DREAMSCAPE

released OUT NOW! 1984 | 15 | Blu-ray/dVd/ VOd/ download Director Joseph ruben Cast dennis Quaid, Kate Capshaw, Max Von sydow, Christopher Plummer

A choppy blend of political thriller, horror ride and Atari-age tech-fantasy, Dreamscape casts Dennis Quaid as Gardner, a rootless hustler with telekinetic gifts. Recruited by shadowy government forces™, he ends up injected into the REM phase of the President himself.

Conjured with visuals that range from timelapse skies to old-school practical monstermaking, the dream sequences flit between tones and genres: broad comedy about sexual dysfunction; a haunted house escapade with endless spindly staircases; a sultry encounter on a train with the gauzy look of VHS soft porn.

Some of the iconography still impresses – a shattered Capitol Dome in a crimson-tinted apocalyptic landscape – but the strong cast struggle to elevate the material, and flat direction leaves it feeling like the pilot for a high-concept TV show that never happened.

Extras Audio commentary by producer Bruce Cohn Curtis, screenwriter David Loughery and make-up artist Craig Reardon; an engaging interview with Quaid; an hour-long retrospective, “Dreamscapes And Dreamakers”; effects featurette “Nightmares And Dreamsnakes”; a conversation with Curtis and co-writer/ producer Chuck Russell; Snakeman test footage; stills gallery and trailer. Nick Setchfield