Apologies for the header, but like most people, and whether he likes it or not, every time I see David Patrick Kelly playing his usual psychotic role in a film, I just can't help myself from blurting out the expected. The guy is a legendary typecast toolbox for the delivery of that one line alone, but I bet he's the salt of the earth in person, as most on-screen psychotics are.
Anyhoo, as for this flick, I was in my early teens when I first saw it, and thought it was a cracker of a film, right up until the mid '90's, at least when I felt I'd moved on, but as time continued forthrightwardness, I still think it's a bloody cracker of a film, despite what any fickle folks say about any ageing or crappy effects.
You just can't deny it's a fundamental premise for the likes of "Inception", and even when it comes to measuring it alongside the first of the "Nightmare On Elm Street" franchise movies which was released in the same year, (but only three months later), it still seems that this movie was ahead of the concept of dream intervention and nut-job infiltration. (No spoiler intended, but watch out for Tommy Ray and his five sharp fingernails.) You see now what I did there now with the header? ...Oh well, never mind...
Thirty years on this year anyway, and I still find this movie thoroughly enjoyable as a decent and compelling sci-fi-ish thriller, and believe you me, that's not just nostalgia orientated, because I could say otherwise about David Lynch's "Dune", but that's just another epic story altogether.
Yes, the effects are dodgy in this day and age, just like ED-209 trying to walk down a flight of stairs, which we've all come to accept and admire for what was and will never be again, but both the story and concept are still fully valid, and very well portrayed without resorting to any tea-kettle-boiling-techno-mumbo-jumbo-filler-crap.
It's compact, gets straight to the point very quickly, no lagging moments, and the momentum keeps going throughout at a steady pace all the way to the end credits, with some brief moments of armchair gripping excitement. (I'd beg to differ with anyone that say they don't flinch when the snake-man receives his 'pipe dream'.)
Not a fantastic film, but a cracker nonetheless that stands the test of time in my books, and after yet another recent viewing, it's gonna stay that way until that snake-man finally gets me in my sleep. Current IMDb rating is 6.3, and I would totally agree with that, but there's no half-measures here, so I'll give it a 7/10, coz 6/10 is just too mean and disrespectful for such a bloody good flick.
Anyhoo, as for this flick, I was in my early teens when I first saw it, and thought it was a cracker of a film, right up until the mid '90's, at least when I felt I'd moved on, but as time continued forthrightwardness, I still think it's a bloody cracker of a film, despite what any fickle folks say about any ageing or crappy effects.
You just can't deny it's a fundamental premise for the likes of "Inception", and even when it comes to measuring it alongside the first of the "Nightmare On Elm Street" franchise movies which was released in the same year, (but only three months later), it still seems that this movie was ahead of the concept of dream intervention and nut-job infiltration. (No spoiler intended, but watch out for Tommy Ray and his five sharp fingernails.) You see now what I did there now with the header? ...Oh well, never mind...
Thirty years on this year anyway, and I still find this movie thoroughly enjoyable as a decent and compelling sci-fi-ish thriller, and believe you me, that's not just nostalgia orientated, because I could say otherwise about David Lynch's "Dune", but that's just another epic story altogether.
Yes, the effects are dodgy in this day and age, just like ED-209 trying to walk down a flight of stairs, which we've all come to accept and admire for what was and will never be again, but both the story and concept are still fully valid, and very well portrayed without resorting to any tea-kettle-boiling-techno-mumbo-jumbo-filler-crap.
It's compact, gets straight to the point very quickly, no lagging moments, and the momentum keeps going throughout at a steady pace all the way to the end credits, with some brief moments of armchair gripping excitement. (I'd beg to differ with anyone that say they don't flinch when the snake-man receives his 'pipe dream'.)
Not a fantastic film, but a cracker nonetheless that stands the test of time in my books, and after yet another recent viewing, it's gonna stay that way until that snake-man finally gets me in my sleep. Current IMDb rating is 6.3, and I would totally agree with that, but there's no half-measures here, so I'll give it a 7/10, coz 6/10 is just too mean and disrespectful for such a bloody good flick.