Beyond Dream’s Door (Horror)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: C+     Extras: C     Film: C

 

 

Not many Horror films or even other genres try to honestly take on the state of dreaming, though Michel Gondry’s recent The Science Of Sleep had its moments.  However, when dreaming usually happens in Horror films, it is a false jump murder, silly Nightmare On Elm Street-inspired dreamworld or just an excuse to see the build gals nearly undressed.  Jay Woelfel’s Beyond Dream’s Door is a Horror work that starts off with some promise, but sadly gets lost in run-ons and not being sure how to create any suspense.

 

The film centers on a young man’s named Ben (Nick Baldasare) who keeps drifting into dreams that seem like reality and the dream sequences seem to be clues as to changes into the conscious world.  This includes some monsters, plus people he does known not acting like themselves necessarily.  He seeks the help of psychology, supposedly more advanced since the period in which Blood Of A Poet takes place, but this will prove futile and the nightmare continues as the line between conscious and subconscious breaks down, sort of.

 

It is really the film and script that eventually implode, though I give Woelfel credit for pulling enough of this off with ambition and no pandering humor.  Ultimately, though, it is only worth a look because it is a professionally-produced amateur low-0budget production several levels above most digital garbage (especially in this genre) we are getting today.

 

The 1.33 X 1 image looks good for its age, shot nicely in 16mm color film stock, holding up good for a 1996 production and once again proving how good 16mm stocks look, especially as compared to the best Digital HD available ten years later and counting.  Cinematographer Scott Spears did a good job, especially with limited budget and resources.  The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix does its best to upgrade the old soundtrack, but it does not create a major soundfield and you can tell the production was essentially monophonic.

 

Extras include two feature-length commentary tracks, 50 minutes of isolated soundtrack music, three short films that led to this production, trailers, a function that allows you to compare scenes from the shorts vs. final film, test footage, deleted scenes, stills, three making of pieces and a montage of unused footage.  Even when this ultimately does not work, at least it was ambitious.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo