Jump to content

Deadly Dreams: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
added Plot details from article
Tag: Reverted
SporkBot (talk | contribs)
Bots
1,245,011 edits
m Remove template per TFD outcome
(28 intermediate revisions by 16 users not shown)
Line 5: Line 5:
|caption = Video poster
|caption = Video poster
|writer = Thom Babbes
|writer = Thom Babbes
|starring = {{plainlist|
|starring = [[Juliette Cummins]]<br>[[Mitchell Anderson]]<br>[[Xander Berkeley]]<br>Thom Babbes
* [[Mitchell Anderson]]
⚫
* Juliette Cummins
* [[Xander Berkeley]]
* Thom Babbes
}}
|director = [[Kristine Peterson]]
|director = [[Kristine Peterson]]
|producer = Matt Leipzig
|producer = Matt Leipzig
Line 15: Line 20:
|budget =
|budget =
|released = {{Film date|1988|10|26}}
|released = {{Film date|1988|10|26}}
|runtime = 79 minutes<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/deadly_dreams|work=[[Rotten Tomatoes]]|title=Deadly Dreams|url-status=live|archive-url=http://archive.is/wip/8Vreo|archive-date=April 4, 2020}}</ref>
|runtime = 79 minutes<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/deadly_dreams|work=[[Rotten Tomatoes]]|title=Deadly Dreams|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200405005649/https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/deadly_dreams|archive-date=April 5, 2020|access-date=April 5, 2020}}</ref>
|country = United States
|country = United States
|language =
|language =
}}
}}
'''''Deadly Dreams''''' is a 1988 American [[slasher film]] directed by [[Kristine Peterson]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Deadly Dreams (1988) |url=http://www.oh-the-horror.com/page.php?id=358 |website=Oh, The Horror! |access-date=25 September 2020}}</ref>
'''''Deadly Dreams''''' is a 1988 American [[psychological horror]] film directed by [[Kristine Peterson]], and starring [[Mitchell Anderson]], Juliette Cummins, and [[Xander Berkeley]].


==Plot==
==Plot==
Alex Torme is haunted by the brutal murder of his parents on [[Christmas Eve]] when he was a child: His wealthy father's business associate, Norman Perkins, shot them to death over a financial dispute, and taunted Alex and his older brother, Jack, while donning a mask made from the face [[Fur|pelt]] of a [[fox]]. Perkins then turned the gun on himself, committing suicide. Alex suffers recurring nightmares in which he is stalked by Perkins.
"Pretty, sexually nebulous, dreamboat hunk Alex (Mitchell Anderson) is a young man whose family’s tragic death in a hunting “accident” has benighted his adolescence with melancholy unease."<ref>McElhinney, Andrew Repasky. "Deadly Dreams" in the Italian Market October 26, 2006 [Brochure]. Philadelphia; Phil and Melissa's Farmstand, 9th & Carpenter. Page 1.</ref>


An aspiring writer, Alex is pressured by Jack, who has taken over the family's business, to join him. Alex begins dating Maggie Kallir, a young dance student from New York City. Meanwhile, Alex discovers a fox mask in his friend Danny's house, and becomes convinced that Danny, a comical prankster, has been posing as Perkins to torment him, causing Alex to end their friendship. Maggie accompanies Alex to his parents' estate, where Jack resides, for dinner. Jack questions Maggie about her past, and catches her in a lie about working for a dance company in New York that does not exist. He proceeds to expose her, accusing her of being a [[gold digger]] only after Alex's inheritance.
"Plagued by visions of “The Hunter” -- a sinister, silent, shotgun totin' wolf headed stalker -- and assured by his “friends” that the horror is “all-in-his-mind,” Alex’s life becomes a waking nightmare where the lines between sanity and insanity, dream and truth, distort in a vortex of paranoia, erotic longing and suspicion."<ref>McElhinney (2006), 1.</ref>

Later, Alex finds a butchered deer in his bathtub, but it disappears when he reports the incident to authorities. Maggie and Danny attempt to calm him, but he accuses Danny of planting the dead animal there, [[gaslighting]] him. Some time later, Maggie visits Jack, and the two have passionate sex. It is revealed that the two have been conspiring together in an attempt to trigger a psychological breakdown in Alex.

Meanwhile, Danny, who is suspicious of Maggie, breaks into her apartment and uncovers a photo album containing pictures of her with Jack, along with newspaper clippings about Alex and Jack's parents' murder. Upon her return, Danny confronts Maggie, but she forces him out. Maggie and Jack proceed to murder Danny with a rifle, staging it as a suicide.

Maggie lures Alex to his family's remote cabin on his birthday, where he is met by a drunken Jack. Jack confesses his resentment toward Alex over his lack of dedication to the family business, and the fact that Alex is due to inherit a large portion of it despite his lack of involvement. A fox-masked hitman hired by Jack chases Alex through the woods, shooting him in the shoulder. He collapses on a road, and a car driven by Maggie approaches. The assailant proceeds to throw Alex on the hood of the car and slit his throat as Maggie looks on coldly.

Several days later, during Christmas, Jack suffers a nightmare in which Alex, lying dead in the morgue, awakens and attacks him. Maggie goes to get Jack a drink to calm him. Meanwhile, an unseen assailant enters the bedroom and murders Jack. While Jack is being murdered, Maggie phones her mother, and leaves a message saying that her father—who was in fact Norman Perkins—can finally "rest in peace."


==Cast==
==Cast==
{{Cast list|
* [[Mitchell Anderson]] as Alex Torme
* [[Mitchell Anderson]] as Alex Torme
**Timothy Austin as Young Alex Torme
⚫
* [[Juliette Cummins]] as Maggie Kallir
* Juliette Cummins as Maggie Kallir
* [[Xander Berkeley]] as Jack Torme
* [[Xander Berkeley]] as Jack Torme
* Thom Babbes as Danny
* Thom Babbes as Danny
*[[Duane Whitaker]] as Norman Perkins
* [[Duane Whitaker]] as Norman Perkins
* Geoffrey Forward as Mr. Torme
* Gyl Roland as Mrs. Torme
* [[Troy Evans (actor)|Troy Evans]] as Sheriff
* [[Stacey Travis]] as The Librarian
* Gray Ainsworth as The Hunter
* Michael Leopard as Sportsman #1
* [[Beach Dickerson]] as Sportsman #2
* Jaime Kaplan as Boy With Toy Gun
* Lynn Philip Seibel as The Coroner
* Al Guarino as The Bartender
}}


==Release==
==Release==
Line 39: Line 65:
==Reception==
==Reception==
{{expand section|date=August 2018}}
{{expand section|date=August 2018}}
''[[TV Guide]]'' gave the film a positive review, writing, "This surprising and refreshingly taut low-budget horror film offers what most run-of-the-mill slasher films don't: a good story with a surprise ending."<ref name="tvguiderev">{{cite web |title=Deadly Dreams - Movie Reviews and Movie Ratings |url=https://www.tvguide.com/movies/deadly-dreams/review/127169/ |website=TV Guide.com |publisher=TV Guide |access-date=7 August 2018}}</ref>
''[[TV Guide]]'' gave the film a positive review: "This surprising and refreshingly taut low-budget horror film offers what most run-of-the-mill slasher films don't: a good story with a surprise ending".<ref name="tvguiderev">{{cite web |title=Deadly Dreams - Movie Reviews and Movie Ratings |url=https://www.tvguide.com/movies/deadly-dreams/review/127169/ |website=TV Guide.com |publisher=TV Guide |access-date=7 August 2018}}</ref>


==References==
==References==
Line 45: Line 71:


==External links==
==External links==
* {{Allmovie|12766}}
* {{IMDb title|0094969}}
* {{imdb title|0094969}}
* {{Rotten tomatoes|deadly_dreams1988}}
* {{Rotten tomatoes|deadly_dreams1988}}
* {{tcmdb title|72563}}
* {{TCMDb title|72563}}


{{Kristine Peterson}}
{{Kristine Peterson}}
Line 54: Line 79:
[[Category:1988 films]]
[[Category:1988 films]]
[[Category:1988 horror films]]
[[Category:1988 horror films]]
[[Category:American films]]
[[Category:1980s Christmas horror films]]
[[Category:American independent films]]
[[Category:American independent films]]
[[Category:American slasher films]]
[[Category:American slasher films]]
[[Category:English-language films]]
[[Category:American Christmas horror films]]
[[Category:Films about dreams]]
[[Category:Films about dreams]]
[[Category:1988 directorial debut films]]
[[Category:1988 directorial debut films]]
[[Category:1980s English-language films]]

[[Category:Films directed by Kristine Peterson]]

[[Category:Fiction about fratricide]]
{{1980s-horror-film-stub}}
[[Category:1980s American films]]
[[Category:English-language horror films]]
[[Category:English-language Christmas films]]

Revision as of 20:05, 21 December 2024

Deadly Dreams
Video poster
Directed byKristine Peterson
Written byThom Babbes
Produced byMatt Leipzig
Starring
CinematographyZorran Hochstatter
Edited byBernard F. Caputo
Music byTodd Boekelheide
Distributed byVirgin Vision
Release date
  • October 26, 1988 (1988-10-26)
Running time
79 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States

Deadly Dreams is a 1988 American psychological horror film directed by Kristine Peterson, and starring Mitchell Anderson, Juliette Cummins, and Xander Berkeley.

Plot

Alex Torme is haunted by the brutal murder of his parents on Christmas Eve when he was a child: His wealthy father's business associate, Norman Perkins, shot them to death over a financial dispute, and taunted Alex and his older brother, Jack, while donning a mask made from the face pelt of a fox. Perkins then turned the gun on himself, committing suicide. Alex suffers recurring nightmares in which he is stalked by Perkins.

An aspiring writer, Alex is pressured by Jack, who has taken over the family's business, to join him. Alex begins dating Maggie Kallir, a young dance student from New York City. Meanwhile, Alex discovers a fox mask in his friend Danny's house, and becomes convinced that Danny, a comical prankster, has been posing as Perkins to torment him, causing Alex to end their friendship. Maggie accompanies Alex to his parents' estate, where Jack resides, for dinner. Jack questions Maggie about her past, and catches her in a lie about working for a dance company in New York that does not exist. He proceeds to expose her, accusing her of being a gold digger only after Alex's inheritance.

Later, Alex finds a butchered deer in his bathtub, but it disappears when he reports the incident to authorities. Maggie and Danny attempt to calm him, but he accuses Danny of planting the dead animal there, gaslighting him. Some time later, Maggie visits Jack, and the two have passionate sex. It is revealed that the two have been conspiring together in an attempt to trigger a psychological breakdown in Alex.

Meanwhile, Danny, who is suspicious of Maggie, breaks into her apartment and uncovers a photo album containing pictures of her with Jack, along with newspaper clippings about Alex and Jack's parents' murder. Upon her return, Danny confronts Maggie, but she forces him out. Maggie and Jack proceed to murder Danny with a rifle, staging it as a suicide.

Maggie lures Alex to his family's remote cabin on his birthday, where he is met by a drunken Jack. Jack confesses his resentment toward Alex over his lack of dedication to the family business, and the fact that Alex is due to inherit a large portion of it despite his lack of involvement. A fox-masked hitman hired by Jack chases Alex through the woods, shooting him in the shoulder. He collapses on a road, and a car driven by Maggie approaches. The assailant proceeds to throw Alex on the hood of the car and slit his throat as Maggie looks on coldly.

Several days later, during Christmas, Jack suffers a nightmare in which Alex, lying dead in the morgue, awakens and attacks him. Maggie goes to get Jack a drink to calm him. Meanwhile, an unseen assailant enters the bedroom and murders Jack. While Jack is being murdered, Maggie phones her mother, and leaves a message saying that her father—who was in fact Norman Perkins—can finally "rest in peace."

Cast

  • Mitchell Anderson as Alex Torme
    • Timothy Austin as Young Alex Torme
  • Juliette Cummins as Maggie Kallir
  • Xander Berkeley as Jack Torme
  • Thom Babbes as Danny
  • Duane Whitaker as Norman Perkins
  • Geoffrey Forward as Mr. Torme
  • Gyl Roland as Mrs. Torme
  • Troy Evans as Sheriff
  • Stacey Travis as The Librarian
  • Gray Ainsworth as The Hunter
  • Michael Leopard as Sportsman #1
  • Beach Dickerson as Sportsman #2
  • Jaime Kaplan as Boy With Toy Gun
  • Lynn Philip Seibel as The Coroner
  • Al Guarino as The Bartender

Release

Deadly Dreams was released direct-to-video.[2] An article in Fangoria stated that the film was available on home video by the Virgin Vision label as early as October 1988.[3] It was released for the first time on DVD by Code Red on September 19, 2017.

Reception

TV Guide gave the film a positive review: "This surprising and refreshingly taut low-budget horror film offers what most run-of-the-mill slasher films don't: a good story with a surprise ending".[4]

References

  1. ^ "Deadly Dreams". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on April 5, 2020. Retrieved April 5, 2020.
  2. ^ Morse, L.A. (1989). Video Trash & Treasures. Harper & Collins. p. 182. ISBN 0-00-215439-0.
  3. ^ Barsky, Larry. "Video Chopping List". Fangoria. Vol. 8, no. 78. O'Quinn Studios. pp. 12–13. ISSN 0164-2111.
  4. ^ "Deadly Dreams - Movie Reviews and Movie Ratings". TV Guide.com. TV Guide. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Deadly_Dreams&oldid=1264378423"