Bad Dreams (2006)

Written and directed by Anneli Gelbard and Fansu Njie
Featuring: Eric Ericson, Saga Garde, Lars G. Svensson
2006/25 minutes/Sweden
www.yycinema.com

Theo has been having nightmares his whole life. So he agrees to be part of an experiment conducted by a drug manufacturer studying the effects of a new sleep aid that alleves nightmares. The drug is experimental, but the doctors assure Theo and his girlfriend Monika that they have nothing to fear; the test is entirely safe. They're lying, because what happens next to Theo's consciousness is horrifying; he can no longer tell the difference between dreaming and being awake, and he may never be able to again.

Swedish language with English subtitles, Bad Dreams explores the universal theme of nightmares in horror films. Unlike the tacky Nightmare on Elm Street Series, Bad Dreams more closely resembles mind-bending cinema like Fight Club and The Butterfly Effect; you never know what's real and what's only in Theo's head. And neither does Theo. From the minute he steps into the laboratory, and is prodded and poked by cold doctors in pristine lab coats, he's just not feeling himself. Plagued by nightmares on a regular basis, at first Theo can't tell that he's suffering from anything but a regular bad dream. But soon he notices he wakes up, falls asleep, and wakes up again when he thought he was already awake, and falls asleep when he thought he was already dreaming. Sometimes he hears Monika screaming his name, sometimes he sees her in front of him at the same time. He no longer knows if both Monikas are real, or both are part of his dream. At some point, I think he begins to doubt (I know I did) whether Monika ever existed in reality at all.

Not ignoring modern psychology, Gelbard and Njie explore Theo's nightmares as a child, and the way his mother handled his fears. In subtle flashbacks that are sharp and traumatic, we see little Theo suffering much the same way he does as an adult; crippled by fear of death, of darkness, of the death of a loved one. The abstract nature of his dreams makes these fears harder to see in the imagery of his dreams when Theo is undergoing the experiment, but its there in the guise of mourners at a funeral in the harsh Swedish winter, and a blackness so pitch that the glow of a cigarette lighter barely illuminates Theo's hand.

Anyone who's had a bad acid trip can sympathize with not knowing the difference between reality and hallucinations, but someone like Theo is suffering from something far worse. Most of us know that when we wake up, our nightmares will be over. Most of us know if we sleep it off, our bad trip will go away. But Theo's nightmares are so vivid and so complete that they become his only awareness.

Much smarter and more entertaining than any crappy Hollywood horror remake that's come out in the past year, Bad Dreams takes a culturally new approach to horror and stays away from anything that might cheapen the experience. That is; no bad jokes, no cliche characters, no predictable moments, no half-naked women with no lines, and no bad cat-scares. Bad Dreams is a really terrifying movie, and I don't suggest watching it unless you want your head seriously fucked with. Definitely on par with modern Japanese and Korean ghost stories and the best American 'Fuck with your head' art films of the 1970's and 80's like those of Lynch and Cronenberg, it's awesomely good at making the viewer feel helpless and lost.

An eerie and understated score by the Gothenburg Chamber Soloists always adds to the feeling of being spellbound, as does the clever cinematography and consistently weighty lighting. It's rare that the glare of the sun in a film actually hurts the viewer's eye as it hurts the character's eyes, but in Bad Dreams, it happens and it's completely natural.