The horror genre, in my opinion, unfortunately offers a lot of repetition. Established series like ‘Saw’, ‘Conjuring’ or ‘Scream’ are still being exploited, while other classics (‘The Boogeyman’ or ‘Cube’) are being re-released with sometimes more, sometimes less bad remakes. It’s even more fun when completely new ideas arise…
Let me relieve you of the difficulty of finding a fresh and great horror film that will really leave the audience surprised by telling you about one of my favorite horror films of recent years: “Strange Dreams”, originally titled “Come True”. being marketed is far too unknown. That has to change!
You can stream “Strange dreams“ with VoD providers such as Amazon Prime Video. Anyone who has a subscription there can even test the superfresh channel for free for 7 days and watch the science fiction horror gem during this free period.
The science fiction horror gem focuses on the subconscious and the fear of the unknown and thus on the entire human complexity.
A creepy atmosphere is very importantwith director Anthony Scott Burns (“Our House” – also worth a look!) being well aware of this not goes for cheap jump scares. It is a very successful genre gem because Burns refuses to follow the typical horror conventions at all times.
That’s what ‘Strange Dreams’ is about
Sarah (Julia Sarah Stone) has been struggling with major sleep problems for some time. When one day she hears about a sleep study, she decides to participate. Under supervision and connected to a lot of scientific equipment, she will spend the next few nights in a sleep laboratory to not only advance science, but in the best case, also be able to sleep through the night again.
However, fear, paranoia and the feeling that something is not going right in the scientific institution soon lead to things going wrong and – as the title suggests – strange dreams. It doesn’t take long for the deep black abyss of the human subconscious to fully unfold.
Dreams are foam, right?
It’s far too rare for such themes to be included in horror films, and it’s even rarer for films to be made that are actually worth watching. However, ‘Strange Dreams’ accomplishes it almost effortlessly. This is apparently a genius move.
Black nights, nightmares and an unpredictable story development – I don’t want to reveal too much about it – are always in stark contrast to the visual language, which almost brings something beautiful. As a result, the sensations that arise from watching are very mixed and vary between horror and fascination.
This is different from many horror films, which apparently stick to the sometimes more, sometimes less inflated motto they continually present to the audience: You should be scared now!
‘Strange Dreams’ does not need that, but also shows in the most impressive way musically, which is mainly characterized by synth sounds, that things can be very different.
Deep into the human psyche
‘Strange Dreams’ is ultimately a hypnotic, atmospheric film that feels like ‘Mulholland Drive” or “Lost highway“ knows how to deeply captivate the audience. The big plus is that Burns is reserved when it comes to the psychology of dreams in general. Instead, the realistic touch is expertly combined with mystery and science fiction. Precisely for this reason and especially because of the impressive visuals, everyone should see this horror gem at least once. I wish, contrary to the title, pleasant dreams.