Dreamscape

I don't like blogging about movies that are out-of-print on DVD and not coming up on TV. But over the weekend I made the mistake of watching Dreamscape thinking it was available on DVD, but apparently it's out of print. If you have Amazon you can apparently do the streaming thing, however.

Paul Novotny (Max von Sydow) and Jane DeVries (Kate Capshaw) are a pair of scientists doing research into dreams, and the rather esoteric idea of whether it would be possible to get somebody else into the dreams of a person suffering from nightmares, with the idea of helping the person with the nightmares. Novotny realizes they need somebody with psychic skills, and there's one man he researched quite a few years back before the guy ran away when he hit adulthood.

Cut to Alex (Dennis Quaid). He's at a racetrack, betting on the horses. He also has psychic abilities, which implies that he knows ahead of time who's going to win the races and can bet appropriately to win money. The other touts at the track are none too pleased with this, since they want him to share the wealth. After coming home from the track, Alex is met by two men, who make him an offer he can't refuse.

Alex is taken to the university where Novotny and DeVries are doing their research and is slowly let in on what they're doing. Alex has no desire to do it, but the government people funding the program know about Alex's winnings at the racetrack and would be more than happy to sic the IRS on Alex. Gotta love government blackmail.

Alex is an apt pupil, although it's going to take a lot of practice to get as good as the star psychic, Tommy (David Patrick Kelly). However, there's one case that's been giving everybody particular problems, that of young Buddy (Cory Yothers, kid brother of Tina from Family Ties which is why the name probably looks familiar). Buddy is almost catatonic at times from his nightmares, sullen and withdrawn. Nobody's been able to help, but Alex offers to try. It's a difficult case, but Alex helps Buddy overcome the fears that manifest themselves in Buddy's nightmares.

Tommy is pissed, and he and the minder with the government funding, Bob Blair (Christopher Plummer) get about to what Blair thinks the real point of the research should be. An older lady seeking help for her nightmares suffers a massive coronary during her nightmare, and Alex figures out that what really happened is that Tommy killed her in her nightmare. There are obvious uses for this if the government should become aware of such things.

Unsurprisingly, Blair knows what he wants to do. The President (Eddie Albert) has been having nightmares about the possibility of nuclear war, and is going to be entering the critical phase of negotations on a disarmament treaty (remember, this is the 1980s when the Cold War was still going on). Blair and his shady government agency think the treaty would be a disaster for America. You can guess what Blair wants Tommy to do. Alex guesses it too, which is why Blair has sent his minions to try to bump off Alex. Not that anybody would believe him, of course.

Dreamscape is a pretty fun movie, although it's definitely a product of its time. The special effects are obvious, although that's not a bad thing since it also serves as an effect device to point out that this bit of the movie is one of the dream sequences. The thing that struck me while watching the movie was the whole government conspiracy thing. This sort of conspiracy was a staple of movies in the 70s and 80s, but now in real life we've got an outsider President who suggests that there's a "deep state" that would be OK with sabotaging his presidency. The same sort of people who would accept as gospel truth the sort of "deep state" conspiracy in Dreamscape or other movies suddenly turn around and react with horror if you suggest there's any sort of "deep state" in real life. Principals, not principles.

As for me, I have to admit I rolled my eyes a bit when I realized where the movie was going. Another movie I thought of was Brainstorm, which did have some government types trying to get their hands on the technology, but which also has a humorous scene in which the executives think about how lucrative it would be if their virtual reality device were marketed as a virtual sex device. I can only imagine people wanting to use the Dreamscape technology in the same way.

Political and business ideas aside, Dreamscape is definitely worth a watch if you can do the streaming thing.