User Reviews

A British stab at the popular dream subgenre in the 80s that ends up coming off like A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET mixed with REPULSION. Virginal Diana (Jemma Redgrave) is preparing to get married when she begins having a number of vivid dreams that end up having effects on the real world. Directed by Harley Cokeliss, DREAM DEMON does have one thing going for it in that it perfectly captures the surreal nature of dreams. I can't tell you the number of times I have dreamt of pushing my hand through someones pus filled face, only to fall down a pit a few seconds later and have a guy on fire run out of nowhere (seriously). The film also attempts to have a mystery involving the house where Diana lives but it is put together so haphazardly that little of it makes sense. Is the house evil? If so, how is the house evil? Is Diana possessed? We never really know. Regardless, it is worth checking out once if you are starved for some of the bizarre dreams and visuals.

I love that we live in a time when the movies we once watched on fuzzy VHS rentals that were scored with wear and tear are now available on pristine blu rays from boutique labels. For example, 1988's Dream Demon is now in my hands and instead of a tape that might fall apart in my battered VCR, I have a director's cut blu ray that's been lovingly restored from the original camera negative.

Diana (Jemma Redgrave) is about to marry the man of her dreams, a war hero named Oliver, freshly home from the Falklands. Yet as she moves into a huge new home near London, she starts to experience terrifying and gore-strewn dreams where she's beaten, abused and tormented. She's also being stalked by two journalists (Timothy Spall and Jimmy Nail, who were on the show Auf Wenderstein, Pet) who are determined to dig some dirt up about her future husband. Things get even stranger when an American named Jenny (Kathleen Wilhoite, Witchboard, Fire in the Sky) shows up not only in her waking life, but in the dream world as well.

Director/co-writer Harley Cokeliss made the first filmed version of J.G. Ballard's Crash, as well as working second unit on The Empire Strikes Back before he made films like Battletruck and Black Moon Rising.

Here, he shows a deft hand for telling a dream logic story that is packed with practical effects and so much of the goopy red stuff. Not all of it makes sense, but you can pretend that it's the late 80's, you're in a video rental store and this looks pretty great from the box cover. It lives up to that promise.

Dream Demon starts at a wedding as the Minister (Richard Warner) ask's the bride Diana Markham (Jemma Redgrave) to take her vows but she hesitates & declines so the groom Oliver Hall (Mark Greenstreet) slaps her across the face, Diana ain't going to take that sort of thing so slaps him back which makes his head fly off his body & fountains of blood spurt everywhere. Diana suddenly wakes up, it was just a horrible nightmare. Diana is in reality engaged to Falklands War hero Oliver & their wedding becomes a big story with two local scumbag reporters Paul Lawrence (Jimmy Nail) & Russell Peck (Timothy Spall) who constantly hassle her for a story & try to dig a bit of dirt up if you know what I mean. One day Diana befriends an American teenager named Jenny Hoffman (Kathleen Wilhoite) who claims she can't remember anything about her childhood but then confusingly says she remembers growing up in the house in which Diana now lives having just moved in a mere 2 weeks ago. Diana continues to have terrifying nightmares, a doll that a large maggot crawls out off, the basement turning into a labyrinth of dark corridors, a split in the wall appearing & starting to pour with blood & both Paul & Russell turn up horribly disfigured taunting her. Jenny also starts to experience Diana's nightmares, but in reality while Diana sleeps. Diana starts to lose her grip on reality as her nightmares take over, is it all in Diana's imagination? Is the sudden appearance of Jenny a mere coincidence? Is the house somehow involved? Is there a purpose to these gruesome nightmares? You will have to watch it to find out...

This British produced film was co-written & directed by Harley Cokeliss & while I thought Dream Demon had potential it ultimately disappoints. The script by Cokeliss & Christopher Wicking is at fault here, basically it's one big unexplained mess. Even now I simply don't know what really happened & I finished watching it mere hours ago, where do the two newspaper journalists come into it? What were their purpose & why do they just walk off at the end discussing fast food? Why does not one single person die during the entire film? Where's the horror & threat? Why does Jenny not remember anything about her childhood but specifically remembers the exact house she grew up in in London? I mean London is a pretty big place you know & considering she can't remember anything else... What were the meaning & purpose of these nightmares? I know it recounts the house's past but why? Nothing is put right, nothing is avenged, nothing is resolved & at the end nothing has changed from when Dream Demon started. One final baffling question, does anyone else think Kathleen Wilhoite looks like a man? That jaw line, that nose & her face in general screams transvestite! On the positive side director Cokeliss manages to create some terrific sequences, I absolutely love that wedding scene at the beginning! The scenes that feature the disfigured Paul & Russell are pretty creepy especially a scene in a lift, I don't know what they did to Jimmy Nail to make him look the way he did but he gave me the creeps big time! It moves along at a nice pace but for the first hour or so it's just Diana having a nightmare, waking up & telling people about it & then having another nightmare, waking up again & telling people that she's had another one, & so this pattern continues for over an hour & I found it started to become dull as I wanted some sort of explanation of what was going on. The slightest hint of a story would have helped, there are also various plot threads that are left unexplored like the possible child abuse suffered by Jenny, the Angel symbolism, the two-timing fiancé & Diana's virginity & marital fears. There are some impressive gore effects too, the aforementioned decapitation at the wedding, a fist punched through someones head & some gory make-up effects plastered on Spall including him having his ear pulled off. It's just a shame there wasn't more of them & that ultimately they were all only dreams & everyone in the film survives. With a modest budget of about £3,000,000 Dream Demon has nice production design & is well made with a certain class & the late 80's London setting makes it feel a little different. The acting is surprisingly strong throughout except Kathleen Wilhoite, now I have nothing against her but she does look like a bloke & she is both terrible & annoying in her role, urgh. Well what can I say to sum up? There is no dream demon that the title refers to, it has a very loose poorly thought out story which is confusing & when all said & done Dream Demon disappointed & in no way could be described as the British A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). It's unusual & has some great ideas & individual scenes but isn't something that I could recommend to the casual film-goer, however die-hard horror fans would probably get something out of it but just don't expect too much.

This film is a carbon copy of A Nightmare on Elm Street (meets Hellraiser) that offers a curious take on the dreams world. Unfortunately, its potential was poorly executed by a lazy and full of clichés script and weak performances.

As a fan of horror films it's a rare treat to find one that you missed somewhere along the way. Either the movie was never released to theaters, didn't make it to the local video store back when or it simply never found a home anywhere. Arrow Video once again resurrects a forgotten film that many will enjoy and discuss not that they're releasing it. That movie is DREAM DEMON and comes from director Harley Cokeliss who directed BLACK MOON RISING and MALONE.

The movie revolves around Diana Markham (Jemma Redgrave), a London school teacher about to marry Oliver (Mark Greenstreet), an upper class war hero who seems more preoccupied with his fame than his upcoming marriage. Living in a building her fiancé has bought for them she continues to have nightmares most of which involve him treating her cruelly. Her therapists insist this is just nerves before the wedding but they nightmares increase in frequency.

Returning home one day Diana is sideswiped by journalist Paul (Jimmy Nail) and his photographer Peck (Timothy Spall) who act innocent before launching attack style questions at her. Out of nowhere pops Jenny (Kathleen Wilhoite) to her rescue fending off the duo. Inviting her inside Diana and Jenny become quick friends. Jenny is visiting from LA looking to find information about her biological parents who were from London. This house was their home back then.

Diana has another nightmare involving Peck attacking her involving the basement and then dying. The next day she tells Jenny about her nightmare and the two go downstairs to prove it was all just a dream. All seems fine until they come across Paul hiding there and letting them know that Peck has gone missing. After kicking him out, Jenny agrees to stay with Diana to help protect her. Later on Diana falls asleep and has another nightmare, this time pulling Jenny into it. Waking her from the dream the pair realize that Diana has the power to pull others into her dream world.

The series of dreams and realities combine to reveal the true story of the house, Diana, Oliver and of Jenny. All are tied together in a puzzle that comes together nicely and provides a satisfying story told with great visuals by performers giving some great performances. The special effects were quite well done and the set designs and cinematography were much better than one would expect from a genre film like this. These efforts provide a movie that should have received more attention when it was released. Thank Arrow for saving it.

As with all Arrow Video releases this film is chock full of extras and presented in the best way possible. To begin with this release is a 2K restoration from the original camera negative supervised and approved by Cokeliss. It also offers both the director's cut and the original theatrical version. The other extras include a new scene-select audio commentary track with Cokeliss and producer Paul Webster, a new interview with Cokeliss, a new interview with Webster, a new interview with Jemma Redgrave, a new interview with actor Mark Greenstreet, a new interview with actor Nickolas Grace, a new interview with actress Annabelle Lanyon, a new interview with composer Bill Nelson, "Foundation of Nightmare: The Making of Dream Demon" a behind the scenes look at the production of the film, image galleries, the original theatrical trailer, a reversible sleeve with original and newly-commissioned artwork by Christopher Shy, for the first pressing only a collector's booklet with new writing on the film by Anne Bilson the author of the novelization of the film and Cokeliss and also for the first pressing a reversible poster featuring exclusive newly-commissioned artwork by Christopher Shy.

If you've not seen this one it's worth seeking out. And compliments once more to Arrow for a superb job.

Two women - one about to be married, the other having returned to the area recently - find they are able to bring each other into their dreams, and that their dreams are connected with a house one of the women is due to move into.

Though it might require more than one viewing to work it all out, this film is a first-rate ghost story. It is nothing too demanding, but still manages to be entertaining, creepy, well-written and filled with surrealism. Especially good are the nightmare images, many of which involve two unsavoury reporters (played by Jimmy Nail and Timothy Spall) who are sucked into the dreams and start becoming more nightmarish with each encounter.

Dream Demon is one of those horror movies that though done on a budget, still come across and well written and well acted. Both the leads, Jemma Redgrave and Kathleen Wilhoite are great in their roles as Diana and Jenny. Timothy Spall and Jimmy Nail are the two crude harassing newsmen, one a photographer and the other an investigative journalist.

Diana is engaged to Oliver, a Falkland's war hero and is having horrible nightmares. Even though her therapist assures her that it's normal, she is still anxious.

When she meets the American Jenny who reveals that she grew up in the house, things really escalate.

This is an imaginative film that deals with dreams vs reality and repressed memories. This is a fine example of a 80s horror movie that made the decade so much fun.