Review of Dreamscape (1984) by Eric W — 31 Jan 2011

It's a fun ride and it takes a look at our dreams in new way. Our fears and secrets are the keys to a new design in government weaponry and that in itself is intriguing to me. Dennis Quaid plays a crafty psychic who reluctantly enters a dream program for research (and also to lay low for a while).

He soon finds that this is a dangerous game where assassins can find targets in the unconscious state. The film has a cool idea and it follows the momentum into a dangerous underworld where we can see what hidden fears other people have and also how we can exploit them.

It does not try to convince us too much of a new technology that makes this story possible, instead it hands off any credibility to Quaid, Christopher Plummer, and Max von Sydow to maintain our interest.

The special effects are not exactly top notch but they cue in on frightful things like hanging from a skyscraper and that's scary in any dimension. It's a sci-fi horror flick definitely worth seeing because it has a catchy adventure feel to it and its a good B movie trip.

Dreamscape is easy to watch, plus when you don't invest much into a story like this and you actually get a payoff, that is a success. (B).