ad1mt This movie is an under-rated gem.It's genuinely scary, without being filled with blood & gore like many low-budget horror movies are.Its has its flaws, but if you can get past them, you will be rewarded with a genuinely original horror movie. I had to watch it at least twice, before the full implications of the story became apparent to me.There are many scenes, where you don't know what is real & what is a dream and for me, this adds to its effectiveness.The soundtrack is also interesting because it was composed by Bill Nelson (ex Bebop Deluxe) during his "ambient music" phase of the 1980's.I don't wish to discuss the story in any detail, because this might spoil the movie for you.Unfortunately, this is currently unavailable on DVD, long since out of print in any other format, and might not be available again for some time to come, because it would appear that the rights ownership have become confused by bankruptcy. The only way to see it is to get hold of an old 2nd-hand VHS copy.Thoroughly recommended.

Coventry The last thing you expect from a low-budget 80's horror film with the word 'demon' in its title is complexity and confusion, and yet all you get from "Dream Demon" is complexity and confusion. This British production tries to be more intelligent than the classic it obviously imitates (Nightmare on Elm Street) with a very intricate "what's-a-dream-and-what's-reality"-structure. The highly ambitious script (co-written by director Cokeliss) intertwines the premarital nightmares of young virgin Diana with the blurry childhood traumas of punk-girl Jenny and, most of the time, you haven't got a clue what's really going on. Diana's dreams, revolving on dark secrets inside the mirrors of her house, connect her to Jenny, who lived there as a kid and returned to Britain to find out who her real parents were. In the meantime, Diana's dreams cause the violent deaths of some persistent journalists that are interested in her upcoming marriage with a local army-hero. Maybe if he had a little more budget (or talent...), director Cokeliss might had worked out the interesting ideas more carefully. The story really does have potential and there are obvious moments of ingeniousness, but the wholesome is shaky and unappealing. Too bad, because "Dream Demon" definitely has style! The atmosphere is often uncanny and the camera-work is very inventive. The acting performances are far above average and the gruesome make-up effects (although nearly not enough in my opinion) look very convincing. All in one...not recommended.

StormSworder 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.

galensaysyes Because this was British and starred Jemma Redgrave, I expected it to be classier. It's another of those dream horror movies where things happen according to no logical sequence but whenever the director feels like it. Yet it does have one great idea, which I know I've seen used in a story somewhere: the existence of a real house and its dream counterpart, connected in some occult way. In one scene of this movie the heroine's friend and partner becomes lost in the dream house, looking for a way to get out, while the heroine searches for her in the real one, looking for a way to get through. To me this is quite scary and evocative. But the idea only works if the two houses stay separate throughout; these dream horror movies rely on the shock of the dreams breaking through into the real world, or their mock-up of the real world. Some day a filmmaker with more restraint should take the idea and do it right.