranges, and of course the terrible film quality made this movie too much of an effort to watch, much less to find anything enjoyable within it. 

The Exorcist (1973)

"The Exorcist" is a true horror classic, frightening and disturbing audiences ever since it came out in 1973. My parents first date was seeing a showing of "The Exorcist" the day after Christmas (I wonder if that helps to explain why I love horror so much?). When it was rereleased in theaters in the early 2000's with a few deleted scenes, it continued to scare those who watched it. 

Now I will admit that I was not scared by the movie the first time I saw it. Much like "Halloween", I had seen the first few minutes numerous times before being kicked out of the room. So when I finally saw it, I was a little disappointed because I had such high expectations. The only thing that really gave me the chills was the haunting soundtrack. But then in 9th grade I read the book and after gaining a solid understanding of the story, the movie proved to be chilling the second time I saw it. Lesson of the day is to wait until you're old enough/mature enough to realize that what you're watching is creepy as hell!

It's about Regan, a tween who becomes possessed by a very powerful and diabolical demon and the priest who is losing his faith who must confront the demon and make the ultimate sacrifice in the battle if good versus evil. That's all I'm going to say. If you've seen it, you know what happens. If you haven't seen it, you should!

Favorite moment - when the priest asks the possessed Regan why she doesn't break her bounds if she wants to be loose but had the ability to do so, the demon cooly responds that " it would be a vulgar display of power"