Review: Dream Lover


Kristy McNichol stars as a NY jazz flautist, newly moved into the area with boyfriend Justin Deas. One night she is attacked in her apartment and nearly raped, before she fatally stabs the intruder. Unfortunately, the nightmare has only begun for her- she’s literally having nightmares about the incident. It doesn’t help that Deas cheats on her, and there’s something not quite right with her relationship with dad Paul Shenar, either (Kissing on the lips for one thing). Along comes Ben Masters, a handsome dream analysis researcher who wants McNichol to be a part of his experiments. And hey, if it cures her of her problems, that’s a bonus. Unfortunately, it looks as though it’ll only make things worse. John McMartin and Gayle Hunnicutt play family friends (who are only in the film to cast aspersions on Mr. Shenar for possible red herring purposes).

 

Not the crowning achievement in the career of director Alan J. Pakula (“Klute”, “All the President’s Men”, “Sophie’s Choice”), this 1986 psycho-drama/quasi-horror film is pretty poorly done. Star Kristy McNichol is usually a charismatic presence on screen, but she seems completely uninterested in being here, and given the subpar Brian De Palma-esque nature of the material, I don’t really blame her. Scripted by Jon Boorstin (who worked for Pakula in various technical capacities over the years, but has become mostly a TV writer since the 90s), the film’s idea of reading a person’s dreams on a graph is absurd. How can you tell what exactly she was dreaming about just by looking at a graph? You can’t get specific info like that from a simple graph. “Spellbound” this ain’t, it’s more like the dated “Brainstorm” and “Dreamscape”, but much worse (Apparently there was a ‘technical consultant’ involved, but my guess is their expertise was in hydroponics, not dream analysis). Then again, this is a film that shows McNichol, already miscast as a jazz flautist, getting a record deal in 1986 playing the flute and attempting to scat. Um…no, sweetie. Just no.

 

The wonderfully surreal, dream-like cinematography by ace Sven Nykvist (“Persona”, “Cries and Whispers”, “Chaplin”, “Sleepless in Seattle”) is a major asset, but despite not being easy to predict the ending, the film is still bloody awful. It’s shockingly edited (including some appallingly amateurish night/day/night gaffes), confusingly plotted, drab, and ultimately pointless. McNichol looks sensational in teeny weeny cotton panties, though. That’s an important detail.

 

I’m really not sure what Pakula saw in this material, and you’d have to be a die-hard McNichol fan to get much out of this misfire which eschews chills and horrors for wannabe-Bergman dry pretentiousness and goober jazz flute lameness.

 

Rating: D+

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Hellraiser (2022)

Recovering junkie Odessa A’zion accompanies scuzzy boyfriend Drew Starkey on a break-in where all they find is a weird puzzle box. A’zion later opens the box and after some weird shit happens, A’zion and Starkey figure it might be a good idea to learn more about this messed up trinket. Goran Visnjic plays a millionaire who possessed the box before our protagonist nicked it.   Is there any point in remaking/rebooting “Hellraiser” when the 1987 adaptation of Clive Barker’s original text was written and directed by Barker himself? And is considered a horror classic? On evidence here, absolutely not. Directed by David Bruckner ( “The Signal” ) and scripted by Ben Collins ( “The Night House” ) and Luke Piotrowski (ditto) this is an entirely tedious affair. I took a long time to get on board with the 1987 “Hellraiser” , I have to admit. It was wildly imaginative and original, like a nightmare transplanted on to film. However, the characters were stone cold and left me similarly chilly t
Read more

Review: Cinderella (1950)

The story of poor young Cinderella (voiced by Ilene Woods), treated as a servant by her nasty stepmother (voiced by Eleanor Audley), and dismissed by her thoroughly rotten, ugly stepsisters. Her only friends are a group of mice, who are forever being menaced by a cat named Lucifer (or as I call him, Grumpy Cheshire Cat). The King (hoping to find a wife for his charming son) is throwing a ball and every available young woman is invited to attend, and Cinderella is most excited to go. However, her stepmother and stepsisters do all they can to prevent this from happening. But with help from the mice and one fairy godmother (voiced by Verna Felton) later, and Cinderella looks set to attend the ball. You know the rest, folks.   Lovely 1950 Disney animated movie from directors Clyde Geronimi ( “Peter Pan” , “Lady and the Tramp” ), Wilfred Jackson ( “Fantasia” , “Alice in Wonderland” , “Peter Pan” ) & Hamilton Luske ( “Pinocchio” , “Fantasia” , “Peter Pan” ), that is a bit too s
Read more

Review: Eugenie de Sade

Eugenie (Soledad Miranda) makes a deathbed confession to author/biographer (Jesus ‘Jess’ Franco himself), recounting the tale of how her depraved stepfather (Paul Muller) groomed her into a life of depravity, debauchery, and murder.   Not to be confused with the similarly titled “Eugenie…The Story of Her Journey into Perversion” (by the same director) or “Justine de Sade” (which is not to be confused with Franco’s own “Justine” for that matter), this 1973 Marquis de Sade adaptation from writer-director Jesus Franco ( “99 Women” , “A Virgin Among the Living Dead” ) is perhaps the perfect marriage of Franco, sleazy material, and actors. Basically this is what Franco’s “She Killed in Ecstasy” might’ve been like if it were based on a Marquis de Sade work. There’s a few slow spots here and there, but overall I actually think this is Franco’s best film. Yes, even better than my previous choice “Vampyros Lesbos” , and better than his more ‘respectable’ films like “Count Dracula” (a
Read more