In Dreams - Suspense Horror Thriller Review

One of the most underrated horror slash psychological thriller genre films made at the end of the 1990's was In Dreams, which was released on January 15, 1999 in the United States and slightly later in the spring in the United Kingdom.  The film, which was directed by Neil Jordan, the director of The Crying Game and Interview With a Vampire, was based on a novel called Doll's Eyes written by Bari Wood.  It has gotten terrible reviews, but I give it a B+.

It stars Annette Benning as a New England (it was filmed in Massachusetts) illustrator, Claire, who begins to have visions of a missing child in dreams.  She also begins having a psychic tie to a child serial killer, Vivienne Thompson, who was the abductor and killer of her daughter and who killed many other children.  Doctors diagnose Claire with psychosis brought on by the abduction and death of her child after a suicide attempt, of course.  She is then committed to a mental institution with padded cells and everything, which is bullcrap, because a mental hospital never keeps anyone beyond 3 weeks unless they are going to kill somebody and they don't use padded rooms or strightjackets anymore, but anyway...this is fantasy...because its the movies and the movies make for an allowance of the fantastical :).  Anyway, what would you do if you were a mom.  That's right, you would escape and go get that mo fo before he kills again!!!

Despite Robert Downey Jr. being at his peak of effed upness, this film is definitely a winner, even if Mr. Downey was not, at the time.  I think playing a psycho when he was all effed up actually gave the film some kick.  He wears these blue contacts and has this drug induced blankness behind the eyes a mental health patient would have if they were being heavily medicated and locked in a padded room when they used to exsist and I'm sure they do in certain cases such as in prisons for the criminally insane since these people are never going to be released back in to society, generally, but
don't quote me on that.

The way this film is shot and the plot twists are unique.  I can only compare it to a mixture of A Nightmare on Elm Street stripped of comedy, spliced with Gothika and The Lovely Bones.  It kept me on the edge of my seat and kept me entertained!  Annette Benning is a kickass actress and does a bang up job of presumed psycho and anamalistic mom who is going to hunt a mo fo!  I was creeped out!!!