Great Moments in Bad Movies

In my mind, there has never been a movie that promised so much in its opening few minutes and delivered so little for the rest of its running time than Neil Jordan’s In Dreams. The film devolves into an unintentionally humorous thriller about a woman who is able to tap into the dreams and thoughts of a child killer. But for the first three minutes, it seems as though In Dreams could very easily be a masterpiece.

As water creeps down a dark hallway, a short introduction explains:

“In 1965 the town of Northfield was evacuated to create the Northfield Reservoir. Two billion gallons of water flooded the empty streets, obliterating all memory of the lives once lived there, leaving a drowned ghost town.”

Beneath the text, the deserted buildings of Northfield become submerged. Water crashes through a church window, darkness follows, and an ethereal blue void fills the screen.

A haunting choral melody (Elizabeth Fraser’s Dream Baby) starts to play as two lights from scuba divers slowly start to explore the present day underwater town.

As the song builds, the images become more and more darkly beautiful; lights passing over long forgotten place settings, divers swimming through graveyards, fish flying past church pews.

It’s a striking sequence founded on a brilliant visual concept. With this scene Neil Jordan instantly creates a macabre, otherworldly atmosphere that provides hints of the gruesome story to follow.

Unfortunately, the atmosphere is almost instantly destroyed by the following scene which has some very stilted dialogue between Annette Bening and her daughter. And the movie goes downhill from there…

But for three amazing minutes In Dreams creates an excitement that few films ever capture. Because of these moments, I sat through the rest of the movie forgiving horrible moments (frantic apple destruction) in the hope that Neil Jordan could reign in the wackiness and find an ending that matched the beginning. It doesn’t happen.

Once In Dreams reaches dry land tune out, but while its underwater enjoy.