YMMV / Dream Scenario

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • It's faint, but the film hints that Paul may have more influence over his dream self than he realizes. When he's fairly content with his life if somewhat restless in the first act, his appearances are harmless and merely odd; the dreams in which he appears often seem to be quite disturbing, but he merely acts as an observer. It's only after the embarrassing abortive affair with Molly and the publication of an article that he believes uses his ideas without crediting him that Paul becomes a really angry man — and his dream appearances becomes more violent. Then, after he suffers a complete breakdown, he stops appearing in others' dreams entirely.
  • The question of why some people don't dream about Paul is never really addressed, but one thing to note might be that those people who actually know him reasonably well — his wife and one or two colleagues — are definitely immune to the effect. This in turn suggests that the power may be driven by his wish to be noticed; it doesn't bother with people who have already properly noticed him. (So his breakdown may shut the power off because by then he is all too aware of having been noticed.) The fact that one of his own daughters does dream about him then becomes rather tragic; his wife may know him, but his own child doesn't.
  • To confuse things further, consider that one or two dreams featuring Paul — Molly's erotic dream and his own nightmare — may just be regular dreams featuring someone whose face is known to the dreamer, rather than the result of his power.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: The Freddy Krueger thing is rather amusing in the Italian dub considering that Cage's dubber Pasquale Anselmo also dubbed the character in the 2010 remake.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • A mentally ill man breaks into the Matthews home and threatens to stab Paul before he breaks down — a horrifying experience by any standards. The viewer might be forgiven for thinking this is a dream, until it becomes clear that it isn't.
  • Some of the nightmares involving Paul are authentically disturbing, such as him strangling one of his students in her dorm, and another where he bludgeons that student's boyfriend. Richard's wife Carlota has one where he is strangling her with a garrotte.
  • Paul's nightmare where he is being chased by himself with a crossbow is likewise horrific.
  • Sophie's teacher gets her finger severed during a brief struggle to try to keep Paul out of the auditorium when the door is slammed on her hand.
• Spiritual Successor: Of the viral website/creepypasta This Man, which was made to promote a movie that never got made.
• Tear Jerker: The final scene of the film sees Paul using dream-traveling technology to enter one of Janet's dreams since they are now divorced due to Paul's situation, but it is implied they still do love each other. It plays out as she had previously described to him how she wanted a fantasy to go, with him saving her while wearing an oversized suit. After they walk home, Paul whispers to her that he wishes this was real as he floats to the sky before she wakes up, and the film cuts to black.

---