Bad Dreams is a 1988 American horror film directed and co-written by Andrew Fleming.
Plot[]
In 1975, a sinister hippie cult called Unity Fields commits mass suicide in a horrific manner by fire at the behest of its psychopathic leader, Franklin Harris (Richard Lynch). Only one young woman named Cynthia (Jennifer Rubin) survives to tell the tale, though she lies in a coma for thirteen years.
After Cynthia wakes from her coma, she has grim reminders of the mass suicide, as people around her begin to die one at a time and finds out quickly that the ghost of Harris is back to claim his "love child."
Cast[]
- Jennifer Rubin as Cynthia
- Bruce Abbott as Dr. Alex Karmen
- Richard Lynch as Franklin Harris
- Dean Cameron as Ralph Pesco
- Harris Yulin as Dr. Berrisford
- Susan Barnes as Connie
- John Scott Clough as Victor
- E.G. Daily as Lana
- Damita Jo Freeman as Gilda
- Louis Giambalvo as Ed
- Susan Ruttan as Miriam
- Sy Richardson as Detective Wasserman
- Missy Francis as Young Cynthia
- Sheila Scott-Wilkenson as Hettie
- Ben Kronen as Edgar
Reception[]
Box Office[]
"Bad Dreams" grossed $9,797,098 at the box office. It grossed $4,008,870 during its opening weekend.
Critical Reception[]
Based on 9 reviews, Rotten Tomatoes gave "Bad Dreams" a rating of 11% with an average rating of 3.4\10.
Roger Ebert reviewed the movie, giving it one star, stating:
"Why do they make movies like this? The hypocrisy begins with the gruesome imagery and violence, which earned the film an R rating, even though the primary audience for “Bad Dreams” is under 17. This is another of those foul teenage vomitoriums in which the only message is that the world is evil and brutal. In this world, adults, with a few exceptions, want to kill teenagers. The healing professions contain, of course, the sickest people of all."
Richard Harrington from the Washington Post also gave the movie a less than positive review, stating:
"Fleming wants us confused as to whether this sequence is real or whether Cynthia's imagining the whole thing, but all he succeeds in doing is convincing us it's just a movie we're seeing, and one with too many shades of "Nightmare on Elm Street" at that (Rubin was also in that film series' most recent sequel). Unfortunately, only "Bad Dreams' " last lines ring true: "There's nothing there. There's nothing to be scared of."
Theatrical Trailer[]
Bad Dreams (1988) Theatrical Trailer