Line #15 Film/Dreamscape


1	[[quoteright:298:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Dreamscape_4962.jpg]]
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3	''Dreamscape'' is a ScienceFiction film directed by Joseph Rubin and starring Creator/DennisQuaid. The film was released in the United States in 1984 by 20th Century Fox.
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5	Alex Gardner (Quaid) is a man with special talents — [[PsychicPowers psychic talents]], to be exact. While participating in ground-breaking studies on the powers of the mind at the age of 19, he suddenly quit and attempted to disappear, from then on only using his abilities for petty personal gain. Years later, his extraordinary "good luck" both at the race track and with the ladies has drawn the attention of unsavory eyes... and now he and his talents are in high demand by everyone from local gangsters to shady government agents.
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7	When Alex is contacted by the college professor that performed the studies on him years ago, Alex agrees to hear him out, both for old times' sake and to have a place to momentarily hide from everyone who wants a piece of him. When the professor explains what he's working on -- a project that will allow those with psychic abilities to enter the dreams of others -- Alex is intrigued, and with a little [[{{Blackmail}} "convincing"]] agrees to help out. With the professor's assistance, Alex is quickly able to master the ability of entering, observing, and even modifying people's dreams. At first he feels exhilarated, intoxicated by the freedom and power that come along with his new-found ability. However, things are not quite what they seem... inside the Dreamscape, Alex finds that he is facing progressively more dangerous nightmares, and outside he must deal with the schemes of not only a [[TheRival rival psychic]], but also of the shadowy machinations of the people who are truly behind the Dreamscape project.
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9	Not to be confused with [[WebAnimation/{{Dreamscape}} the web series of the same name]]
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11	!!This film provides examples of the following:
12	* ActorAllusion: Alex meets author Charlie Prince, played by George Wendt, in a bar... where one would often see Wendt in his most famous role, "Norm" from ''Series/{{Cheers}}''.
13	* AfterTheEnd: The President's nightmares take place in the flaming ruins of a nuked city.
14	* AlienSky: The construction worker's dreamscape looks almost normal, except that the wispy clouds overhead move ''very'' fast across the sky.
15	* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Tommy can't stand how Alex is better at this than he is.
16	* AmbiguousEnding: The train worker from Jane's dream appears in the real world at the end, leaving her and Alex shocked. However, they elect to ignore him and keep with their travel.
17	* AmbiguousSituation:
18	** The circumstances of Tommy's parricide. His sociopathy and the newspaper cuts imply he killed his father coldly, but when Alex confronts him under the form of the old man in the President's dream, Tommy suddenly turns into a shaking, apologizing mess.
19	** It's not clear why the bite Snake-Tommy gives to Alex heals quickly by itself. It's vaguely implied that it was the President who unconsciously altered the causality of his dream in their favor when he chose to face their enemy, but this is never explained.
20	* AntiHero: Seemingly, how Blair sees himself, as he believes he and Tommy are being heroes by saving their country from fatal president decisions. Tommy, on the other hand, seems to have no illusions about what they're doing.
21	-->'''Tommy Ray:''' [[SarcasmMode Real heroes, aren't we Bob?]]
22	* AntiVillain: Blair is an amoral agent who is willing to sacrifice the President, but he only tries to do so in the fear that the latter's decisions will leave the country defenseless in the midst of the Cold War, and it's never implied this motivation isn't honest. He also seems to have a loving wife and to treat kindly those who serve him.
23	* ArrogantKungFuGuy: Tommy is a rare exaple who is both literal and metaphorical. He believes himself to be the best of the psychics, but is also a fan of martial arts and has kung fu posters in his room.
24	* BeastMan: The Snake Man.
25	* BeatStillMyHeart: After Tommy Ray rips a security guard's heart out of his chest.
26	* CatapultNightmare: The President has a couple, and Alex awakens from the construction worker's dream in the same way.
27	* DangerousWindows: The Snake Man breaks in through a window to grab Buddy. It's apparently a nightly occurrence in Buddy's dreams, as one of the boy's drawings depict clawed hands reaching for him through windowpanes.
28	* DoubleStandardRapeSciFi: Played with. Alex seduces Jane in her own dream through his psychic powers, something that could easily be construed as rape by fraud (he deluded her on purpose and she didn't give consent). Accordingly, Jane is seriously disturbed about it when she wakes up, even berating him for awhile for doing so, but she eventually forgives him without much of a fuss. It's very, very doubtful that she would have done the same had he physically raped her.
29	* DreadfulMusician: Tommy when he play Alex's saxophone in his introductory scene.
30	* DreamSpying: Probably what got Blair interested in the experiments in the first place.
31	* DreamWeaver: Alex and Tommy can enter and alter people's dreams.
32	* EroticDream: Inverted/Invoked. DreamWeaver Alex uses his powers to enter Jane's dream to make out with her, without telling her it's not just a random dream she's having about him.
33	* FriendToAllChildren: Alex insists on helping Buddy with his nightmares and threatens to quit the project if Novotny doesn't grant permission.
34	* AGodAmI: Tommy Ray makes this boast:
35	-->'''Tommy Ray:''' In this world, Alex, you're nothing. And me, I'm God.
36	* GunmanWithThreeNames: Played straight with Tommy Ray Glatman, a dream killer.
37	* GuiltComplex: The President has been plagued by nightmares about nuclear war ever since the death of his wife. He dreads the prospect that he might someday be culpable for starting WorldWarIII, and is determined to pursue bilateral peace talks to avert that possibility. [[spoiler:It's this very intention that convinces hard-liner Blair to try to assassinate him.]]
38	* HarbingerOfAsskicking: The announcer at the racetrack proclaims "And they're off!" at the ''exact'' moment Alex starts running from the bookie's thugs.
39	* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler: Blair, who sponsored the experiments and got Tommy Ray to prove you could assassinate someone in their dreams, gets killed by Alex using Tommy's techniques]].
40	* IKnowYoureWatchingMe: It becomes clear to the scientists secretly observing Alex through a two-way mirror that he knows what's going on when he writes "Let's get on with it" on his side of the mirror in pen... especially since he writes the letters backwards so that those on the other side can read it.
41	* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: Tommy meets his end on the business end of an improvised spear.
42	* ImprobableInfantSurvival: Played straight with Buddy; in the President's dream, [[spoiler:the kids trapped in the ruins aren't just dead, but ''mutilated'' to BodyHorror levels]].
43	* IntimidationDemonstration: While in the President's dream, Tommy Ray creates glowing nunchaku (martial arts weapons) with spiked heads. Before attacking, he spins them around his own body to show how quick and deadly they are.
44	* MindOverMatter: Minor telekinesis is among the range of PsychicPowers Alex displays over the course of the film, as we see a still movie slide of him levitating a small metal ball bearing. However, if viewers were expecting him to use this at any point in the film to save himself from a dangerous situation, they will be disappointed because the movie focuses on his ability to enter minds instead. It never becomes the ChekhovsGun.
45	* MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot: When a subject is killed in the real world by dying in the Dreamscape, Alex starts to realize he's in over his head... what he doesn't know is that [[spoiler: the government is training his rival, Tommy, to assassinate people in their sleep]].
46	* MonumentalDamageResistance: During a recurring nightmare the President of the United States is experiencing, a partially destroyed Capitol building is seen in the ruins of Washington, D.C., after it was ravaged by nuclear war.
47	* MrFanservice: Alex, played by Creator/DennisQuaid in his prime.
48	* MundaneUtility: Alex uses his amazing psychic powers to win bets on horse races.
49	* MutantDraftBoard: After Alex learns the truth, Blair makes it clear: join the team or die. Alex makes a run for it and spends some time ducking Blair's mooks.
50	* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: During the ShapeshifterGuiltTrip, and rather surprisingly, Tommy expresses genuine guilt over murdering his father.
51	* NeverSleepAgain: Tommy Ray Glatman assassinates people by using his psychic abilities to enter their dreams and kill their dream selves.
52	* NightmareFuelColoringBook: Inverted; first Alex draws a picture of the Snake Man from Buddy's dreams, ''then'' Tommy Ray mimics the creature from the drawing to fight Alex in the President's nightmare.
53	* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Charlie Prince, [[Creator/StephenKing a fiction writer with a "royal" last name.]]
54	* NotIfTheyEnjoyedItRationalization: Alex's rationalization for covertly inserting himself into Jane's dreams to make her think she was having a sex fantasy about him, rather than making out with the real life person. The fact that she enjoyed herself doesn't negate the fact that he just basically raped her (MindRape?), as she was in no position to give informed consent.
55	* NuclearMutant: The horrifically-damaged train passengers in the President's last nightmare, who seem more like zombies than victims.
56	* OrWasItADream: The train conductor that appeared in Jane's dream later appears in the real world.
57	* OurPresidentsAreDifferent: President Target, at least where dreams are concerned; in the real world he's more President Iron.
58	* PartialTransformation: Tommy Ray partially scales back his snake transformation when he is confronted by the image of his dead father. Interestingly, even Tommy Ray's initial Snake Man appearance is more humanly flat-faced than the original from Buddy's nightmare, because Tommy based it on Alex's frontal-view drawing.
59	* PistolWhipping: Alex pistol whips a federal agent while re-infiltrating the project facility.
60	* PreMortemOneLiner: [[spoiler:After Blair asks Alex how he got in his dream]]: "It was easy."
61	* PsychicPowers: Among others, Alex makes a living predicting the outcomes of horse races. Tommy Ray can sense when the President has gone to sleep from an adjacent room.
62	* ThePursuingNightmare: When Alex enters the President's dream to protect him from Tommy Ray, Tommy attacks and pursues them within the dream, taking on various forms including that of a ninja and a snakeman, while also sending zombies and wolves to hound them as well.
63	* RedEyesTakeWarning: The SavageWolves chasing Alex and the President in the final dream sequence have red GlowingEyes.
64	* RedFilterOfDoom: The President's recurring nightmare about a nuclear holocaust has it.
65	* ReptilesAreAbhorrent: Buddy's nightmare takes the shape of a half-man/half-snake creature. Tommy later assumes this form while in the dream world, copying a picture Alex drew of it. [[spoiler: Alex himself adopts the same shape to dream-kill the BigBad as payback.]]
66	* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Alex knows Blair will come after him for foiling his plan to kill the President. [[spoiler:So Alex kills him first]].
67	* SavageWolves: Alex and President must outrun couple of wolf-like feral dogs with red GlowingEyes along with ScaledUp Tommy Ray.
68	* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: After saving the President, Alex and Jane intend to get out of there before Blair can strike back. They're stopped by men in suits, though it turns out to be the President's bodyguards.
69	* ShapeshifterGuiltTrip: Alex turns himself into Tommy Ray's dead father to distract him from killing the President.
70	* SharedDream: The main character is psychic, at first he has to use a machine to share dreams, later he gets the ability to do this by himself. The villain also learns to do this without the machine as part of a plot to kill the President.
71	* SwirlyEnergyThingy: Alex's entry into dreams is portrayed with this kind of imagery, accompanied by sound effects that foreshadow the dream's motif.
72	* TearOffYourFace: [[spoiler:Alex does this to himself to introduce Blair to the Snake Man]].
73	* TemptingFate: Despite the President knowing what he tried to do, Blair boasts that he's untouchable. [[spoiler:Alex disagrees]].
74	* ThatMakesMeFeelAngry: After the woman in his Dreamscape trip suddenly dies, Tommy tries to claim he's all broken up about it despite all evidence to the contrary, including his own body language. Alex obviously sees right through it and calls him on not feeling the slightest bit awful about what happened.
75	* VillainBall: Tommy had ample opportunity to kill the President in his dream, but he just had to take the time to mess with his and Alex's heads.
76	* WeNeedADistraction: Alex uses ShapeshifterGuiltTrip to distract Tommy long enough for the President to impale him.
77	* WolverineClaws: During the dream battle, Tommy turns his fingernails into small blades in order to rip a heart out.
78	* YourMindMakesItReal: Not only is Alex capable of causing himself severe mental damage while in the Dreamscape, but both the subjects and the psychics helping them can be killed in real life if they die while dreaming.

Context Film / Dreamscape