I can think of nothing more exciting for a genre-film fan than discovering a “lost gem.” Sometimes it feels as if we hardcore genre buffs have seen everything there is worth seeing - but I know this is not the case. With the abundance of crap out there plaguing the action, horror and sci-fi sections of the video stores, especially now, with anything and everything being released on DVD, it just seems harder and harder to actually find something that is a) relatively unknown and not already hyped on the Internet, and b) actually good and worth the money and time to rent and watch it. It is so rare for me to find a film like this that, often times, I don't even take the time to really look - a self fulfilling prophecy if there ever was one. Well, it just so happens that I broke this trend this past weekend when I picked up the wonderfully bizarre, unique, and well-made low-budget mind-twister, Beyond Dream's Door.
Beyond Dream's Door, recently released on DVD (first time available on any home video format), was made in 1989 by a group of filmmakers at Ohio State University - the film was almost entirely funded by the college. It is based off of a short film made by the same creative team: director, Jay Woelfel, cinematographer, Scott Spears and editor Randy Spears. The feature length film did enjoy a brief theatrical run, and was praised by such genre film-critics as Joe Bob Briggs, but then promptly disappeared into cinematic oblivion. It is a shame that this film did not gain the attention of other like-minded films such as Videodrome, El Topo, Eraserhead, and Evil Dead, because it is just as subversive, twisted, and atmospheric as any of the great “midnight movies,” or other bona fide cult classics.
Beyond Dream's Door is seriously twisted, and Lynchian in every regard. I know this term is thrown around a lot, but in the case of BDD, it actually works. While it is a horror film, it also offers much more in terms of execution and narrative. The narrative deals with dreams and reality, but not in the same way as films like Dreamscape or Nightmare on Elm Street - that is to say, it doesn't leave you yearning for the dream sequences to make up for the sub par “reality,” sequences. The film's director had this to say, “I hated dream films where the point of the movie is that you wake up at the end and it is all a dream. I wanted it all to be a dream, every step of the way. His dream monster can apply dream laws to his waking life. It all becomes equally real or unreal. “ Beyond Dream's Door dives deep into a twisted dream world where demons stalk and haunt their sleeping victims, and the walls between fantasy and reality are paper thin.
What struck me most about this film is how well it is all put together. This is not an example of a film made to cash in on the boom of cheap genre entertainment made during its time, or of a film made simply to showcase a bunch of gratuitous nudity (of which there is some) and homemade gore effects (also included). That is to say, BDD is not a “me too film,” like so many other low-budget horror films of the era. It feels and looks as if the filmmakers actually had something to say, and actually thought about how they wanted to say it; it is a thoughtful film to be sure. My attention was first drawn to the amazing editing - the transitions are far better than what you would expect from a film made on a shoestring in the film department of a college. The editing expertly guides the narrative's flow, as it transitions from one strange sequence to the next, and captures the fluid and lucid sensation of a dream.
In addition to the editing, the cinematography and art direction also stand out. The filmmakers utilized and optimized everything available to them, and nothing ever felt as if it were missing due to financial constraints. Much of the film is shot in and around OSU, and one sequence in particular, staged in the dark and ominously lit corridors of the school's library, exemplifies exactly how to create a haunting and lingering sequence of visual and auditory atmosphere without the help of expensive sets or special effects. The film possesses the qualities of an actual waking dream because of the grain found in the cheap film stock, the over emphasized sounds, and lack of extreme visual polish. Beyond Dream's Door is an example of a film that actually benefits from its lack of financial freedom; even the questionable make up and monster effects, sparingly used, are shown just enough to elicit fear, and not unintentional laughs.
The film is not without its problems though: it suffers from poor acting, some stilted dialog, and a narrative that does start to meander at points. The dialog is better than in other low-budget genre films - it's not as bad as a Troma or Full Moon Video production - but it is a bit too on the nose and doesn't quite capture the same tone as the narrative. The questionable acting however is totally forgivable; after all, most of the actors were either friends, family, or acting students, and not professionals. There are also a few problems with the narrative and the pacing, probably stemming from its origins as a short film. It loses some of its steam towards the end of the second act and the beginning of the third, and even at only 80-minutes, it feels a bit long.
However even with these problems, Beyond Dream's Door still comes highly recommended. Throughout the film, there were more than a few moments in which I was totally lost in the twisted logic of the atmospheric narrative. At one point my doorbell rang, and I didn't even get up to answer the door - the sound seemed to fit perfectly withing the context of the scene, and I was so enraptured by everything being presented that I began to feel as if I was having a waking dream. I have to question this film's lack of popularity and cult-status - I just don't get it. Why had I not heard of it before, why aren't more people talking about it? I also wonder why these are not filmmakers creating and delivering our modern genre cinema when so many other, far less capable, filmmakers continue to shovel their crap into the theatres and video stores. Beyond Dream's Door truly is an undiscovered gem, and I am thankful for its existence.
