DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: HARLEY COKELISS / STARRING: JEMMA REDGRAVE, KATHLEEN WILHOITE, TIMOTHY SPALL / RELEASE DATE: 22ND JUNE
Arrow Films continue to rediscover should-be cult classics with their remastered release of Harley Cokeliss’ gorgeously gothic and latently queer horror, Dream Demon. Originally conceived as a British riff on A Nightmare on Elm Street, the film follows Diana (an incredible debut performance from Jemma Redgrave, AKA Doctor Who‘s Kate Stewart), a young bride-to-be whose horrifying nightmares appear to be merging with reality.
The film itself thankfully shares little with A Nightmare on Elm Street. It’s entirely its own beast. The fusion of almost avant garde dream sequences with the Hammer-infused writing of Christopher Wicking (Cry of the Banshee, To the Devil a Daughter) gives Dream Demon a disarmingly familiar feel. It looks like the kind of film Hammer would have put out in the 70s, but with the bite of 80s ingenuity.
Cokeliss’ film feels more in line with Barker’s original Hellraiser, in that it’s a classic but graphic British gothic experience. Dream Demon’s horror comes from exposure, sexuality and the collapse of boundaries between affluent suburbs, London townhouses and upper-class social mechanics; a young woman subconsciously terrified of her rich war hero partner, and their upcoming dive into an upper-class celebrity life. It’s a film which surprisingly makes no mystery of its particular – and perhaps controversial – inspirations.
Jemma Redgrave’s young bride is blatantly based on Princess Diana. From predatory press (played to perfection by Timothy Spall and Jimmy Nail) to Falklands hero fiancé (Mark Greenstreet), Cokeliss and crew paint a portrait of a fairytale life haunted by gaslighting, isolation and invasion of privacy.
Queue the arrival of Jenny (Kathleen Wilhoite) a young punk from LA who lands on Diana’s doorstep just as things get overwhelming. The two strike up a quick and intense friendship as they try to help each other navigate what’s going on. Jenny is desperate to discover her childhood connection to Diana’s ominous townhouse, while Diana tries to survive feelings of intimidation and horror towards her soon-to-be-husband. It’s hard not to see a queer reading of Dream Demon – the film is symbolically and overtly coded for just that. In one of the superb new interview extras, Redgrave herself admits she views it as a queer romance. That makes the film even more important as a late-80s gay horror, especially when there are so few sincere and non-exploiting lesbian characters in cinema.
A horror examination of Princess Diana or English pulp cashing in on zeitgeist? Either way, it’s hard to see why Dream Demon isn’t a more prevalent title in horror circles. The dream logic, reality bending, queer reading and sense of gothic it brings to affluent English suburbs make a unique curio. Arrow’s restoration is gorgeous and, with a host of revealing new interviews, well worth seeking out.
