Bad Dreams (1988)

What a waste of my time!!!

People are voting emotionally.

Let's be realistic.

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

The film tell the story of the sole survivor of an interesting hippie-like commune/cult led by a David Koreshish type leader. Yet "Bad Dreams" is a cut above for many reasons. The first being that the film is filled with surrealistic arresting images-in particular, the house where the mass suicide took place is an intriguing looking building, tragically beautiful. Secondly, "Bad Dreams" encompasses a fascinating character in the African American female mental patient who frequently says mysterious and pseudo religious things and seems to be the only one who knows whats going on. Thirdly, the acting by all involved is really superior to what you find in most horror films. Rubin is especially good at emoting and I am mystified why I never heard of her before I watched this film.This movie actually, was more a psychological thriller than it was a horror, yet it had elements of both which is what I like in a movie. I want to be challenged more in my mind than I want to be scared out of my wits. This is why Bad Dreams scores on all fronts. Bruce Abbott does well as the young psychiatrist who counsels his seven patients. It was written, produced and directed well. I can think of no flaws in the movie. The attention to detail was flawless like when after the blood sprays all over the hospital in later scenes you see workers scrubbing the blood from the floors and walls and ventilation shafts. That was realistic! They did not just assume that the blood was gone. Jennifer Rubin's portrayal of Cynthia, a naive yet scared girl hit on all cylinders. I so wish that she had not given up acting. She was by far one of the best actresses of her generation. From A Woman Her Men and a Futon to "Miami Vice," she could do it all and she shines bright in this psychological-horror movie. See the movie for her portrayal alone.Overall rating: 7 out of 10.

Watchable, sometimes offbeat and humorous horror film that seems as if it intends to coast on the success of the "Nightmare on Elm Street" series but ends up going on its own merry path. It works best when our heroine is still trying to make sense of macabre events and is not sure what the truth is. The writing is silly at times, but there are also fun moments. Some of the special effects are bad, yet at the same time there's some hilarious over the top gore. Making it entertaining enough to watch are some great lines and a number of amusing, attention-getting performances.The movie stars "Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors" cast member Jennifer Rubin as Cynthia, who as a child had survived a suicide pact engineered by ultra creepy cult leader Harris (Richard Lynch at his best). Now she's a 20 something adult who's just awakened from a coma, and she's put into group therapy run by kindly Alex Karmen (Bruce Abbott of "Re- Animator" fame). Soon the people in this group start to die horrible deaths and Cynthia is convinced that Harris's spirit (which sometimes appears to her as a nastily charred corpse) is the one killing them.Rubin is appealing if not that good as an actress; at least she conveys a sense of naivety and innocence. Abbott is good, as is the excellent character actor Harris Yulin - a man who's always excelled at playing unbelievably smug and pompous jerks - as Karmens' colleague. Dean Cameron ("Summer School") supplies a lot of the comedy, improvising most of his best lines (you have to pay attention to catch one of them). Susan Barnes and Sy Richardson (both from "Repo Man"), Louis Giambalvo ("Weekend at Bernie's"), ever adorable actress / singer / voice over artist Elizabeth Daily, Susan Ruttan ('L.A. Law'), and Charles "voice of Roger Rabbit" Fleischer all put in appearances as well.Co-written and directed by Andrew Fleming ("The Craft"), this is intriguing for a while - with a memorable "revenge" / black comedy sequence near the end - but ultimately comes to a humdrum conclusion. It does show off Rubins' beauty to great effect and can boast some good visual tricks and scene transitions. Oscar winner Michele Burke does the nicely grisly makeup effects.Overall, not bad; it may be worth viewing for devotees of 80s genre fare.Six out of 10.

As any long time horror fan will tell you, by 1988, the slasher well that had been prominent earlier in the decade was pretty much dried up. Horror films from this period tended to be on the comedic side with less of an emphasis on straight horror. One of the films to buck this trend however was Bad Dreams. In the beginning of the film we see a young girl, Cynthia, a member of a cult involved in a ritual with her fellow members. The cult leader played by(Richard Lynch)is a Jim Jones/Charles Manson combination tells the group how they will be together as one following the ritual. What Cynthia soon realizes is that ol' cult leader man actually has mass suicide in mind. We soon witness various cult members dowse themselves with gasoline and set themselves alight. The house soon becomes a bonfire with the cult members trapped inside. The police and ambulances arrive but are there any survivors? In fact there is one survivor, Cynthia. Flash forward 13 years, Cynthia,now played by Jennifer Rubin (Nightmare on Elm Street 3), wakes up from her coma. Yes, she has been kept alive all of these years. She is now a ward of the state and lives in the hospital cum mental institute. She begins a group therapy session to readjust to after being in a coma that has spanned half of her life. The doctor in charge of the therapy, is played by Bruce Abbott (from the first two Re Animator films.)Cynthia meets the assorted oddballs who are members of the group. We have our kooky love birds, our bi-polar comedian/aggressor, our bitter conspiracy theorist, and two women; one who looks like a female Steve Urkel and a tiny brunette who apparently borrowed Jennifer Tilly's voice. Once Cynthia emerges from her coma, she begins to see her former cult leader in various places throughout the hospital. Is he still alive or is it all in her mind? The members of the group begin dying in mysterious ways. At first they are marked off as suicides but after a while it becomes apparent someone wants them dead.Does Cynthia's reawakening have anything to do with the deaths? If you read my review of Killer Party,you know I enjoy talking about songs in movies. Bad Dreams does not have anything as awesome as "April" or "The Best Times of Our Lives", but does include "Time" by The Chambers Brothers. It's one of the more unsettling songs from the late 60s and by far the creepiest of the seemingly endless songs named "Time." If you missed it the first time it plays in the movie, don't worry. You'll hear it again and again throughout the film.The acting, with a few exceptions, is one of the main drawbacks of the film. Jennifer Rubin, although easy on the eyes, does not exactly give a stellar performance. Her character in Nightmare on Elm Street 3 tells us that in her dreams she is "beautiful and bad." She carries the beauty into Bad Dreams but the way in which she is bad has a different connotation this time around.That's not to say she is terrible by any means,but she's not exactly Amy Steele in Friday the 13th part 2.The notable exception in Bad Dreams is Ralph, played by Dean Cameron. He gives quite a good performance as the joke and sex crazed funny man one minute, and the startling psychotic the next.I've always enjoyed his work, especially his role in one of my all time favorite guilty pleasures, Miracle Beach, in which he co-starred with the super adorable Ami Dolenz. That's a review for a different time. Overall, Bad Dreams is parts hit and miss. I'm a slasher completest, and would find something good to say about the movie whether it was good or not. As a slasher it works for the most part. It's not the most obvious whodunit I've seen but it's in the top 10. My rating: 6.5/10 blood pouring air vents.

A sinister cult called Unity Fields commits mass suicide in a horrific manner - by fire - at the behest of its psychopathic leader, Harris. Only one woman named Cynthia survives to tell the tale. Now, 13 years later, Cynthia is having reminders of the life changing incident, as people around her begin to die one at a time. Cynthia finds out quickly that the ghost of Harris is back... to claim her.....Ironically called Bad Dreams, the film is essentially a remake of A Nightmare On Elm Part Three: The Dream Warriors, everyone in the institution is haunted by the title of the film, and Lynch is essentially Freddy, burnt features included.And while its a watchable movie, and Dean Cameron is in it (and the best thing), it gets a little bland, and Rubin really starts to grate on you after a while.Lynch pops up every now and again in his Bonanza outfit, to say something sinister, and one by one people die, much to the perplextion of a running doctor, but the narrative doesn't compliment the story.There are a few standout scenes, the opening sequence is amazing, but it really falls apart when we hit present day...