Dreamcatcher (2003, DVD)

It s Friday night so grab a blanket, turn off the lights and get ready to cuddle. I recently bought one of Blockbusters hottest new release a sci-fi thriller from director Lawrence Kasdan titled Dreamcatcher. I wanted to see Dreamcatcher when it was originally released after watching the trailers on TV. You ll have to go into this movie believing that everything is connected, every event, every action, and the statements made by all the characters.


The film is based on a Stephen King novel is a riveting tale of horror and scary sci-fi. Dreamcatcher revolves around four men who rescued a little boy by the name of Duddits from a group of bullies. Duddits was being taunted and teased because of his Down s Syndrome. After rescuing and befriending Duddits these four boys gain mystic psychic abilities allowing them to communicate with each other telepathically and due a few clairvoyant card tricks that Houdini would envy. There is a lot of foreshadowing so you ll have to pay close attention all through out the film, if you get up to get popcorn hit pause.


The scenery is wonderful reminding me of when I was stationed in Alaska. The four men have a weekend tradition of going to a cabin located in Maine. Naturally, this is a time for male bonding, hunting and salutes to their boyhood friend Duddits. Finally, we get a glimpse of the dream catcher hanging in the cozy cabin. The dream catcher s purpose was to catch the dreams that the night air is filled with, both good and bad moving freely in the night air. The good dreams go through the center while the bad dreams become entangled in the webbing eventually perishing in first light of the new day. Logically, the title sums up the movie.


The major cast and characters were Duddits (Donnie Wahlberg), Jonsey (Damian Lewis), Henry (Thomas Jane), Pete (Timothy Olyphant), and Beaver (Jason Lee). The supporting case included the ominous Col. Abraham Curtis (Morgan Freeman), and Lt. Owen (Tom Sizemore). The acting in the film is good. One of my favorite scenes is when Beaver's struggle to keep one of the man eating alien worms trapped inside a toilet by sitting on the lid as he reaches for a toothpick. As I stated earlier there is a lot of foreshadowing and unfortunately Beaver gets the point.


There are several things in the film that the view may have issues with. First the pacing in the beginning is lengthy and character development is sluggish. Initially you are biting your nails waiting for something to happen. It took forever to see a military helicopter with Col. Abraham and his elite unit of Army soldiers. Once the military and aliens come into play, Director Kasdan overloads the viewer with horrific scenes of shock and gore.


Second problematic point for me was, the film did not include one of the trailers that s been glued in my head for months. It s the trailer where the lead character who has been posed by an alien life form heads turns around. Unfortunately, I can t prove my point since the trailers have stopped running on TV a long time ago. I purchased the VHS video, primarily because it was a lot cheaper than the DVD. Perhaps the part where Jonsey s head twist is on the DVD?


Dreamcatcher is also rated R for lethal violence, profanity and graphic bloodiness. If you ve got a nervous stomach and you can t stand the site of blood, the scene where Jonesy and Beaver walk into their cabin only to discover the hunter they attempted to save bleeding all over the place may be too much. On the other side of the coin if you like a little gore in your space movies the graphics are cool.


What saves Dreamcatcher from being tossed into the proverbial scrap heap like another blood and guts alien movie is the fact that the primary story about friendship and survivability is strong enough to lure you into the plight of the main characters. True-blue Stephen King fans will enjoy this movie.


Finally, if you take Director John Boreman s 1972 movie Deliverance and mix it with Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet 1997s "Alien Resurrection" and you would come as close as you could to Dreamcatcher. Fortunately Director Kasdan spared us the dueling guitars and banjos duo from the movie Deliverance.