Dreamscape (film)
Encyclopedia
Dreamscape is a 1984 science fiction
Science fiction film
Science fiction film is a film genre that uses science fiction: speculative, science-based depictions of phenomena that are not necessarily accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial life forms, alien worlds, extrasensory perception, and time travel, often along with futuristic...

 horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...

 directed by Joseph Ruben
Joseph Ruben
Joseph Paul Ruben is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer.-Movie career:Most of his earlier films are B movies, of which some, such as The Stepfather have become cult classics...

 and written by David Loughery
David Loughery
David Loughery is an American screenwriter and producer. Born in Chicago, Loughery attended Ball State University and the University of Iowa where he was a member of the Iowa Playwrights Workshop. His first produced screenplay was Dreamscape in 1984...

, with Chuck Russell
Chuck Russell
Charles "Chuck" Russell is an American motion picture director, producer and actor.-Filmography:*The Hearse *Hell Night *The Seduction...

 and Ruben co-writing. The first draft was written by Bill Sweet as a student at Columbia College in Chicago.

Plot

Psychic
Psychic
A psychic is a person who professes an ability to perceive information hidden from the normal senses through extrasensory perception , or is said by others to have such abilities. It is also used to describe theatrical performers who use techniques such as prestidigitation, cold reading, and hot...

 Alex Gardner (Dennis Quaid
Dennis Quaid
Dennis William Quaid is an American actor known for his comedic and dramatic roles. First gaining widespread attention in the 1980s, his career rebounded in the 1990s after he overcame an addiction to drugs and an eating disorder...

) was the 19-year-old prime subject of a scientific research project documenting his psychic ability, but in the midst of the study he disappeared and has since been using his talents solely for personal gain, which lately consists mainly of gambling and womanizing. After running afoul of a local gangster
Gangster
A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Some gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from mob and the suffix -ster....

/extortionist named Sneed (Redmond Gleeson
Redmond Gleeson
Redmond Gleeson is a stage, film, and television actor from Dublin, Ireland.-Life and career:From an early age, Redmond dreamed of becoming an actor. He received a scholarship to study theatre arts at a university in Ohio...

), Gardner evades two of Sneed's thugs by allowing himself to be taken by two men, Finch (Peter Jason
Peter Jason
Peter Jason is an American actor who performs in many plays, movies, and TV commercials, including Desperate Housewives and Deadwood. In his free time he makes his own furniture out of wood. He has appeared in 12 Walter Hill films, 7 John Carpenter films, has acted in over 100 commercials and...

) and Babcock (Chris Mulkey
Chris Mulkey
Chris Mulkey is an American actor who most recently appeared in Against the Wall, Cloverfield, the NBC TV movie Knight Rider, and as a corporate executive in season 7 of 24...

) who identify themselves as being from an academic institution. At the institution, Alex is reunited with his former mentor Dr. Paul Novotny (Max von Sydow
Max von Sydow
Max von Sydow is a Swedish actor. He has also held French citizenship since 2002. He has starred in many films and had supporting roles in dozens more...

) who is now involved in government-funded psychic research. Novotny, aided by fellow scientist Jane DeVries (Kate Capshaw
Kate Capshaw
Kate Capshaw is an American actress. She is known for her role as Willie Scott in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. She is married to Steven Spielberg.-Early life:...

) has developed a technique which allows psychics to voluntarily link with the minds of others by projecting themselves into the subconscious during REM sleep (i.e., while they are dreaming).

Alex is blackmailed into joining Novotny’s project that he (Novotny) intended to use for a benevolent purpose as a clinic to diagnose and treat sleep disorders, particularly in the form of nightmares, but the project has been hijacked by Bob Blair (Christopher Plummer
Christopher Plummer
Arthur Christopher Orne Plummer, CC is a Canadian theatre, film and television actor. He made his film debut in 1957's Stage Struck, and notable early film performances include Night of the Generals, The Return of the Pink Panther and The Man Who Would Be King.In a career that spans over five...

), a powerful government agent with possible CIA ties, though it is never clearly revealed in the film. Alex eventually discovers that he is actually involved in a U.S. government-funded project to use this dream-linking technique for assassination
Assassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...

. Before the plot is revealed, Alex gains experience helping a man worried about his wife’s infidelity
Infidelity
In many intimate relationships in many cultures there is usually an express or implied expectation of exclusivity, especially in sexual matters. Infidelity most commonly refers to a breach of the expectation of sexual exclusivity.Infidelity can occur in relation to physical intimacy and/or...

 and taking over the case of a young boy named Buddy (Cory Yothers) who’s plagued with nightmares so terrible that a previous psychic lost his mind in an attempt to help Buddy. Buddy's nightmare bogeyman involves a large snakeman which later becomes a weakness for Alex.
A subplot involving Alex and Jane’s growing infatuation culminates with him sneaking into Jane's dream without the use of the machines which are a part of the process, a point Jane does not realize at first because she is too angry that Alex was able to have sex with her in her dream. With the help of a novelist named Charlie Prince (George Wendt
George Wendt
George Robert Wendt III is an American actor, best known for the roles of Norm Peterson and Tug Clarke on the television shows Cheers and Modern Men.-Early life:...

), who has been covertly investigating the project for the basis of a new book, Alex learns of Blair’s sinister intentions.
Prince and Novotny are both murdered to silence them; things get worse when the President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

 (Eddie Albert
Eddie Albert
Edward Albert Heimberger , known professionally as Eddie Albert, was an American actor and activist. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1954 for his performance in Roman Holiday, and in 1973 for The Heartbreak Kid.Other well-known screen roles of his include Bing...

) is admitted as a patient, and Alex’s colleague Tommy Ray Glatman (David Patrick Kelly
David Patrick Kelly
David Patrick Kelly is an American actor and musician who has appeared in numerous films, including some major roles.-Career:...

), a sociopath who (as Alex discovers) shot and killed his own father, is sent into the President's nightmare by Blair in an attempt to assassinate the President. Blair considers the President a threat to national security
National security
National security is the requirement to maintain the survival of the state through the use of economic, diplomacy, power projection and political power. The concept developed mostly in the United States of America after World War II...

 due to the President's nightmares of a post-apocalyptic world, which represent his fears and becomes cause for his wishing to enter unfavorable negotiations for nuclear disarmament
Nuclear disarmament
Nuclear disarmament refers to both the act of reducing or eliminating nuclear weapons and to the end state of a nuclear-free world, in which nuclear weapons are completely eliminated....

.

Alex and Jane manage to get close enough to the President’s room for Alex to project himself into the President's dream and save him: after a fight in which Glatman rips out a police officer's heart, attempts to incite a mob of nuclear attack victims to attack the President, and battles Alex in the form of the snake-monster from Buddy's dream, Alex assumes the appearance of Glatman's murdered father in order to distract him, allowing the President to ram a spear into Glatman's back, killing him. The President is grateful to Alex but reluctant to confront Blair, who apparently holds a truly powerful position in the government. To protect himself and Jane, Alex enters Blair’s dream and murders him before Blair can bring about any sort of retribution.

The film ends with Jane and Alex boarding a train to Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...

, intent on making their previous dream encounter a reality. Encountering the ticket conductor from Jane's dream gives them a moment of pause.

Cast

  • Dennis Quaid
    Dennis Quaid
    Dennis William Quaid is an American actor known for his comedic and dramatic roles. First gaining widespread attention in the 1980s, his career rebounded in the 1990s after he overcame an addiction to drugs and an eating disorder...

     as Alex Gardner
  • Max von Sydow
    Max von Sydow
    Max von Sydow is a Swedish actor. He has also held French citizenship since 2002. He has starred in many films and had supporting roles in dozens more...

     as Dr. Paul Novotny
  • Christopher Plummer
    Christopher Plummer
    Arthur Christopher Orne Plummer, CC is a Canadian theatre, film and television actor. He made his film debut in 1957's Stage Struck, and notable early film performances include Night of the Generals, The Return of the Pink Panther and The Man Who Would Be King.In a career that spans over five...

     as Bob Blair
  • David Patrick Kelly
    David Patrick Kelly
    David Patrick Kelly is an American actor and musician who has appeared in numerous films, including some major roles.-Career:...

     as Tommy Ray Glatman
  • Kate Capshaw
    Kate Capshaw
    Kate Capshaw is an American actress. She is known for her role as Willie Scott in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. She is married to Steven Spielberg.-Early life:...

     as Jane DeVries
  • George Wendt
    George Wendt
    George Robert Wendt III is an American actor, best known for the roles of Norm Peterson and Tug Clarke on the television shows Cheers and Modern Men.-Early life:...

     as Charlie Prince
  • Eddie Albert
    Eddie Albert
    Edward Albert Heimberger , known professionally as Eddie Albert, was an American actor and activist. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1954 for his performance in Roman Holiday, and in 1973 for The Heartbreak Kid.Other well-known screen roles of his include Bing...

     as The President
  • Chris Mulkey
    Chris Mulkey
    Chris Mulkey is an American actor who most recently appeared in Against the Wall, Cloverfield, the NBC TV movie Knight Rider, and as a corporate executive in season 7 of 24...

     as Gary Finch
  • Larry Gelman
    Larry Gelman
    Larry Gelman is an American film and television character actor. He is best known for playing Dr. Bernie Tupperman on the US TV series The Bob Newhart Show and Vinnie, the poker playing friend of Oscar and Felix, in The Odd Couple.He also played Professor Albert Einstein in the real-time...

     as Mr. Webber
  • Cory “Bumper” Yothers as Buddy
  • Redmond Gleeson
    Redmond Gleeson
    Redmond Gleeson is a stage, film, and television actor from Dublin, Ireland.-Life and career:From an early age, Redmond dreamed of becoming an actor. He received a scholarship to study theatre arts at a university in Ohio...

     as Sneed
  • Peter Jason
    Peter Jason
    Peter Jason is an American actor who performs in many plays, movies, and TV commercials, including Desperate Housewives and Deadwood. In his free time he makes his own furniture out of wood. He has appeared in 12 Walter Hill films, 7 John Carpenter films, has acted in over 100 commercials and...

     as Roy Babcock

Production

According to author Roger Zelazny
Roger Zelazny
Roger Joseph Zelazny was an American writer of fantasy and science fiction short stories and novels, best known for his The Chronicles of Amber series...

, the film developed from an initial outline that he wrote in 1981, based in part upon his novella
Novella
A novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative usually longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000...

, "He Who Shapes", and novel, The Dream Master
The Dream Master
The Dream Master , originally published as a novella titled He Who Shapes, is a science-fiction novel by Roger Zelazny. Zelazny's originally intended title for it was The Ides of Octember...

. He was not involved in the project after 20th Century Fox bought his outline. Because he did not write the film treatment or the script, his name does not appear in the credits; assertions that he removed his name from the credits are unfounded.

Release and reception

Dreamscape was released on August 15, 1984. This was the second film to be rated PG-13 under then new MPAA ratings guidelines following Red Dawn
Red Dawn
Red Dawn is a 1984 American war film directed by John Milius and co-written by Milius and Kevin Reynolds. It stars Patrick Swayze, C. Thomas Howell, Lea Thompson, Charlie Sheen and Jennifer Grey....

, which had come out several weeks prior.

Dreamscape has a 78% 'Fresh' rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...

. The RT consensus is "Dreamscape mixes several genres -- horror, sci-fi, action -- and always maintains a sense of adventure and humor." The film is ranked #93 on Rotten Tomatoes' Journey Through Sci-Fi (100 Best-Reviewed Sci-Fi Movies).
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