Dreamaniac (1986) User Reviews

1980s David DeCouteau!

[gavin6942 · 3/10 · 13 February 2013]

A heavy-metal musician (Thomas Bern, in his only role) makes a deal with a satanic succubus (Sylvia Summers) to make him successful with women, in return for the succubus being able to feed on the girls.

Before David DeCouteau was making low-budget homo-erotic films, he was making low-budget fodder for Charlie Band's Empire Pictures. While Empire made some good films (the work of Stuart Gordon), it made plenty of bad ones (such as DeCouteau's work). This film is a prime example of 1980s DeCouteau.

We start out with a very long credit sequence, each name lingering on a black screen. And then we go into a dream sequence with a naked man in a hallway. For a film that runs only 82 minutes, the time tends to go rather slowly. The script could not have added one additional scene or something to make this either longer or to have at least sped up the pace of the 82 minutes?

Another reviewer found it funny that the "heavy metal" guy wears a Def Leppard t-shirt and has posters for Poison and the Dead Kennedys. I would not find that strange normally, but it does seem odd for someone into devil worship -- more appropriate bands might be Venom, Bathory, Hellhammer and Celtic Frost. The film's score also has no relation to this dark or metal claim. There is some dreamlike quality, I admit, but composer Don Great (who also did "Breeders") might have added a bit more edge. Okay, a lot more edge.

sucky succubus flick; the average dream is more interesting than this

[FieCrier · 2/10 · 4 February 2005]

Really pretty boring shot-on-video horror movie ("too gory for the silver screen" boasts the distributor on the video box). A guy into heavy metal has dreams about a succubus, and he tries some kind of rituals to summon her. His sister has a party in their house, and a bunch of poorly differentiated characters arrive, and have a pretty lame party. The succubus kills people, and nobody seems to notice for a while.

Except for a few exterior shots of the house, I think the entire movie took place inside the main characters' house. The deaths were generally not terribly gory or interesting, except for a death by a power drill towards the end which was pretty well done. Apart from that, you have a bunch of actors who for the most part haven't acted in anything else. Despite some female nudity early on in the movie, and that all the characters are heterosexual, this movie does seem aimed at a gay male audience. There are lots of shots of guys with their shirts off, guys wearing nothing but white jockey shorts, guys completely baring their posteriors....

I would definitely recommend people not waste their time with this movie. Exceptions might be made for people who can be very forgiving of low-budget horror movies' limitations, aren't looking for anything original, have a soft spot for the 1980s, or really like director David DeCoteau's work.

Towards the end, there's a piece of paper on which is typed "SUCCUBUS" but part of the word is unreadable, so only "SUC" can be read. That about sums it up.

Just awful.

[FilmFatale · 1/10 · 7 November 2012]

Dreamaniac may have the longest opening credits in horror movie history. Sadly, that's about the only thing it brings to the genre.

Adam is a musician who dabbles in the dark arts. He's supposed to be "heavy metal," I suppose, but he wears a Def Leppard shirt and has posters on his bedroom wall for both Jello Biafra and Poison, so who knows. One night while playing with his book of spells, he conjures a succubus named Lily who just happens to crash a party thrown by Adam's girlfriend's sister. There's lots of softcore sex, lingering shots of the bodies of the mostly unattractive males in the cast, very little blood and no reason for anyone to watch. I'm not even going to mention the stupid ending. Avoid.

Please Mrs. Suck-Cubus, slaughter everyone in this film and ESPECIALLY the director!

[Coventry · 1/10 · 10 November 2013]

The first annoying thing you immediately notice about "Dreamaniac" are its unimaginably overlong opening credits. Why is it necessary to singularly display the names of all the lousy people that were co-responsible for this piece of crap? Guided by such horrible music, to boot! The second annoying thing you notice is that writer/director David DeCouteau's alarming obsession with naked male butts and tidy white underpants was already there in the beginning of his career during the 1980's .The third thing you notice – and sadly this feeling remains throughout the entire running time – is that "Dreamaniac" is an unendurably terrible and pathetic flick without any redeeming qualities whatsoever. Under the command of trash-emperor Charles Band, DeCouteau brings the dull tale of a heavy metal fanatic (apparently they looked like complete dorks back in the eighties) who summons a succubus because he's horny and can't control his hormones. This female demon goes on slaughtering a whole bunch of ugly and dim-witted frat boys and frat girls; guests at the sorority party thrown in the metal fanatic's house by his girlfriend and her sister. The plot sounds basic and straightforward enough to potentially have become an unpretentious 80's slasher, but DeCouteau and his crew even managed to ruin that. It's boring as hell, the characters are all insupportable idiots, the cheap & cheesy make-up effects are laughable instead of unsettling and the disco-soundtrack is downright infuriating. I mean, they could have at least put a couple of satanic metal bands on the soundtrack? In short, this is one of the lousiest horror flicks of the 1980's and that means A LOT, so avoid like the plague.

You don't get it!

[mpelletier-4 · 5/10 · 19 December 2017]

Hey, all of you serious(?, well indeeed you take yourselves very seriously, writing paragraphs over paragraphs over a Z movie. Really get a life) reviewers, you don't get it . Of course, this is Z movie. But look at the budget, $60,000 dollars and done by a 24 year old guy. If you think you will find Bergman or Ford, you're out of your head, but imagination, yes, you will find that. Acting is non existent, but it comes with the style and budget, So just enjoy being surprised, maybe have a laugh or two, and you may quite enjoy it. But, if you think you are the best thing since sliced bread, write a smart ass review and pretend it does not exist.

Watchable but mediocre slasher trash fare

[Bloodwank · 5/10 · 8 August 2010]

Dreamaniac was only my second viewing from the oeuvre of gay horror notable David DeCoteau, unless there are others that I've forgotten about. The first by the way was Puppetmaster 3: Toulon's Revenge, which is pretty great fun in the way that only a film with living puppets against Nazi's can be. This one though, sadly not so good. The film centres on a party gatecrashed by a kill happy succubus, but while there is a fair measure of potential interest in such a scenario the film opts for pretty much a generic slasher approach, livened in the final block by the introduction of zombies into the mix. Things kick off with mixed signals, a tilted camera watches a naked man walk down a pink lit hallway into a shower where he meets a bloody naked lass who sets about some brief clawing. Its intriguing enough, and the brief shot of bloody boobs is a definite plus, but on the other hand it does set up the films cheese, rampant 80's-ness and interest in male flesh. The film gets quickly into the party which occupies the rest of the runtime and here starts to sink into a disinterested fug of not all that much worth. We get plenty of horny youngsters, liberal doses of bitchy lines, unsatisfying sex and occasional killing, the killing steadily ramping up in regularity as things go on. The sex is unsatisfactory on two fronts, for one it's often interrupted either by other party goers or death, and for seconds we see a good deal of bare male chests, guys in just their pants and so on but no tits and ass or even male genitals. Wangs on display aren't even my kettle of piranhas but they might have given the scenes a bit more of an impact. Probably the most notable example of visual man love is an electrocution in which the camera gazes up at a guys tight Y-fronts as he expires, not really my kettle of fish like I said but it did make me chuckle. As far as the slaughter goes, there's more light blood spray than there is gore, though there are maybe two or three nice cheap gore shots in the last half hour including inspired use of a drill. This isn't the sort of film where any viewers are likely to be bothered about acting, characterisation and whatnot, but probably worth mentioning that Sylvia Summers (who?) does a nice enough job as the murderous demon, very much an 80's looking gal with trashy appeal and a suitably compelling lowbrow presence. Also, the female lead is played by Ashlyn Gere (credited as Kim McKamy), who went on to a successful porno career and also starred in another junky late 80's horror, the backwoods cannibal joint Lunch Meat. As well as being a fine looking lass she also contributes probably the best performance of the cast and it seems almost a shame that she departed the realms of genre cinema, but then I've never seen any of her adult work so it may well be inspiring stuff. Finally, the end of this one is pretty much nonsensical, somewhere between a giggle and a face-palm, people who dig idiotic endings will likely get a smile or two out of it. Altogether, this ain't really worth watching unless you absolutely have to see every crappy 80's horror out there or you really dig DeCoteau films. Still, its far from the worst out there, definitely better than a poke in the eye with a wet stick. See it if you must, but leagues away from essential.

Early genre entry from DeCoteau

[LuisitoJoaquinGonzalez · 5/10 · 26 June 2006]

It's common knowledge that a healthy percentage of the people working within the film industry of today began their career somewhere within the slasher genre. Whilst the gross majority went on to find fortune and fame beyond the realms of masked killers and screaming teens (George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Roger Spottiswoode etc), there are a few that seemed content to dwindle in the security of B-movie minor-budget rhapsody. Among those names are the likes of Fred Olen Ray, David A. Prior, Steve Jarvis, Linnea Quigley and perhaps most importantly, David DeCoteau. Dreamaniac is DeCoteau's first excursion into slasher land and although not particularly groundbreaking, it does have its fingers deep in a few trivia pies. It's mainly notable to cycle buffs for being one of an inexplicably select few of the 400 or so genre entries that mixes elements from giants Halloween and A Nightmare in Elm Street, without straying out of the stalk and slash guide book. Titles such as Playroom and the rancid The Oracle gave up their place in the cycle by edging too far into the realms of supernatural futility. Thankfully, Dreamaniac remains true enough to it's roots to stake a place in the ever-increasing catalogue of Halloween knock-offs.

Dreamaniac centres on an archetypal gang of fun loving stereotypical period teens. Boasting a baby face that makes him look like an extra from The Sorcerer's Stone, protagonist Adam (Thomas Bern) shows his eighties credibility by spending most of the runtime sporting a Def Leppard t-shirt. Despite looking like butter wouldn't melt in his mouth, surprisingly Adam is a part time Satanist with a passion for black magic rituals. His bubble-haired girlfriend Pat (Kim McKamy) has no idea that her beau spends his spare time conjuring dark spirits from beyond the grave, and often she wonders why he spends so much time alone in his room. In an attempt to bring him out of his shell for a few hours, Pat has organised a huge party at her boyfriend's vacant abode. The guest list includes all the typical sure-fire body count ingredients, and before long they arrive and get the beer flowing. Unbeknownst to them, Adam has summoned a porn star-like succubus from another dimension and it goes without saying that she has arrived with a taste for blood. Before long the corpses begin to mount as the maniacal fiend begins seducing the male guests and then butchering them in various imaginative ways. Will anyone be able to stop the demon? Or will the rampage continue for the chance of a profit-escalating sequel?

Somewhat surprisingly, after the inevitable Halloween-alike synthesiser score, DeCoteau does well not to turn Dreamaniac into a total clone of it's forefathers. There's enough originality in the Freddy/Michael Myers inspired conjunction to allow the movie to lift itself above the notorious "rip-off" status that has jinxed its brethren. Towards the film's finale the director chucks in zombies and various other supernatural gimmicks that add a touch of spice to the standard slasher template. When compared to the likes of Night Ripper from the same year, DeCoteau's effort offers much more in atmosphere and flair. Although the "too gory for the silver screen" boast from the hyperbole packaging is definitely a half-truth, there are one or two credibly handled splatter scenes. Tom Schwartz's power drill decapitation can rank among some of the neatest killings of the genre and the gruesome hand impalement that precedes it is also impressive.

Despite the odd distinctive camera trick, there's very little here that would prove to be the stepping-stone for a long career in B-movie cinema for DeCoteau. In fact at times the movie fails to generate any kind of atmosphere at all. The constant homo-erotic references that would become a trademark for the director in later years of his career are excellent for the homosexual viewers. But to be honest they feel somewhat misplaced and unnecessary for everyone else. The slasher is a genre that has survived by sticking to the template of its forefathers and skillfully avoiding the potential catastrophe that is political correctness.

As is the case with so many eighties slashers, the film's biggest flaw is the heinous work form the dramatis personae. In fact the level of performance is so dire that it adds strength to the case that the most intelligent member of the cast was the dead cat that was found mutilated 20 minutes in to the feature. Surprisingly enough there was a soon to be "star" amongst the cast of big haired but small brained hopefuls. It is perhaps ironic that young Kim McKamy would go to become a big name in the 'porn' industry. Thus adding further evidence to the level of dramatics that plagued Dreamaniac. The female bogeyman proves to be a real spine-chilling fiend. Even without theatrical make-up she brings to mind a young Kim Basinger after 6 weeks in a Detroit crack house. Scary huh?

To be honest there's not much here to warrant hunting out a copy of Dreamaniac. It's standard slasher fare that fails to build on a promising basis. There are a lot better efforts floating around and I recommend only to slasher obsessives.

"Mondo bad planning, Jodie!"

[Groverdox · 3/10 · 10 May 2022]

"Dreamaniac" is apparently the first non-pornographic movie David DeCoteau made. Unfortunately he had certainly not found his feet as a director of mainstream films when he made it. The movie is stylistically indistinguishable from porn: filmed claustrophobically in only one location, poorly shot apparently on video with badly lit scenes, and even the dialogue is badly recorded like in a porn flick, either mumbled and hard to make out because it was recorded on scene, or much too loud and ear-jarring because it was obviously re-done in post-production.

We only know it's not a porno because it doesn't feature actual sex. It seems like DeCoteau decided to use the location and crew from one of his porno flicks to try and see if he could make a feature film. It's as though after the cast/crew from his previous "New Wave Hustlers" or "Boys Just Want to Have Sex" had gone home, DeCoteau called up some friends in the night and asked them to come over to make his dream of mainstream film direction a reality.

This is not to say that the movie doesn't have any sex. It has so many sex scenes it could almost be softcore porn, except for the fact that there's no attempt at eroticism, and no female nudity. That's right: it's a low-budget slasher without boobs. All the nudity is male: bare butts, and of course DeCoteau using the opportunity to indulge his tighty-whitie fetish. You can barely see any nudity anyway, because the movie looks like it was filmed through mud and shot exclusively at night with barely any lighting. In one scene, characters were supposed to be having sex, but then I realised the actress was still fully clothed.

The plot is allegedly about a heavy metal musician who summons a succubus with some candles and spooky words and she helps him get girls so she can kill them. This plot sounds like b-movie gold, but the movie doesn't bring it to life. The guy seems to have a girlfriend, so apparently he doesn't even need any supernatural assistance in getting female attention. Obviously they should have made him a clueless yet charming dork, desperate for love, so that we could understand his motivations and maybe root for him, and also understand the movie itself. Instead the whole thing is really distancing.

When the succubus or whatever she's supposed to be starts killing people, it's typical low-budget, shot-on-video slasher movie fare, with extreme close ups of the victim's faces with blood sprays to hide the lack of any real gore effects. But get this: half way through the movie we see someone getting stabbed in the eye in a close-up. Did they spend all of the movie's $500-or-so budget on that one shot?

Nah. There's actually a couple more gore shots toward the end, with a drill bit going through a guy's hand, and a late-term decapitation. Then there's some attempt at a twist ending that no one ever would have seen because no one possibly could have been paying attention by that time. I know I wasn't. This movie taxed me. I'm glad it's over.

I was going to watch more David DeCoteau but now I don't know if I have the endurance for it. This was a horror movie but its only sense of tension was gained from the fact that it being entirely shot on video in a house made me feel like I was stuck in the house with the people in the movie. Like I, too, was having to take part in making this garbage. Nightmare fuel.

Ugh...

[BandSAboutMovies · 3/10 · 10 October 2020]

A former Wizard Video release, this is a David DeCoteau movie through and through, which you can tell by the fact that a buck naked male ass is one of the first things you see in this movie. It's all about a heavy metal musician who gets lucky with women, providing the succubus who gives him his powers get to eat them afterward.

The only performer that you may recognize is Kim McKamy, who would change her stage name to Ashlyn Gere and star in films like Chameleons and The Masseuse. She's also in DeCocteau's Creepazoids, Dominick Brascia's Evil Laugh, Kirk Alex's Lunch Meat and Tom DeSimone's Angel III: The Final Chapter.

Speaking of adult video, this was DeCoteau's first mainstream directing job after making movies like Boys Just Wanna Have Sex and New Waves Hustlers.

There are two movies within this movie, Hemoglobin House on Sorority Row and The Sorority That Dripped Blood. Obviously, you know where those titles came from.

Awesomely awful 80's straight-to-video trash

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 23 March 2017]

Struggling wannabe heavy metal musician Adam (blandly played by Thomas Bern) summons lethal succubus Lily (skanky beanpole Sylvia Summers). Things turn nasty after Lily crashes a frat party being held at Adam's house and starts bumping off the various obnoxious guests.

Boy, does this hysterically horrendous honey possess all the right wrong stuff to qualify as a real four-star stinkeroonie: We've got blah (non)direction by furiously prolific schlockmeister David DeCouteau, a plodding pace, static cinematography, flat acting by a lame no-name cast (only foxy 80's porn starlet Ashlynn Gere adds any spark as the spunky Pat), tacky, but juicy gore, a mechanically bouncy synthesizer score, tin-eared dialogue (favorite line: "There's a dead cat back there and it's pretty gross"), zero tension or spooky atmosphere, a generous amount of bare skin (both male and female alike), cardboard characters, a by-the-numbers formulaic script, chintzy (not so) special effects, leering soft-core sex, and a groan-inducing surprise twist ending. A real cruddy hoot.

So 80's

[ladymidath · 6/10 · 11 November 2021]

Wow, this is bad, the only reason I am giving as high a rating as I am is that it's so much fun The acting is terrible, the camera work and cinematography are dreadful and the story loses coherence. But the kills are entertaining and I am loving the 80's clothes and hair. Not much plot, lots of obviously fake blood, and really nice-looking actors that all should have taken acting lessons. The scream from one of the women was a tiny eek that made me laugh. Make a big bowl of popcorn and settle back for a fun bad movie.

Boredomaniac

[Pretentious_crap · 2/10 · 12 November 2008]

The movie is full of ugly women who are supposed to be hot, and nudity scenes where there aren't any female full frontals, but hairy weasel man-ass. Some of the gore is okay; there's a few scenes where a dude or two suffers genital injuries during oral sex, but the camera cuts to the dudes facial expressions of pleasure then pain, and then the chick spitting blood. Also there's a scene where a characters head is decapitated by an electric drill.

The movie's about this wannabe satanist, who gives incantations to Satan while sitting at his bedside wearing his Def Leppard t-shirt, then dreams of this ugly chick who is supposed to be Satan incarnate, or a succubus. Later, this evil horse faced succubus crashes his girlfriend's-sister's lame sorority party of eight people. Most of the film the power is out.

Not in the least bit entertaining. Wash your dishes instead.

The VHS cover's a laugh though, it says that is was too gory for TV, that's why it went straight to video-- yeah, try to prop up that fragile ego of your's Mr. Filmmaker.

Not to be taken seriously. After all. it is a David Decoteau movie

[bfan83 · 3/10 · 10 January 2008]

Dreamaniac was David DeCoteau's first film, and it shows. But it's still entertaining. A quick summary of the plot involves a young, aspiring rock musician, and budding satanist. He conjures up a succubus during a ritual. His girlfriend (Kim McKamy), her sister, and her sisters' sorority sisters decide to have a party at his house, and the succubus begins to brutally slaughter the party goers, one at a time. Ultimately, it's up to Kim to save the day.

Yes, the film is very cheesy and the performances are god awful, with the exception of the gorgeous Kim McKamy, who knows how to react well in horror films. It also looks to be SOV, and given a "film look". Still, for all it's shortcomings, it's still a fun movie to watch. Especially with friends on a rainy night, when you have nothing else to do. The actress who plays the succubus, is so over the top! You'll be grabbing your sides, as they ache with laughter, as you watch her kill people and attempt to look threatening. Ah, David DeCoteau sure knows how to please his fans! This is another film that I got off eBay. It's rare, and very obscure. However, if you can track down another copy of it off ebay, and you like cheesy, tongue in cheek slashers, then give it a look. My rating 6/10.

"She *beep*s men and she kills them. Not always in that order."

[Hey_Sweden · 4/10 · 28 March 2017]

There's scarcely a story to write about here. But here goes: Adam (Thomas Bern) is a heavy metal musician and part time Satanist who conjures into being a lethal succubus (Sylvia Summers). She then proceeds to run amok at a party being thrown by Adams' girlfriend Pat (porn star Ashlyn Gere) and her sister.

It's a David DeCoteau movie, and savvy B movie watchers know to expect certain things from the DeCoteau oeuvre. It's really cheap, really crude, and really cheesy. The acting from the mostly no name cast is pretty insipid. Very attractive ladies and studly guys in various states of undress will serve to keep some interest for viewers. But, overall, this is a slog to get through. Some of DeCoteaus' stuff is at least so bad it's good, but this is often just plain bad. Even though it's only 83 minutes long, it drags like you wouldn't believe. Some people might be amused by the almost constant rock score.

Once bodies start dropping, this naturally becomes a little more tolerable. One good thing is that the final act features some entertainingly excessive gore. There aren't very many highlights, but there's one moment where a girl vomits on a couple in bed, and another where a dude drinks straight out of a punch bowl.

You have to be pretty patient to stick with this one.

Four out of 10.

A sub-par 'B' movie about a dream women come to life to kill.

[MrCheese-2 · 1/10 · 24 March 1999]

On the box this movie claims to be better than or comparable to tiles such as A Nightmare on Elm Street and Phantasm when in fact it is a terrible piece of garbage. The special effects leave much to be desired although it claimed to be to gory for the silver screen, and the story line was boring and uninteresting. With the calibre of talent in this flick it is not hard to see why one of the actresses went on to an extensive career in the adult film industry. Basically it is about this Heavy Metal part time Satanist guy who summons a succubus from his dreams. This succubus women comes to his girlfriends party and begins to kill people off where it all ends at the very dramatic climax where he must meet her in battle and end the kookyness. This movie is not even good enough to be classified as a cheesy movie.

Did whoever wrote the story line description actually watch the film?

[Aaron1375 · 3/10 · 4 February 2022]

Let me start by saying that the story line given here on IMDB is completely wrong. There is a heavy metal musician, there is a succubus; however there is no deal made to make the guy more successful with women. In fact, the dude has a hot girlfriend, I actually do not have a clue why he does what he does as the succubus is played by someone attractive, but not hot enough to be a succubus! I was actually going to give this thing a higher score too as I was wondering why the score was so low; granted, not super high, maybe a five, then then the ending hits and it is such a lame cop out ending I dropped my score two points because of it!

The story, well, it does not set things up very well as the movie seems to be in a rush to get started. Guy has dream of semi hot girl, scratches his back. He has a hot girlfriend who is better looking than the succubus and I see a fatal flaw with the movie. Girlfriend is having a college party so her sister can impress a sorority. Guy summons evil succubus and she turns up at the part where she just kind of kills slasher style and not very supernatural at all, though a couple of people seem to rise from the dead, but then the ending just baffles you and then a tacked on ending makes you want to punch the makers of the film...

The makers of the this film had something as I chuckled at a couple of the jokes, kind of enjoyed the way the film was going, but they obviously did not know how to end it. Also, a succubus has sex with men and if they kill the guy it is because they are draining them of their life, they are not knife wielding slashers!

So, improvements that could have helped, the lead guy should have been single as why would a guy with a girlfriend that was doing it with him even need a sexual demon! The succubus needed to be hotter, something hard to resist. The woman here was alright, but I sure would not fall under her trance and kill for her. Have a real ending, nothing sucks more than an ending like the one presented here. It had its moments, its gore, not quite enough female nudity for a movie about a succubus...but all in all it was also disappointing as that ending was one of the worst endings I have ever seen!

There's not much to see here.

[kevin_robbins · 3/10 · 8 July 2022]

Dreamaniac (1985) is a movie I recently came across on Tubi. The storyline follows a rock star who makes a deal with a succubus to be irresistible to women that she can do what she is wants with after he's done with them.

This movie is directed by David DeCoteau (Creepozoids) and stars Ashlyn Gere (Basic Instinct), Lauren Peterson (Transparent), Matthew Phelps (Nightmare Sisters) and Lisa Emery (Darlene from Ozark).

This is a classic low budget 80s film with below average cinematography and acting, mediocre kills and hilarious background thunderstorm sound effects. The ending is pretty good if you can make it that far. There is one drill scene that's worthwhile and contains solid gore elements; but other that that, there's not much to see here.

Overall this is a below average addition to the horror genre that I would score a 3/10 and recommend skipping.

Slow as Can Be

[benjithehunter · 3/10 · 18 January 2020]

Usually, I'm a big fan of David DeCoteau's cheesy brand of low budget horror. Most of his film appear to have been shot in a weekend (this is literally the case many times) with a typically mediocre cast of actors trying their best to bring a not-quite-there script to life. Dreamaniac features all of these things, but it's missing the trademark DeCoteau energy that makes his films so much fun. No one really feels like they want to be here and everything feels like it's going through the motions.

The plot (or what I could decipher of it) involves a college guy who has dreams of a creepy succubus. On the night of a party at his place, this dream girl appears out of the blue and no one has any idea who she is. Soon, she's murdering everyone in the house. There's also something about hash brownies that make some of the partygoers crazy.

Dreamaniac is a movie where things just happen for no reason whatsoever. There's no narrative flow at all and we never know a thing about most of the characters. Without the fast and furious pacing that most of these types of movies has, its flaws become much more prominent.

If you're into attractive men showing off their nude bubble butts, you're in luck. And how great is that artwork? How can any film live up to something that wonderful?

The Spotlight is on the Guys - Finally!

[michigindie · 10/10 · 19 October 2022]

I love this movie. It is drenched in '80s ambience and ephemera. I've seen it several times, and always found it an easy, fun watch. And oh, did I mention it's loaded with hot guys?

Admittedly, the script is nothing - but that can be said of dozens of films with legions of adoring fans. This is not a film you watch for great storytelling, but for the eye candy, the mood, the mindless humor and popcorn-munching fun of it. A handful of college teens hold a party in the house of a young man obsessed with witchery. While the party bombs, at least one party favor is a big hit - a murderous guest with a lethal taste in hazing!

While other teen sex comedies of the '80s (and beyond) drown the viewer in massive overdoses of estrogen, this is the ONE film that gives you some beefcake lusciousness to enjoy. There are five hot guys featured here, most of whom undress and/or get it on at some point in the film. Yeah!

After enduring scores of bimbo-obsessed exploitation films made during the '70s and '80s, it's so nice to finally have ONE alternative that gives us good looking men to drool over. My tongue was hanging out for half the film, and if you have a good eye for male pulchritude, yours will, also!

Has its ups and downs.

[PeterBradford · 6/10 · 10 August 2018]

The good stuff: First of all, this was shot on 16mm film, not "shot-on-video" as one reviewer said. It was released direct-to-video. In fact, it was probably one of the very early films to go straight to video back in the glory days of VHS. The actors look good. The lighting is effective. The not so good stuff: the characters are not engaging, and the pacing doesn't work. It's an 80s curio, and worth a look for that.

Very gory slasher made by David DeCoteau.

[HumanoidOfFlesh · 6/10 · 29 December 2002]

"Dreamaniac" is a typical 80's slasher directed by David DeCoteau("Nightmare Sisters","Witchouse").Another thing that ensues it's place in the history of horror is that the female lead is the lady who would go on to be known as Ashlyn Gere,one of the more attractive porn stars in recent years.The plot is simple:Adam,a heavy metal fan manages to summon Lily,a succubus.His girlfriend Pat talks him into letting her sister use his apartment to throw a party.When the party begins,the bloodbath ensues..."Dreamaniac" is pretty stupid,but there is plenty of gore...particularly the drill decapitation scene,lots of sex but little nudity and a lot of cheese.Don't expect too much and you won't be disappointed.My rating:6 out of 10.

Weak cast in cliched horror pic

[lor_ · 18 April 2023]

My review was written in January 1987 after watching the movie on Wizard video cassette.

"Dreamaniac" is a violent horror film in search of a better screenplay. Filmmaker David DeCoteau demonstrates the requisite atmospherics and ability at audience manipulation, but the material is uninvolving.

Thomas Bern portrays Adam, a Young writer living in a remote house who conjures up a succubus Lily (Sylvia Summers). When his girlfriend Pat (Kim McKamy) and her sister Jodi (Lauren Peterson) invite over a group of friends for a party, Lily starts killing them and eventually gets Adam under her murderous spell, causing him to go on a rampage as well.

Dotted with shock effects, picture relies on those hoary old melodrama standbys, opening with a nightmare wake-up sequence and disappointingly resolved with a rational explanation that destroys the fantasy element, followed by the corny, violent final twist. Cast is competent, but the Lily role required an exotic actress, perhaps in the British school of Caroline Munro or Martine Beswick, to work.

Feature was marketed by distributor Wizard Video in tandem with "The Headless Eyes" as films supposedly too gory for theatrical release. "Eyes" turns out to be an X-rated 1971 feature which did in fact play theatrically; "Dreamaniac" is a film shot in California in 1986 which has debuted on video cassette.