FilmRoar

It is regrettable that the luscious thriller/horror flick In Dreams (1999) had to rely on so many tired movie clichés. Had the filmmakers the courage to let the story stand and be supported by the rich cinematography this could have been a great movie. Instead what we get is a sequence of events that look like a clips collage from other great thrillers.

In Dreams centers on the story of Claire Cooper (expertly executed by Annette Bening), a woman troubled with precognitive dreams of ghastly murders. Her frustrated husband Paul (Aidan Quinn) tries to support her, going to the police to describe the acts of a child murderer (Robert Downey Jr.) only to be blown off. When Claire has a vision of the murder of her own daughter the walls between reality and madness begin to collapse and the dreams spill out into her waking life. Realizing the only way to catch the murderer is to allow him full access to her mind Claire escapes from a mental hospital and follows his lead to the killer’s lair.

Most of the movie is spent in disturbingly paced intercuts between Claire’s life and her dreams. The dream sequences are rich with symbolism and interplay between cinematography and art direction. The plot unfortunately demands the audience set aside common set and accept a sequence of events barely worthy of a B-Horror slasher flick. The couple’s home is conveniently isolated from any neighbors and borders a creepy wood. Their dog for some reason has no qualms running out of the home on a stormy night to follow the killer providing a great excuse for our victim to run into the lonely woods. When Claire is interned at the local asylum she is for some reason put into the same room that the killer occupied years earlier. Worst of all the rich red apples that appear through the movie are all perfect and spotless as they flow out of the huge mill occupied by our supposed madman who incidentally seems to share certain mother fixations altogether too similar to those of the killer in Psycho (1960) and other past movies. Even Downey Jr.’s look is a bit too “hi, I am a psychotic killer” to be very believable.

In Dreams left me feeling like the cast, the Director of Photography (Darius Khondji (Delicatessen (1991), Se7en (1995), City of Lost Children (1995))), the Art Director (Martin Laing (True Lies (1994), Titanic (1997))) and Production Designer (Nigel Phelps) were all cheated out of a great movie by a poor script.and a mediocre director (Neil Jordan (The Crying Game (1992), Interview with the Vampire (1994)).