Blu-ray Movie Reviews

The President of the United States is about to be assassinated in a dream where there is no morning after. Only one man can save him - a man who must plunge himself into the President's horrendous nightmare. Dennis Quaid stars as Alex Gardner, a psychically gifted young man recruited to help Dr. Paul Novotny and the beautiful Dr. Jane DeVries in an experiment to help patients disturbed by menacing nocturnal illusions. But corrupt high-ranking government official Bob Blair has darker plans for Alex's unusual powers. Soon Alex is propelled inside the President's nightmare, a frightening wasteland of nuclear holocaust, and locked in a fantastic battle that could only happen in a dream.

It’s been years since I’ve seen this one. I loved it as a kid, but it is definitely showing its age. It was surprising seeing just how many familiar faces made up the cast here and cringing to see the special effects now. To think, this one was a little startling when I was young!!

This is one of the worst Blu-ray transfers I’ve seen. The source print looks like it was found in the back of some art house theater and scanned as is. Film wear and tear is evident throughout and quite distracting. Nicks and cuts everywhere on this one. The special effects don’t help either with their bizarre colors and cringe inducing artifacts. The soundtrack doesn’t fare much better. Dynamics are quite limited and the mix has a bright and glaring quality. The surround mixing isn’t too bad, but the effort doesn’t overcome all the other obstacles.

Extras include a feature commentary and a look at the special effects of the film that were obviously a highlight back in their day.

I don’t even think I can recommend this one for fans of the film. The A/V presentation is pretty bad and I’m sure it wouldn’t be much better than the previous DVD release (or VHS for that matter). Too bad as this does have quite the cult following.