Beyond Dream's Door

Last updated
Beyond Dream's Door
Beyond Dreams Door vhs cover.png
VHS artwork
Directed byJay Woelfel
Written byJay Woelfel
Produced byDyrk Ashton
Starring
  • Nick Baldasare
  • Rick Kesler
  • Susan Pinsky
  • Norm Singer
CinematographyScott Spears
Edited by
  • Randy Spears
  • Susan Resatka
Music byJay Woelfel
Production
company
Panorama Entertainment
Distributed by VidAmerica
Release date
  • 7 April 1989 (1989-04-07)
Running time
80 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$60,000

Beyond Dream's Door is a 1989 American supernatural horror film written, directed and scored by Jay Woelfel (in his feature film debut), and starring Nick Baldasare, Rick Kesler, Susan Pinksy and Norm Singer. The plot follows a college student who tries desperatley to unravel the meanings behind his horrific nightmares as they begin to break into reality and threaten the people surrounding him.

Contents

Based off of a 1983 short film of the same name that Woefel created during his time at a filmmaking course at Ohio State University, Beyond Dream's Door was shot within the OSU university campus (as well as other nearby areas), with a crew consisting largely of film students using equipment provided by the university, and a cast composed of Woefel's friends and other theatre actors from Columbus. [1] [2] In the years since its release, the film has received a minor cult following. [3]

Plot

Benjamin "Ben" Dobbs is an American college student whom has been experiencing a series of increasingly surreal and disturbing nightmares, all of which feature a number of recurring images and figures, such as a red balloon, a crazed janitor with hook hands, a non-existent younger brother of Ben's named Ricky, a sensuous topless woman, and, most prominently, a large, fleshy monster resembling a dinosaur. In an effort to try and find an explanation for the nightmares, Ben gives a leaflet relaying his most recent dream to his psychology teacher, Professor Noxx, and asks him to read it. He then goes to attend a meeting with Noxx's assistant Julie Oxel, who has been running a dream research experiment. She gives him a sleeping pill to take so that she can record one of his dreams.

That night, Ben receives a phone call from Noxx, asking to meet up at his home so they can discuss his dreams. Noxx recognises that Ben's situation is similar to that of a case from 20 years ago involving D.F. White, an otherwise ordinary young man whom began experiencing vivid and increasingly violent nightmares before slipping into a coma and dying. Noxx and Ben visit the college library to research the case, where Ben sees a vision of White's ghost, who warns him that "it" will take everyone that Ben tries to get help from and "hide them" in his dreams. Ben then witnesses Noxx being brutally murdered by the monster from his nightmares, and flees.

The next day, Ben returns to the library and finds the book that he and Noxx had been researching the night before. After opening it, however, he finds that the pages describing White's case have mysteriously disappeared, as if they never existed. Ben approaches Eric Baxter, Noxx's other assistant, where he talks to him about his dreams and describes a place with large, concrete trapdoors as being a recurring location from them. Eric recognises the location as being an old, unused room in the college building and takes Ben to it, where Ben hypothesises that the creature came from a place hidden beneath the trapdoors. Later that day, Eric gets a call from Julie, who tells him that Noxx's phone number has been disconnected and his name has been taken off the register, whilst Ben discovers that Noxx's home has inexplicably vanished.

Eric and Julie head to their separate homes after reviewing Ben's dream recording (which Julie mentions appears to have been tampered with), and Eric studies a pair of animal-esque teeth he had found in the trapdoor room when he had showed it to Ben. After reading a transcript of one of Ben's dreams that Ben had given him earlier, Eric and Ben simultaneously have visions of Julie being in danger, and rush over to her house, where they discover that she has been decapitated.

With Ben unable to re-enter his own home, he and Eric decide to take refuge at the latter's house, only for them to find the interior in a state of disarray, with Ben's leaflet torn to shreds and the teeth having gone missing. Ben realises that the monster is trying to dispose of all evidence pertaining to its existence, and in doing so will target him and Eric. Having found one of the missing pages relating to White's case earlier, Ben gets the idea to use the page to lure the monster back into the trapdoors, believing that doing so will vanquish it from reality. The following night, he and Eric break into the college and begin setting up a crane mechanism in order to hold the trapdoors open. Whilst doing so, however, Eric is attacked and killed by the monster. Ben uses the page to lure the monster with him into the space beneath the trapdoors, then releases a rope attached to the mechanism which shuts the trapdoors, leaving his fate unknown.

Cast

Production

Beyond Dream's Door began as a 21-minute short film created by Woelfel in 1983, when he was a student of Ohio State University's now-defunct Cinema Department. The short film, according to Woelfel, was loosely inspired by H.P. Lovecraft's The Shadow Out Of Time. [4] After graduating in 1985, Woelfel and various college friends of his, all struggling with unemployment, had the idea of making Beyond Dream's Door into a full feature, inspiring Woefel to write a script which was finalised by late 1987. Unable to earn proper financing for the film, Woefel ultimately decided to have the film be shot in and around the Ohio State campus, with a crew made up of film students from the university. [1] [4]

The film's cast was composed almost entirely of community theatre actors, some of whom were personal friends of Woelfel's. Rick Kesler in particular had been in a handful of Woelfel's short films, including the Beyond Dream's Door short film, which coincidentally co-starred Nick Baldasare. [1] [4] [5]

Filming began on April 1, 1988, and lasted for five weeks. [1] According to Woelfel, the trapdoor room (which also appeared in the short film) was a storage room located on the second floor of the since-demolished Haskett Hall building on the Ohio State campus; the trapdoors themselves were used to bring heavier objects up from the ground floor. [4]

Release

The film was first released in the United States on VHS by VidAmerica on April 7, 1989. [3] [4]

Critical reception

Writing for DVD Talk , Bill Gibron gave the film a very positive review, calling it "an experience that's refreshingly smart and weighty" and praising its ambition, saying "[the film] avoids clichés and formulas to bring the stunningly surreal world of nightmares into painful perspective. As a result, instead of the same old craven crap, we are privileged to see one of the late '80s best independent fright films." [6]

Critic Joe Bob Briggs also gave the film a positive review, giving it three stars and reportedly calling it "one of the strangest movies [he'd] ever seen." [1] [7]

Home media

On December 5, 2006, Cinema Epoch released the film on DVD for the first time. This release features various special features, including two commentary tracks, two of Woelfel's short films (including the original 1983 Beyond Dream's Door short), an isolated score, deleted scenes, alternate takes and other behind-the-scenes footage. [3] [8]

On April 27, 2021, the independent label Vinegar Syndrome issued the 80 minute director's cut of film on Blu-ray for the first time as part of their Home Grown Horrors: Volume 1 box set, which also includes the films Winterbeast (1992) and Fatal Exam (1990). [9] This release features a 2K restoration which was "painstakingly reconstructed shot by shot from its original, unedited 16mm camera negative", although approximately five minutes of footage from a master tape were also sourced because of how "several rolls of the original negative were lost". [2] The Vinegar Syndrome release also includes all of the bonus features from the Cinema Epoch releases, along with two additional commentary tracks and a newly commissioned making-of documentary. [10]

Related Research Articles

<i>Bride of the Monster</i> 1955 American science fiction horror film by Ed Wood

Bride of the Monster is a 1955 American independent science fiction horror film, co-written, produced and directed by Edward D. Wood Jr., and starring Bela Lugosi and Tor Johnson with a supporting cast featuring Tony McCoy and Loretta King.

<i>Orgy of the Dead</i> 1965 American film

Orgy of the Dead is a 1965 American erotic horror film directed by Stephen C. Apostolof and written by cult film director Ed Wood, who also adapted the screenplay into a novel. The film belongs to the genre of "nudie-cuties", defined as narrative-based films featuring female nudity that originated from earlier films featuring striptease performances and burlesque shows.

<i>A Nightmare on Elm Street</i> (franchise) American supernatural slasher franchise

A Nightmare on Elm Street is an American supernatural slasher media franchise consisting of nine films, a television series, novels, comic books, and various other media. The franchise began with the film A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), written and directed by Wes Craven. The overall plot of the franchise centers around the fictional character Fred "Freddy" Krueger, the apparition of a former child killer who was burned alive by the vengeful parents of his victims, who returns from the grave to terrorize and kill the teenage residents of the fictional Springwood, Ohio in their dreams. Craven returned to the franchise to co-script the second sequel, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987), and to write/direct Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994). The films collectively grossed $472 million at the box office worldwide.

<i>Runaway Brain</i> 1995 Mickey Mouse cartoon

Runaway Brain is a 1995 American animated comedy horror short film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation. Featuring Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse, the short centers on Mickey attempting to earn money to pay for an anniversary gift for Minnie. He responds to an advertisement to work for Doctor Frankenollie, only to find out that he is looking for a donor to switch brains with the monster he created. Featuring animation by animator Andreas Deja, it was first released in 1995 attached to North American theatrical showings of A Kid in King Arthur's Court and in 1996 attached to international theatrical showings of A Goofy Movie. It would be the final original Mickey Mouse theatrical animated short until Get a Horse! in 2013.

<i>Road House</i> (1989 film) American action film by Rowdy Herrington

Road House is a 1989 American action film directed by Rowdy Herrington and produced by Joel Silver. The film stars Patrick Swayze, Ben Gazzara, Kelly Lynch and Sam Elliott. In the film, a bouncer at a newly refurbished roadside bar protects a small town in Missouri from a corrupt businessman.

<i>Elevated</i> (film) 1996 Canadian film

Elevated is a 1996 Canadian short film directed by Vincenzo Natali and co-written by him and Karen Walton, who also participated in the writing of Ginger Snaps.

<i>A Nightmare on Elm Street</i> 1984 American slasher film by Wes Craven

A Nightmare on Elm Street is a 1984 American supernatural slasher film written and directed by Wes Craven and produced by Robert Shaye. It is the first installment in the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise and stars Heather Langenkamp, John Saxon, Ronee Blakley, Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger, and Johnny Depp in his film debut. The film's plot concerns a group of teenagers who are targeted by Krueger, an undead child killer who can murder people through their dreams, as retribution against their parents who burned him alive.

<i>The Incubus</i> (film) 1982 film

Incubus is a 1982 Canadian supernatural slasher film directed by John Hough and written by George Franklin, based on the 1976 novel of the same name by Ray Russell. It stars John Cassavetes, Kerrie Keane, and John Ireland. The plot focuses on a small Wisconsin town where a mysterious figure is raping and murdering young women. Its title is sometimes extended to The Incubus.

<i>Little Monsters</i> (1989 film) 1989 film by Richard Alan Greenberg

Little Monsters is a 1989 American fantasy comedy film starring Fred Savage and Howie Mandel and directed by Richard Alan Greenberg. It tells the story of a boy who befriends a real-life "monster under the bed" and discovers a secret world of monsters who sneak into children's bedrooms at night to pull pranks on them. Although the film failed financially, receiving a limited theatrical release due to Vestron’s bankruptcy, it obtained a cult following on home video and is considered a requisite title in the gateway horror genre.

<i>Frightmare</i> (1981 film) 1983 American film

Frightmare is a 1983 American supernatural slasher film written and directed by Norman Thaddeus Vane. It stars Ferdy Mayne, Luca Bercovici, Jennifer Starrett, Nita Talbot and Barbara Pilavin, along with Jeffrey Combs in his horror film acting debut. The film's plot follows a group of drama students who decide to kidnap the corpse of a recently deceased horror movie star. By disrupting his tomb, they unwittingly release an ancient black magic that begins consuming them one by one.

<i>The Wizard of Oz</i> (1933 film) 1933 Canadian film

The Wizard of Oz is a 1933 Canadian-American animated short film directed by Ted Eshbaugh. The story is credited to "Col. Frank Baum." Frank Joslyn Baum, a lieutenant colonel in the United States Army and eldest son of writer L. Frank Baum, was involved in the film's production, and may have had an involvement in the film's script, which is loosely inspired by the elder Baum's 1900 novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. It runs approximately eight and a half minutes and is nearly wordless, working mainly with arrangements of classical music created by Carl W. Stalling. The film is considered to potentially be the first full color animated film.

<i>The Caller</i> (1987 film) 1987 American film

The Caller is a 1987 mystery thriller film starring Malcolm McDowell and Madolyn Smith, distributed independently by Empire Pictures. The film appears at first to be a straightforward story about a man wanting to use a girl's telephone, but things aren't as they seem. Similar to a stage play, it is set in a primary location with only two actors. The film was shot in the Lazio region of Italy.

<i>Spookies</i> 1986 film

Spookies is a 1986 American independent horror film directed by Brendan Faulkner and Thomas Doran, with additional footage directed by Eugenie Joseph. It stars Felix Ward, Dan Scott, Alec Nemser, and Maria Pechukas, and follows a group of partying adults who find an abandoned mansion and become trapped inside as a warlock tries to sacrifice the group with the intention of using their vitality to keep his wife alive.

<i>The Hole</i> (2009 film) 2009 film by Joe Dante

The Hole is a 2009 American 3D dark fantasy horror film directed by Joe Dante and starring Chris Massoglia, Haley Bennett, Nathan Gamble, Bruce Dern, and Teri Polo. The film follows Dane and Lucas Thompson, two brothers who move into their new house with their single mother, Susan. Dane and Lucas, along with their new neighbor Julie Campbell, discover a trap door in the basement, leading to a bottomless pit, and accidentally unleash a supernatural force that manifests itself into any fear of the person who looks into the hole.

<i>Night of the Living Carrots</i> 2011 American film

Night of the Living Carrots is a 2011 American animated short film produced by DreamWorks Animation and based on the film Monsters vs. Aliens. A sequel to the 2009 short, Monsters vs. Aliens: Mutant Pumpkins from Outer Space, the short follows the monster team taking on a mutated carrot army that can mind control others. Dr. Cockroach determines that the only way to defeat them and free their victims is for B.O.B. to eat all of the carrots.

<i>Mountaintop Motel Massacre</i> 1983 American film

Mountaintop Motel Massacre is a 1983 American psychological slasher film written and directed by Jim McCullough Sr. and starring Anna Chappell, Bill Thurman, and Amy Hill. The plot concerns a psychotic elderly woman who, after being freed from incarceration, returns to the motel she ran and begins murdering the guests.

<i>Curucu, Beast of the Amazon</i> 1956 film by Curt Siodmak

Curucu, Beast of the Amazon is a 1956 American adventure/monster film, directed and written by Curt Siodmak and starring John Bromfield, Beverly Garland and Tom Payne. The title creature is pronounced "Koo-Ruh-SOO". The film was distributed in the United States as a double feature with The Mole People.

<i>The Jekyll and Hyde Portfolio</i> 1971 American film

The Jekyll and Hyde Portfolio is a 1971 American sexploitation slasher film produced and directed by Eric Jeffrey Haims. Loosely based on the 1886 novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, the film's plot concerns an insane killer with dual personalities who stalks and murders victims at a nursing academy. It stars Sebastian Brook, Mady Maguire, Donn Greer, Gray Daniels, John Terry, and Rene Bond.

<i>Sex World</i> 1977 American pornographic film

Sex World is a 1977 American pornographic science fiction film directed by Anthony Spinelli and written by Spinelli and Dean Rogers, from a story by Spinelli. It stars Annette Haven, Lesllie Bovee, Sharon Thorpe, Desiree West, and Amber Hunt. The film primarily takes place at a fictional resort known as Sex World, where individuals can live out their secret sexual desires and overcome their inhibitions with the help of android sexbots.

<i>Hanging Heart</i> (film) 1989 American film

Hanging Heart is a 1989 American slasher film written and directed by Jimmy Lee, and starring Barry Wyatt, Jake Henry, and Francine Lapensée. Its plot follows a stage actor who is arrested for his girlfriend's murder, followed by a series of similar slayings, while he is defended by a benefactor and attorney who is romantically obsessed with him.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "It Came From the Videostore!!!". www.univdistcol.com. Retrieved 2023-08-31.
  2. 1 2 "Sleep, Those Little Slices of Death: Beyond Dream's Door". consideringstories. 2021-05-26. Retrieved 2023-09-10.
  3. 1 2 3 "BEYOND DREAM'S DOOR | The Bedlam Files" . Retrieved 2023-09-10.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "MAKING BEYOND DREAM'S DOOR". www.linkedin.com. Retrieved 2023-09-10.
  5. ↑ "Beyond Dream's Door (1989)" . Retrieved 2023-09-10.
  6. ↑ "DVD Talk". www.dvdtalk.com. Retrieved 2023-08-31.
  7. ↑ "American Genre Film Archive BEYOND DREAM'S DOOR". www.americangenrefilm.com. Retrieved 2023-08-31.
  8. ↑ "DVD REVIEW: BEYOND DREAM'S DOOR | CHUD.com" . Retrieved 2023-08-31.
  9. ↑ "Home Grown Horrors: Volume One". Vinegar Syndrome. Retrieved 2023-08-31.
  10. ↑ Beyond Dream's Door Blu-ray , retrieved 2023-08-31
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.