IMDb > Bad Dreams (1988)
Bad Dreams
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Bad Dreams (1988) More at IMDbPro »

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Bad Dreams (1988) -- US Home Video Trailer from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

Overview

User Rating:
4.9/10   1,037 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
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Director:
Andrew Fleming
Writers (WGA):
Andrew Fleming (story) &
Michael Dick (story) ...
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Contact:
View company contact information for Bad Dreams on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
8 April 1988 (USA) more
Genre:
Horror | Thriller more
Tagline:
The Scream You Don't Hear... Is Your Own more
Plot:
In the mid-'70s, a cult group called Unity Field commits mass suicide, but a young girl survives. After... more | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
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NewsDesk:
(3 articles)
Int: Gale Anne Hurd
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User Comments:
Worth seeing for the cast, in any event. more (36 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Jennifer Rubin ... Cynthia
Bruce Abbott ... Dr. Alex Karmen
Richard Lynch ... Harris

Dean Cameron ... Ralph
Harris Yulin ... Dr. Berrisford
Susan Barnes ... Connie
John Scott Clough ... Victor

Elizabeth Daily ... Lana (as E.G. Daily)
Damita Jo Freeman ... Gilda
Louis Giambalvo ... Ed

Susan Ruttan ... Miriam

Sy Richardson ... Detective Wasserman
Missy Francis ... Young Cynthia
Sheila Scott-Wilkenson ... Hettie
Ben Kronen ... Edgar
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Additional Details

Runtime:
Australia:80 min | 84 min (FMC Library Print)
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Color:
Color
Sound Mix:
Dolby
Certification:
Finland:(Banned) (1988) | Finland:K-18 (re-rating) | UK:18 (cut) | Australia:R | France:-12 | USA:R | Iceland:16 | Norway:18 (video rating) | Norway:(Banned) (1988-2003) (cinema release)

Fun Stuff

Quotes:
Cynthia: [looking up at the vent] Where's Connie and Ed?... Where's Connie and Ed?
Harris: With us!
more
Movie Connections:
Featured in Ghost (1990) more
Soundtrack:
My Way more

FAQ

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Worth seeing for the cast, in any event., 2 February 2009
7/10
Author: Scott LeBrun from Winnipeg, Canada

In 1975, a girl named Cynthia managed to survive a suicide pact engineered by charismatic / creepy cult leader Clayton Harris (Richard Lynch). In 1988, Cynthia emerges as a young adult (Jennifer Rubin) from a coma and is placed under the care of kindly psychiatrist Alex Karmen (Bruce Abbott). Soon enough, all of her fellow group therapy patients are killing themselves in increasingly graphic ways, and Cynthia, who is seeing Harris's charred remains repeatedly, believes that he is the one killing them.

"Bad Dreams" is a fairly decent horror film working the psychology of cults and their gurus into its somewhat intriguing plot. It shows how good intentions and ideas can be distorted into something monstrous (Harris's intention is the ultimate expression of love and unity, hence the name of his cult, "Unity Fields".). It incorporates the use of a MacGuffin in its plot to good effect, and the psychiatry angle adds another layer to the proceedings.

Michele Burke supplies great make-up for Lynch as well as some pretty nasty splatter. The highlight is a double suicide involving voluntarily jumping into a turbine (when blood starts showering down on Cynthia, it's a very "Carrie"-esque moment). Good visual imagery helps - scene transitions and color schemes are particularly noteworthy. The offbeat soundtrack includes classics such as "Time Has Come Today", a truly warped punk rendition of "My Way", and the Guns 'n' Roses hit "Sweet Child O' Mine", in its first inclusion in a motion picture.

The film delivers some fine "Boo!" moments, and is overall fairly creepy and uneasy, thanks in no small part to the Harris character and Lynch's performance. One can see how some people would fall under the spell of a person like that.

Rubin is quite gorgeous and appealing, and Abbott does well as the well-meaning shrink. Harris Yulin, Susan Ruttan, Susan Barnes, Sy Richardson, Louis Giambalvo, Damita Jo Freeman, and E.G. Daily do fine supporting work. Ruttan in particular offers a notable contrast to the role of Roxanne on 'L.A. Law.' Dean Cameron supplies much of the humor, improvising his best lines (you have to listen closely to catch one of them). And Charles Fleischer, voice of Roger Rabbit, has an amusing cameo.

One of the best sequences has Abbott playing out a revenge fantasy against Yulin.

"Bad Dreams" is a reasonably entertaining 80's horror flick that at least wraps itself up in record time, running a scant 85 minutes.

7/10

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Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Bad Dreams (1988)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
Different movie, came out around same time luvsux82
worth the rent? meghaneharper
I've seen Freddy and all the rest, but Harris is the best! hburly-2
Ralph =] volofv481
Alternate Version epp2
Alternate Ending ('Come to Daddy') pawprivate
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