Review: In Dreams

The Amblin Entertainment film, In Dreams, opened on January 15, 1999. The horror film was directed by Neil Jordan. It starred Annette Bening, Robert Downey Jr. and Aidan Quinn.

Synopsis:

A woman forms an odd connection to a serial killer in her dreams. The connection begins to drive her insane and destroys her life. She tries her best to regain her sanity and to stop the killer before he can murder again.

Positives:

• Bening does the best she can with a confusing script and story. Her performance is very strong.

• In Dreams is nicely shot and features some striking visuals at times.

• Negatives:

  • The story is confusing and at times nonsensical. There is no cohesiveness to the film. It is a jumbled mess of ideas and scenes that feel disjointed.

   

  • There are moments that are laughable and take you out of the film. It’s hard to take any of the scares seriously when you are laughing. There is a scene where apples attack Bening’s character that is completely hilarious—which isn’t the objective of the scene.

   

  • Bening gives a good performance, but the rest of the actors are either over the top or just bad. Robert Downey Jr.’s portrayal of the serial killer is so cartoonish that you can’t take him seriously as a threat.

  In Closing:

  In Dreams is one of the most bizarre films to come from Amblin Entertainment. The script and direction is so choppy and incoherent it’s almost impossible to follow. When the story isn’t baffling—the film is laughably bad. If In Dreams was a comedy it would be a successful project. But, as a thriller/horror film, it is a complete failure.

  Rating: D-