Bad Dreams / Visiting Hours

Bad Dreams

I have little recollection of the first time I watched 'Bad Dreams,' though I'm sure I recall liking it to some degree. I do, however, remember that it starred Richard Lynch ('Invasion U.S.A.,' 'The Sword and the Sorcerer') as a crazed and horribly disfigured cult leader who haunts the dreams of a young woman. His appearance was always creepy, flashes of his bloody, burned face etched into memory. The VHS cover for the movie was equally scary, Lynch's charred hand over the mouth of a terrified woman with bulging eyes. I also remember that it starred Jennifer Rubin, on whom I had crush at the time because she played Taryn in 'A Nightmare on Elm Street 3.' In fact, I'm fairly certain that was the primary reason for watching this largely-forgotten horror thriller in the first place. 

Rubin, who looks just as pretty as I remember her and later starred alongside Peter Weller in 'Screamers,' plays the lone survivor of the aforementioned cult's mass suicide ritual, Cynthia. After 13 years in a coma, she wakes up to find herself living in the eighties, which can be a neon-colored nightmare in itself but the Killing Joke song playing in the background should soothe the pain. Anyhow, she has no memory of the murder-suicide or the psychotic hippie leader Franklin Harris (Lynch), except for a few sudden flashes, mostly of Harris when he's about to kill someone in the mental institution where Cynthia is staying. In spite of her psychiatrist's (Bruce Abbott of 'Re-Animator') best efforts, everyone in the hospital is murdered in a way that looks like suicide and all fingers point to the possibly deranged Cynthia.

Director Andrew Fleming, who a few years later found some mild success with 'The Craft' and 'Dick' and also did reasonably well with 'Hamlet 2,' doesn't quite have the chops for staging a frightening sequence. And yet, the movie is weirdly entertaining, partly due to being a murder mystery — Is Cynthia guilty? Is everyone really committing suicide? — but more importantly because Fleming designs some creepy visuals and the graphic kills come with shock value. The script, co-written by Fleming and Steven E. de Souza ('48 Hrs.,' 'Die Hard'), largely feels like a 'Dream Warriors' knockoff, especially because the plot is set inside a mental institution and a close circle of patients are victims to burned maniac that visits their delusions. Nevertheless, 'Bad Dreams' is surprisingly entertaining for killing a dull Sunday afternoon. (Movie Rating: 3/5)

Visiting Hours

Speaking of forgotten movies, it's pretty easy to see why 'Visiting Hours' has gone largely unnoticed and buried into the far reaches of a horror enthusiast's darkest, twisted memories, lost forever and never to be found again. It's just not very good, with nary a scary or remotely suspenseful moment. Amazingly, the folks at Scream Factory apparently do remember this quasi-slasher and ostensibly desire to refresh our collective memories of its existence. Frankly, I could have lived in perfect contentment without ever being reminded of it. It's like revisiting with a childhood friend. At first, it seems exciting playing catch-up and sharing fond memories, but after a while, you're disappointed and reminded of why you drifted apart.

It's made all the worse because frankly, it's a waste of William Shatner's presence and Michael Ironside's talent. (Yes, I am suggesting Ironside is the better actor of the two.) At the time, Shatner was enjoying the height of popularity with the 'Star Trek' series making a sudden comeback on both the little and big screens and about to star in the 'T.J. Hooker' series. Meanwhile, Ironside's career was just taking off after starring in David Cronenberg's 'Scanners.' Although the two don't share any screen time, Shatner, playing a TV producer, and Ironside, who actually does great as a misogynist serial killer, are about the most memorable thing of the whole production. The movie also stars Lee Grant and Linda Purl, two women pursued by Ironside's perverse desires, but they don't leave much of an impression because they're basically used as generic plot divices.

Director Jean-Claude Lord, who's never really made anything of note, does what he can with the material, written by Brian Taggert ('Poltergeist III,' 'V' original series). And still, the narrative moves with such a tepid pace that it's easy to zone-out and think of far scarier things than what Lord ever could. The plot tries to play out much like a mystery thriller while also pretending to be part of the "slasher" craze, since it features a maniac with a knife. However, there is nothing mysterious about seeing Ironside's Colt Hawker disguising himself in various costumes to kill a hospitalized TV reporter and her nurse. As for the "slasher" element, the movie's style and direction is better suited for television, playing incredibly safe and lacking in shocking gore. Its only road to infamy is that it somehow made the Video Nasties list, and that is a better mystery worth solving. (Movie Rating: 1/5)

The Blu-ray: Vital Disc Stats

Shout! Factory brings 'Bad Dreams/Visiting Hours' to Blu-ray as a double-feature single-disc release under the distributor's Scream Factory line. The Region A locked, BD50 disc containing both films is housed inside a regular blue case. At startup, the disc goes to an animated screen with music where viewers can choose between the two movies, and then taken to the standard menu screen with full-motion clips.