AzureKite
Apparently inspired by the various writings of H.P. Lovecraft, Beyond Dreams Door is the chilling tale of young Psychology student Benn Dobbs who, after becoming part of a college study on dreaming, suddenly finds himself haunted by a continuing series of terrifying nightmares which appear to bleed into the waking world. As Dobbs tries to unravel the meaning of his dreams, he discovers that beyond dreams door is where horror lies... And the door has been opened. This is an entertaining and unique film well worth the time of anyone willing to seek it out.STORY - The film was shot on practically no budget and skillfully uses suspense, atmosphere and storytelling to it's advantage. The pacing doesn't seem slow at any time and is quite gripping, giving viewers just enough information to grasp what's going on but make their own individual articulations, oozing Lovecraftian inspiration throughout. What we have is a suspenseful horror story centering on the terrors that may, or may not, lurk within or beyond the subconscious. Very few films today have such a strong grasp of story. 5/5EFFECTS - Due to the budget there are not that many special effects in the film, and while those that are in it are not bad at all their age does show. The effects for the creature were spot on, but unfortunately everything else is only average. 3/5ACTING - The acting here is quite good, but unfortunately dialogue and delivery is poor. The actors regularly paused in the middle of sentences for what I assume was supposed to be dramatic effect, but it comes off as the type of dialogue you get in a terrible dub of a foreign film trying to lip sync dialogue that just doesn't fit with mouth movements. Fortunately this trend seems to die off by the middle of the film and the actual dialogue isn't bad, it's just delivery that drags it down. Beyond that the actors portray the small cast of characters strongly. 3/5MUSIC AND SOUND - The musical score for this movie was extremely well done, creating a more than creepy atmosphere for the duration of the film. It's a soothing, yet foreboding tune that sets one at ease while also making the skin crawl and hairs stand on end. Sound effects were also done very well, there were none of the noticeable errors or drops in sound quality that regularly plague films shot in 16mm. 5/5OVERALL - I give this film a solid 8 out of 10. The odd pausing in the middle of sentences was extremely noticeable early on in the film, and the dialogue is overall the most noticeable issue. The characters received an adequate amount of development but certainly could have been more flushed out, and the acting was very strong coming off as stiff only a few times. I think the best way to put it would be to say that the film was above average, but fell just short of what it obviously could have been. Truly deserving of more than the budget it had, and definitely deserving of a modern day DVD release.
EyeAskance
I love seeing low-budget and NO-budget films rise above their limitations and succeed in becoming something greater than merely watchable. "BEYOND DREAM'S DOOR" is such a film, one that presents an intelligent and engaging story with enough resourcefulness and fecund imagination to make the shortcomings of a meager budget far less obvious. Sure, some of the special effects are on the hokey side(but wonderfully gross!), and the acting is fairly amateurish...but don't let forgivable flaws hold you back from enjoying this wild, surreal tale of a young man being relentlessly tormented by his nightmares, both in sleep and awake. Things are far more complex within the story, but let's save good surprises for viewing time.Seven out of ten stars...I'm not boiling over with the enthusiasm of other reviewers here, but I was pleasantly surprised with this film.
JamesLisk
Beyond Dreams Door was essentially the most important film in my young movie-watching life, and for good reason, as it represents everything a film should be - dynamic, experimental and most importantly, intelligent. It also yielded the notion, at least to me, that low-budget independent cinema was where the true passionate visionaries existed, people like Jay Woelfel.Utilizing elements from popular culture and new wave French cinema and working with a limited budget and a mostly in experienced cast and crew, Jay Woelfel managed to craft a stylish cerebral film that dares to takes chances like few films before it were willing to do.Bypassing the conventional formula exercised in most other horror films, Woelfel chooses to operate in a non-linear format (remember, this pre-dated Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs by a few years) while also utilizing Hitchcock's various laws of systematization, specifically the use of colors, and the lighting schemes of the various characters. Add to this various other subtle factors that fail to stand-out during the initial viewings, but become quite prominent the more the film is examined, and, in the end, what you are left with is an important film, that is essentially way way ahead of its time.The movie concerns a shy Ohio Psychology student Benjamin Dobbs, played by Nick Baldasare, who finds himself plagued by a series of horrific inter-connecting nightmares, after he unknowingly agrees to be apart of a dream research experiment. Ben's initial sense that the dreams might have something to do with the untimely loss of his parents quickly fades as they become increasingly stranger and more terrifying. Unable to cope, Ben seeks help in the form of the various on-campus teachers. His psychology professor Dr. Noxx, played Norm Singer, is his first obvious choice, and Noxx easily embraces Ben's pleas for help as something real. After looking into it, the two come upon a notation in a book, and a case history of another man named D.F. White, that seems to point definitively to the existence of the very things Ben has been dreaming about. Ben quickly discovers the 'things' in the dream realm aren't happy with the sudden Earthbound knowledge of their reality, and quickly take it upon themselves to get the evidence back any way they can. Woelfel makes a point to not render any religious allusions, and the doorway, and what lies beyond, remains vague enough for the viewers to decide for themselves what 'the beyond' actually is.As the film unfolds, we also note that the narrative changes hands, along with the usage of colorful composition, as Ben passes on knowledge of his curse to the various people he asks for help. The second person to get swallowed up in Ben's nightmares is a teaching assistant Eric Baxter, played by Rick Kesler, who early on is posed a question by Noxx about what he would do if confronted with a life or death question -- and through the course of the film, is allowed to truly answer it. Baxter's initial reasons for helping Ben, and his later insistence that "It's not my problem" point to a screenplay not constructed to fit a formula, rather, the real actions of a three dimensional character. Also aiding Ben on his quest for answers is D.F. White (Daniel White) who died nearly twenty years earlier, and appears to him in the form of a ghostly apparition, or guardian angel, as one friend in college put it. The enigmatic White offers up cryptic words of advice, while leading Ben through the land of the dead and into the proverbial "light". Visually the film is stunning, and the usage of color as a means of depicting the various character's motivations, is amazing. Personally, it was the first time I had ever seen it used before in film. Woelfel's insistence on telling the story in a non-linear format means a lot of jumping around, back-tracking, and various other things that will make for fun multiple viewings. Woelfel also avoids spoon-feeding his audience. Rather than pointing out the obvious, he allows the viewer to make up their own mind about what they are seeing. In my opinion, the film is much more effective because of this fact. The musical score, also composed by Jay Woelfel, is very good as it helps to add some genuine atmosphere to the film.A few people have complained that the acting was stiff, but I felt it fit perfectly with the tone of the film, which is easily one of the more somber pieces one is likely to see. The special effects were lacking for the most part, but that doesn't take anything away from the piece as it becomes abundantly clear that this film is not about the boogeyman-in-the-closet but rather the psychology behind the boogeyman-in-the-closet.Beyond Dreams Door is a cult film that has earned its status. It garnered much discussion and many long debates from my various friends in college, each with a differing theory one what, or who, Benjamin Dobbs is, and what actually lied beyond 'The Beyond'. I personally believe that Beyond Dreams Door should be mandatory viewing by anyone with a true interest in film. I highly recommend it.Low-budget film-making at its absolute best!
