Beyond Bedlam (1994)

User Rating:

3.4/10   

Director:

Vadim Jean

Writers:

John Brosnan (novel)
Vadim Jean (writer)

Release Date:

22 April 1994 (UK)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

Psychological Terror Beyond Your Wildest Nightmares

Plot:

Dr.Stephanie Lyell works for Neurological Research, and is testing a seemingly safe personality-altering...

Plot Keywords:

Drug | Serial Killer | Detective | Hallucination | Suicide

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Craig Fairbrass	...	Terry Hamilton
Elizabeth Hurley	...	Stephanie Lyell
Keith Allen	...	Marc Gilmour
Anita Dobson	...	Judith
Jesse Birdsall	...	Scott
Craig Kelly	...	Matthew Hamilton
Faith Kent	...	Miss Coope
Georgina Hale	...	Sister Romulus
Samantha Spiro	...	WPC Foster
Steven Brand	...	Turnball
Zoe Heyes	...	Josie
Annette Badland	...	Nurse Wrekin
Natasha Humphrey	...	Gloria
Jack McKenzie	...	DCI Clery
Christopher Adamson	...	Weasel

Also Known As:

Nightscare

MPAA:

Rated R for strong horror violence and gore, sexuality and language.

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Netherlands:16 | Australia:MA | Finland:K-16 (video premiere) | Germany:18 | UK:18 | USA:R | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Friern Barnet Hospital, Friern Barnet Road, Friern Barnet, London, England, UK

Company:

Metrodome Films

Trivia:

First announced in the UK trades with a different cast many of these dropped out before filming started.

Soundtrack:

RETURN TO ME

Bedlam in the editing booth, or, Nightwasted

Oh, the pain, the pain! This was a truly awful movie. I saw it on video as Nightscare, and it claimed to be as good as Hellraiser.

Dr. Lyell (Elizabeth Hurley) has developed an injection that is supposed to supply the neurotransmitter that psychopaths lack, giving them the positive social traits everyone else has. She apparently only tested it on one other person other than the serial killer Gilmour - herself. Two people die under strange circumstances in the apartment building she lives in. Detective Hamilton feels Gilmour must be involved. None of these characters are interesting, and the acting all around is pretty sub-par.

What is going on is unclear, not so much because of any surreal or Lynchian, etc. elements at work, but poor storytelling, editing, directing, etc. Apparently the drug gives Dr. Lyell bad dreams that come true. Or perhaps they create a link whereby Gilmour can make Lyell's dreams come true. However, Lyell and Hamilton both see and feel things happen to them while they are awake, that apparently Gilmour is causing while he is also awake. Lyell and Hamilton encounter people from their lives who are now dead, including people they inadvertently killed themselves. Lyell and Hamilton realize these people are dead, and the dead people tend to repeat whatever they say like broken records, and yet Lyell and Hamilton can't stop themselves from listening to the dead and conversing with them. At other times, Gilmour can apparently transfer himself out of his cell, and transform himself into other people. A mess.

The ending is truly awful, the sort of open ending one would expect from someone who hoped to make a sequel. Please, let there be no sequel to this, please!