Lovesusti The Worst Film Ever

MonsterPerfect Good idea lost in the noise

Skyler Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Cassandra Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

lathe-of-heaven This film definitely had the 1980's vibe going strong in it's look and feel. Usually, if you are one to like the 'Classic' Slasher films of that time period, you pretty much know what to expect. Unfortunately, although there ARE some scattered good moments in the film, overall I honestly got the impression that overall it just didn't hold together terribly well. The IDEA was pretty good, and for me anyway, ANY film that starts with almost a full rendition of The Electric Prunes 'I Had too Much to Dream Last Night' is pretty damn awesome. Some of the soundtrack choices were effective too. And, at times the director did create a nice mood. But, I don't know exactly what it was, probably the direction since the director usually has final control of how the movie comes across, flows, and ties together. You kind of got the feeling that the actors were just not quite really into it and I feel that that comes across in the performances. Also, there are many awkward moments where the patients would be acting odd or doing their thing, but to me, it didn't come across as believable. To me, many times it seemed like a number of odd, sub-par performances roughly strung together.Most decent Slashers usually keep a good pace and keep the action going so that the story moves quickly for the audience. I didn't get that here... I think that perhaps if it could have be tightened up a bit and if the performances elicited by the director and maybe the specific shots used had been done better, than the movie would have been much more involving and more entertaining. The only way I can think of to put it, to explain the overall feel that it gave me, is that it just didn't seem to 'Flow' quite right. But, like I said, it definitely had it's moments. But, I think just too many scenes were weak. For example, not giving anything away, but one scene with the hyper patient towards the end when he took Jennifer Rubin with him down into the basement or somewhere, the scene where he was throwing a fit dragged on and on and on and just really seemed like padding and was pretty stupid. Unfortunately, there were just too many weak moments, maybe not QUITE as bad as that scene, but weak all the same. Also, without saying too much, the 'twist' towards the end was an excellent idea and gave a nice added punch to the story. But again, it was almost too little too late... I really like the guy playing the young doctor (wasn't he the romantic lead in 'REANIMATOR') but even he seemed like he was trying REALLY hard not to sleepwalk through the film. Jennifer Rubin didn't impress very much; she just looked kind of stoned the whole time. She was a HELL of a lot better in 'NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 3' Also, it would have been nice to see E.G. Daily do a bit more too.So... just rating this against other Slashers, I really can't get too worked up by it. I felt that even though the premise was very good and even though there WERE some good moments in it, overall compared to most other average to decent Slashers, I just found this one a bit limp, mainly because it just didn't seem that sharply put together. The current rating of '5.5' is about right; I gave it a '5' because I couldn't quite give it a '6' In my honest, lowly and wretched opinion, I truly think that there are a LOT better Slasher films out there...

Bill Hollister 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.

Alan Bannacheck Cynthia reawakens from a 13 year old coma after a tragic fire murdered off her fellow cult members called "The Unity." She is sent over to a mental institution and placed in with the Borderline Personality therapy group. She begins dreaming and hallucinating about the leader of the Unity named Harris. Soon members of the therapy groups begin dying in apparent suicides. This may be because Cynthia made a pact to die with the unity, yet she survived.This movie had a similar Nightmare on Elm Street feel, but Harris is no Freddy. He is a genuinely spine-chilling phantasm, especially when he appears as his burned skeleton form in the elevators and hallways of the institution. The acting was convincing enough, and the leads did a very good job. The actor who played Ralph was the best. There is one cliché', the fellow patient who warns Cynthia "There is no escape from him." And something similar. Not too mention the evil psychologist with bad intentions and a love affair.Overall watch this movie if you can. It deserves a B+ for how it is put together. I recommend this to any horror fan.

trashgang Well well, this surely surprised me. I didn't know what to think about this flick. The cover showed me some deformed hand holding a face. I catched this at a garage sale, 3 movies for 1 dollar. So I bought it. Glad that I could put it into my collection. First of all, it's a typical era movie, the end of the eighties. The slashers were over and movie makers were searching for new things, so they decide to make supernatural flicks, with the most famous Elm Street. Bad Dreams isn't bad after all, it's watchable for everybody in the genre. The storyline is simple, a girl is in a cult, the cult made a suicide, she's the only survivor. And waking out of a coma she suddenly has bad dreams about the leader of the cult. It's bloody, not gory. The filming is perfect and the score is nice too, only at the end they stated My Way as from a band but it's Sid Vicious, sure of it. Perfect performance by the girl and the leader of the cult. If you can catch it cheap, you won't be disappointed.