Dream Demon (1988) coming from Arrow

[DR Herbert West]

a young bride-to-be’s anxieties over her upcoming wedding take on a horrifying, demonic form in this underseen 1988 “rubber reality” shocker from director/co-writer harley cokeliss (black moon rising), starring timothy spall and jemma redgrave.

As her marriage to decorated war hero oliver draws near, well-heeled diana moves into her sprawling new london home where she starts to experience strange and terrifying nightmares. But are these blood-curdling night terrors merely the symptom of an unsettled mind, or the sign of something far sinister at work? Hounded by a pair of sleazy journalists (timothy spall and jimmy nail), diana soon crosses paths with american tourist jenny, who appears to have a strange connection to the foreboding house and its sinister past.

Long dormant on home media since its original vhs release, dream demon - a terrific blend of psychological horror and late 80s practical gore effects - has at long-last been stirred from its analogue slumber and arrives on blu-ray, newly-restored from the original camera negative and in a brand new director’s cut!

Special edition contents

brand new 2k restoration from the original camera negative, supervised and approved by director harley cokeliss
director’s cut and original theatrical version
high definition blu-ray (1080p) presentation
original uncompressed stereo audio
optional english subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
brand new scene-select audio commentary with director harley cokeliss and producer paul webster
newly-filmed interview with director harley cokeliss
newly-filmed interview with producer paul webster
newly-filmed interview with actress jemma redgrave
newly-filmed interview with actor mark greenstreet
newly-filmed interview with actor nickolas grace
newly-filmed interview with actress annabelle lanyon
newly-filmed interview with composer bill nelson
foundations of nightmare: The making of dream demon - contemporary documentary taking a look behind the scenes of the production of dream demon, featuring on-set interviews with director harley cokeliss, producer paul webster, actors timothy spall, jemma redgrave, kathleen wilhoite, composer bill nelson and many more
image galleries
original theatrical trailer
reversible sleeve featuring original and newly-commissioned artwork by christopher shy
first pressing only! - collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by anne billson, author of the dream demon novelisation, and director harley cokeliss - reversible poster featuring exclusive newly-commissioned artwork by christopher shy

[DR Herbert West]

Pre-order is up.

[Leslie Dame]

I guess they finally figured out the complicated rights issues.

[seamus11]

Has anyone seen Director's Cut at Sitges Film Festival? I would like to know what are differences between this and Theatrical cut (I just hope it's not some revisionist/altered nonsense) and I wonder if it includes original ending...

[Socko]

Great movie. Saw this when I was too young to see it

[LordSummerIsle]

I've never seen it, but now I have to!

[elektrikoi]

Trailer on YouTube.

[DR Herbert West]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiXfygCsPCo

[hate_13]

Giving off Society vibes...consider me intrigued!

[Puffy]

I just finished this. Looks and sounds great. Pretty good flick with a great atmosphere and some nice practical and effects sprinkled throughout. I was left confused at the end. I’m not sure the story makes sense, even in the context of a supernatural story but I enjoyed the ride nonetheless. On to the extras to see if any of my questions are answered.

[TripleHBK]

Originally Posted by Puffy

I just finished this. Looks and sounds great. Pretty good flick with a great atmosphere and some nice practical and effects sprinkled throughout. I was left confused at the end. I’m not sure the story makes sense, even in the context of a supernatural story but I enjoyed the ride nonetheless. On to the extras to see if any of my questions are answered.

I'm looking forward to re-watching this. I switched my pre-order to Target though during the recent B2G1 sale and so now my copy isn't set to arrive until next Monday as it's still "Preparing to Ship". Luckily I have all of next week off on Vacation so I'll still be checking it out as soon as it arrives.

[Puffy]

Originally Posted by TripleHBK

I'm looking forward to re-watching this. I switched my pre-order to Target though during the recent B2G1 sale and so now my copy isn't set to arrive until next Monday as it's still "Preparing to Ship". Luckily I have all of next week off on Vacation so I'll still be checking it out as soon as it arrives.

You’ll have to post your thoughts. I’ll be curious to hear what people think of the movie.

[GasmaskAvenger]

Great film. Saw the director's cut through a fanmade bootleg years ago.

Really looking forward to seeing it in full resolution.

[TripleHBK]

Originally Posted by GasmaskAvenger

Great film. Saw the director's cut through a fanmade bootleg years ago.

Really looking forward to seeing it in full resolution.

I watched the same version as my introduction to the film.

[raybestos]

Differences in theatrical vs Director's cut?

Why does Arrow not use seamless branching? The bitrate of the features is nearly cut in half, by using two seperate encodes:

Theatrical Version:
Disc Title: DREAM DEMON
Disc Label: DREAM DEMON (_10_)
Disc Size: 49,484,309,506 bytes
Protection: AACS
Playlist: 00002.MPLS
Size: 21,003,423,168 bytes
Length: 1:29:23.357
Total Bitrate: 31.33 Mbps
Video: MPEG-4 AVC Video / 27571 kbps / 1080p / 23.976 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio: English / LPCM Audio / 2.0 / 48 kHz / 2304 kbps / 24-bit
Subtitle: English / 24.000 kbps

Director's Cut:
Disc Title: DREAM DEMON
Disc Label: DREAM DEMON (_10_)
Disc Size: 49,484,309,506 bytes
Protection: AACS
Playlist: 00001.MPLS
Size: 20,708,090,304 bytes
Length: 1:28:00
Total Bitrate: 31.32 Mbps
Video: MPEG-4 AVC Video / 27567 kbps / 1080p / 23.976 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio: English / LPCM Audio / 2.0 / 48 kHz / 2304 kbps / 24-bit
Subtitle: English / 24.156 kbps

Which version should I watch? I've never seen the film before.

[wicky_J]

Originally Posted by raybestos

Which version should I watch? I've never seen the film before.

The director’s cut (88:08) removes a 1:14 comic coda involving characters played by Timothy Spall and Jimmy Nail.

That appears to be the only difference between the two versions of the film.

[TripleHBK]

Originally Posted by wicky_J

That appears to be the only difference between the two versions of the film.

Indeed. The only change is that on the Directors cut the very last scene of the film is removed as the director felt it played a bit too comedic and was unecessary.

I watched this release last night as my copy from Target took forever to arrive despite being pre-ordered. This was my second viewing of the film and I have to say this latest viewing didn't do much to improve my impression of it.

On the surface there are some interesting ideas and fun effects sprinkled throughout and the film starts off with a good one in short order, but then things just never really feels like it gets out of 1st gear after that first effects sequence and as a result you the viewer spend the rest of the run time waiting for something to happen and the tension to ramp up, but instead just sort of feel like you're treading water until the film ends.

I want to like this film more than I do, but it just doesn't click with me right now. The presentation overall was quite good and I can't imagine the film will ever have a better release (or another release for that matter) so it's worth picking up for film collectors that happen to be fans of horror, but not so much for horror fans that are not collectors looking to build huge collections.

[jmilo61]

Originally Posted by TripleHBK

Indeed. The only change is that on the Directors cut the very last scene of the film is removed as the director felt it played a bit too comedic and was unecessary.

So the theatrical cut is technically the true director's cut?

EDIT: Nevermind, I misread the quoted text. Ignore what I said.

[Pecker]

Bring on Paperhouse.

[dissention]

I think that what throws many off is that you expect there to be some horrific denouement at the end of the film, but there's not. Jenny's story also comes full circle, yet Diana's never really does; the script doesn't blend the two together very well. It's a flawed film, but an atmospheric one with a lot of ambition. I have the original UK quad poster in a frame and it's a stunning piece of art, I'm happy to finally have a beautiful transfer of the actual film to match.

Originally Posted by GasmaskAvenger

Great film. Saw the director's cut through a fanmade bootleg years ago.

The Doc Sapirstein one? That was was just a 16mm print for film festivals with a few seconds of difference spliced in from a VHS, it still includes the final "comedic" scene. The director's cut wasn't made until they actually found the original negative a few years back.