User reviews

A heavy-metal musician (Thomas Bern, in his only role) makes a deal with a satanic succubus (Sylvia Summers) to make him successful with women, in return for the succubus being able to feed on the girls.

Before David DeCouteau was making low-budget homo-erotic films, he was making low-budget fodder for Charlie Band's Empire Pictures. While Empire made some good films (the work of Stuart Gordon), it made plenty of bad ones (such as DeCouteau's work). This film is a prime example of 1980s DeCouteau.

We start out with a very long credit sequence, each name lingering on a black screen. And then we go into a dream sequence with a naked man in a hallway. For a film that runs only 82 minutes, the time tends to go rather slowly. The script could not have added one additional scene or something to make this either longer or to have at least sped up the pace of the 82 minutes?

Another reviewer found it funny that the "heavy metal" guy wears a Def Leppard t-shirt and has posters for Poison and the Dead Kennedys. I would not find that strange normally, but it does seem odd for someone into devil worship -- more appropriate bands might be Venom, Bathory, Hellhammer and Celtic Frost. The film's score also has no relation to this dark or metal claim. There is some dreamlike quality, I admit, but composer Don Great (who also did "Breeders") might have added a bit more edge. Okay, a lot more edge.

Really pretty boring shot-on-video horror movie ("too gory for the silver screen" boasts the distributor on the video box). A guy into heavy metal has dreams about a succubus, and he tries some kind of rituals to summon her. His sister has a party in their house, and a bunch of poorly differentiated characters arrive, and have a pretty lame party. The succubus kills people, and nobody seems to notice for a while.

Except for a few exterior shots of the house, I think the entire movie took place inside the main characters' house. The deaths were generally not terribly gory or interesting, except for a death by a power drill towards the end which was pretty well done. Apart from that, you have a bunch of actors who for the most part haven't acted in anything else. Despite some female nudity early on in the movie, and that all the characters are heterosexual, this movie does seem aimed at a gay male audience. There are lots of shots of guys with their shirts off, guys wearing nothing but white jockey shorts, guys completely baring their posteriors....

I would definitely recommend people not waste their time with this movie. Exceptions might be made for people who can be very forgiving of low-budget horror movies' limitations, aren't looking for anything original, have a soft spot for the 1980s, or really like director David DeCoteau's work.

Towards the end, there's a piece of paper on which is typed "SUCCUBUS" but part of the word is unreadable, so only "SUC" can be read. That about sums it up.

Dreamaniac may have the longest opening credits in horror movie history. Sadly, that's about the only thing it brings to the genre.

Adam is a musician who dabbles in the dark arts. He's supposed to be "heavy metal," I suppose, but he wears a Def Leppard shirt and has posters on his bedroom wall for both Jello Biafra and Poison, so who knows. One night while playing with his book of spells, he conjures a succubus named Lily who just happens to crash a party thrown by Adam's girlfriend's sister. There's lots of softcore sex, lingering shots of the bodies of the mostly unattractive males in the cast, very little blood and no reason for anyone to watch. I'm not even going to mention the stupid ending. Avoid.

The first annoying thing you immediately notice about "Dreamaniac" are its unimaginably overlong opening credits. Why is it necessary to singularly display the names of all the lousy people that were co-responsible for this piece of crap? Guided by such horrible music, to boot! The second annoying thing you notice is that writer/director David DeCouteau's alarming obsession with naked male butts and tidy white underpants was already there in the beginning of his career during the 1980's .The third thing you notice – and sadly this feeling remains throughout the entire running time – is that "Dreamaniac" is an unendurably terrible and pathetic flick without any redeeming qualities whatsoever. Under the command of trash-emperor Charles Band, DeCouteau brings the dull tale of a heavy metal fanatic (apparently they looked like complete dorks back in the eighties) who summons a succubus because he's horny and can't control his hormones. This female demon goes on slaughtering a whole bunch of ugly and dim-witted frat boys and frat girls; guests at the sorority party thrown in the metal fanatic's house by his girlfriend and her sister. The plot sounds basic and straightforward enough to potentially have become an unpretentious 80's slasher, but DeCouteau and his crew even managed to ruin that. It's boring as hell, the characters are all insupportable idiots, the cheap & cheesy make-up effects are laughable instead of unsettling and the disco-soundtrack is downright infuriating. I mean, they could have at least put a couple of satanic metal bands on the soundtrack? In short, this is one of the lousiest horror flicks of the 1980's and that means A LOT, so avoid like the plague.

Hey, all of you serious(?, well indeeed you take yourselves very seriously, writing paragraphs over paragraphs over a Z movie. Really get a life) reviewers, you don't get it . Of course, this is Z movie. But look at the budget, $60,000 dollars and done by a 24 year old guy. If you think you will find Bergman or Ford, you're out of your head, but imagination, yes, you will find that. Acting is non existent, but it comes with the style and budget, So just enjoy being surprised, maybe have a laugh or two, and you may quite enjoy it. But, if you think you are the best thing since sliced bread, write a smart ass review and pretend it does not exist.

Dreamaniac was only my second viewing from the oeuvre of gay horror notable David DeCoteau, unless there are others that I've forgotten about. The first by the way was Puppetmaster 3: Toulon's Revenge, which is pretty great fun in the way that only a film with living puppets against Nazi's can be. This one though, sadly not so good. The film centres on a party gatecrashed by a kill happy succubus, but while there is a fair measure of potential interest in such a scenario the film opts for pretty much a generic slasher approach, livened in the final block by the introduction of zombies into the mix. Things kick off with mixed signals, a tilted camera watches a naked man walk down a pink lit hallway into a shower where he meets a bloody naked lass who sets about some brief clawing. Its intriguing enough, and the brief shot of bloody boobs is a definite plus, but on the other hand it does set up the films cheese, rampant 80's-ness and interest in male flesh. The film gets quickly into the party which occupies the rest of the runtime and here starts to sink into a disinterested fug of not all that much worth. We get plenty of horny youngsters, liberal doses of bitchy lines, unsatisfying sex and occasional killing, the killing steadily ramping up in regularity as things go on. The sex is unsatisfactory on two fronts, for one it's often interrupted either by other party goers or death, and for seconds we see a good deal of bare male chests, guys in just their pants and so on but no tits and ass or even male genitals. Wangs on display aren't even my kettle of piranhas but they might have given the scenes a bit more of an impact. Probably the most notable example of visual man love is an electrocution in which the camera gazes up at a guys tight Y-fronts as he expires, not really my kettle of fish like I said but it did make me chuckle. As far as the slaughter goes, there's more light blood spray than there is gore, though there are maybe two or three nice cheap gore shots in the last half hour including inspired use of a drill. This isn't the sort of film where any viewers are likely to be bothered about acting, characterisation and whatnot, but probably worth mentioning that Sylvia Summers (who?) does a nice enough job as the murderous demon, very much an 80's looking gal with trashy appeal and a suitably compelling lowbrow presence. Also, the female lead is played by Ashlyn Gere (credited as Kim McKamy), who went on to a successful porno career and also starred in another junky late 80's horror, the backwoods cannibal joint Lunch Meat. As well as being a fine looking lass she also contributes probably the best performance of the cast and it seems almost a shame that she departed the realms of genre cinema, but then I've never seen any of her adult work so it may well be inspiring stuff. Finally, the end of this one is pretty much nonsensical, somewhere between a giggle and a face-palm, people who dig idiotic endings will likely get a smile or two out of it. Altogether, this ain't really worth watching unless you absolutely have to see every crappy 80's horror out there or you really dig DeCoteau films. Still, its far from the worst out there, definitely better than a poke in the eye with a wet stick. See it if you must, but leagues away from essential.

"Dreamaniac" is apparently the first non-pornographic movie David DeCoteau made. Unfortunately he had certainly not found his feet as a director of mainstream films when he made it. The movie is stylistically indistinguishable from porn: filmed claustrophobically in only one location, poorly shot apparently on video with badly lit scenes, and even the dialogue is badly recorded like in a porn flick, either mumbled and hard to make out because it was recorded on scene, or much too loud and ear-jarring because it was obviously re-done in post-production.

We only know it's not a porno because it doesn't feature actual sex. It seems like DeCoteau decided to use the location and crew from one of his porno flicks to try and see if he could make a feature film. It's as though after the cast/crew from his previous "New Wave Hustlers" or "Boys Just Want to Have Sex" had gone home, DeCoteau called up some friends in the night and asked them to come over to make his dream of mainstream film direction a reality.

This is not to say that the movie doesn't have any sex. It has so many sex scenes it could almost be softcore porn, except for the fact that there's no attempt at eroticism, and no female nudity. That's right: it's a low-budget slasher without boobs. All the nudity is male: bare butts, and of course DeCoteau using the opportunity to indulge his tighty-whitie fetish. You can barely see any nudity anyway, because the movie looks like it was filmed through mud and shot exclusively at night with barely any lighting. In one scene, characters were supposed to be having sex, but then I realised the actress was still fully clothed.

The plot is allegedly about a heavy metal musician who summons a succubus with some candles and spooky words and she helps him get girls so she can kill them. This plot sounds like b-movie gold, but the movie doesn't bring it to life. The guy seems to have a girlfriend, so apparently he doesn't even need any supernatural assistance in getting female attention. Obviously they should have made him a clueless yet charming dork, desperate for love, so that we could understand his motivations and maybe root for him, and also understand the movie itself. Instead the whole thing is really distancing.

When the succubus or whatever she's supposed to be starts killing people, it's typical low-budget, shot-on-video slasher movie fare, with extreme close ups of the victim's faces with blood sprays to hide the lack of any real gore effects. But get this: half way through the movie we see someone getting stabbed in the eye in a close-up. Did they spend all of the movie's $500-or-so budget on that one shot?

Nah. There's actually a couple more gore shots toward the end, with a drill bit going through a guy's hand, and a late-term decapitation. Then there's some attempt at a twist ending that no one ever would have seen because no one possibly could have been paying attention by that time. I know I wasn't. This movie taxed me. I'm glad it's over.

I was going to watch more David DeCoteau but now I don't know if I have the endurance for it. This was a horror movie but its only sense of tension was gained from the fact that it being entirely shot on video in a house made me feel like I was stuck in the house with the people in the movie. Like I, too, was having to take part in making this garbage. Nightmare fuel.

Wow, this is bad, the only reason I am giving as high a rating as I am is that it's so much fun The acting is terrible, the camera work and cinematography are dreadful and the story loses coherence. But the kills are entertaining and I am loving the 80's clothes and hair. Not much plot, lots of obviously fake blood, and really nice-looking actors that all should have taken acting lessons. The scream from one of the women was a tiny eek that made me laugh. Make a big bowl of popcorn and settle back for a fun bad movie.

There's scarcely a story to write about here. But here goes: Adam (Thomas Bern) is a heavy metal musician and part time Satanist who conjures into being a lethal succubus (Sylvia Summers). She then proceeds to run amok at a party being thrown by Adams' girlfriend Pat (porn star Ashlyn Gere) and her sister.

It's a David DeCoteau movie, and savvy B movie watchers know to expect certain things from the DeCoteau oeuvre. It's really cheap, really crude, and really cheesy. The acting from the mostly no name cast is pretty insipid. Very attractive ladies and studly guys in various states of undress will serve to keep some interest for viewers. But, overall, this is a slog to get through. Some of DeCoteaus' stuff is at least so bad it's good, but this is often just plain bad. Even though it's only 83 minutes long, it drags like you wouldn't believe. Some people might be amused by the almost constant rock score.

Once bodies start dropping, this naturally becomes a little more tolerable. One good thing is that the final act features some entertainingly excessive gore. There aren't very many highlights, but there's one moment where a girl vomits on a couple in bed, and another where a dude drinks straight out of a punch bowl.

You have to be pretty patient to stick with this one.

Four out of 10.

On the box this movie claims to be better than or comparable to tiles such as A Nightmare on Elm Street and Phantasm when in fact it is a terrible piece of garbage. The special effects leave much to be desired although it claimed to be to gory for the silver screen, and the story line was boring and uninteresting. With the calibre of talent in this flick it is not hard to see why one of the actresses went on to an extensive career in the adult film industry. Basically it is about this Heavy Metal part time Satanist guy who summons a succubus from his dreams. This succubus women comes to his girlfriends party and begins to kill people off where it all ends at the very dramatic climax where he must meet her in battle and end the kookyness. This movie is not even good enough to be classified as a cheesy movie.

Dreamaniac (1985) is a movie I recently came across on Tubi. The storyline follows a rock star who makes a deal with a succubus to be irresistible to women that she can do what she is wants with after he's done with them.

This movie is directed by David DeCoteau (Creepozoids) and stars Ashlyn Gere (Basic Instinct), Lauren Peterson (Transparent), Matthew Phelps (Nightmare Sisters) and Lisa Emery (Darlene from Ozark).

This is a classic low budget 80s film with below average cinematography and acting, mediocre kills and hilarious background thunderstorm sound effects. The ending is pretty good if you can make it that far. There is one drill scene that's worthwhile and contains solid gore elements; but other that that, there's not much to see here.

Overall this is a below average addition to the horror genre that I would score a 3/10 and recommend skipping.

Usually, I'm a big fan of David DeCoteau's cheesy brand of low budget horror. Most of his film appear to have been shot in a weekend (this is literally the case many times) with a typically mediocre cast of actors trying their best to bring a not-quite-there script to life. Dreamaniac features all of these things, but it's missing the trademark DeCoteau energy that makes his films so much fun. No one really feels like they want to be here and everything feels like it's going through the motions.

The plot (or what I could decipher of it) involves a college guy who has dreams of a creepy succubus. On the night of a party at his place, this dream girl appears out of the blue and no one has any idea who she is. Soon, she's murdering everyone in the house. There's also something about hash brownies that make some of the partygoers crazy.

Dreamaniac is a movie where things just happen for no reason whatsoever. There's no narrative flow at all and we never know a thing about most of the characters. Without the fast and furious pacing that most of these types of movies has, its flaws become much more prominent.

If you're into attractive men showing off their nude bubble butts, you're in luck. And how great is that artwork? How can any film live up to something that wonderful?

A college-age musician/writer rents a house to get some work done, but his girlfriend insists on throwing a sorority party with guest frat boys. Things go awry, however, when a succubus crashes the party.

"Dreamaniac" (1986) was the director's first real film and originally called "Succubus," but this changed after the success of "A Nightmare on Elm Street," which explains the tagline: 'You don't have to live on Elm Street to have a nightmare.' While it opens with a dark dream and there are surreal moments reminiscent of that popular film & franchise, it's at heart a cabin-in-the-woods slasher with the variation of a succubus as the antagonist.

The problem is that it's too one-note. The entire movie takes place in this house, mostly at night, which can be explained by the budget of $60,000 (equivalent to $176,000 today, factoring inflation). In other words, the production didn't have the funds for multiple locations. So, the events in the house had better be interesting enough to maintain the viewer's interest, but that's hardly the case.

The 80's ambiance is great, though, and the gore's well done, if that's your thang. Plus, there are several good-lookin' females, such as Kim McKamy as Pat (aka Ashlyn Gere), Sylvia Summers as Lily and Linda Watts as Jan (aka Linda Denise Martin), not to mention a couple of amusingly obnoxious ones, like Cynthia Crass as Francis. But the flick's strapped with too much male nudity (which is unsurprising given the director's orientation). The few positives simply aren't enough to make it worth the time. Speaking of which...

It runs 1 hour, 22 minutes, and was shot in Los Angeles.

GRADE: C-/D+

I love this movie. It is drenched in '80s ambience and ephemera. I've seen it several times, and always found it an easy, fun watch. And oh, did I mention it's loaded with hot guys?

Admittedly, the script is nothing - but that can be said of dozens of films with legions of adoring fans. This is not a film you watch for great storytelling, but for the eye candy, the mood, the mindless humor and popcorn-munching fun of it. A handful of college teens hold a party in the house of a young man obsessed with witchery. While the party bombs, at least one party favor is a big hit - a murderous guest with a lethal taste in hazing!

While other teen sex comedies of the '80s (and beyond) drown the viewer in massive overdoses of estrogen, this is the ONE film that gives you some beefcake lusciousness to enjoy. There are five hot guys featured here, most of whom undress and/or get it on at some point in the film. Yeah!

After enduring scores of bimbo-obsessed exploitation films made during the '70s and '80s, it's so nice to finally have ONE alternative that gives us good looking men to drool over. My tongue was hanging out for half the film, and if you have a good eye for male pulchritude, yours will, also!

The good stuff: First of all, this was shot on 16mm film, not "shot-on-video" as one reviewer said. It was released direct-to-video. In fact, it was probably one of the very early films to go straight to video back in the glory days of VHS. The actors look good. The lighting is effective. The not so good stuff: the characters are not engaging, and the pacing doesn't work. It's an 80s curio, and worth a look for that.

"Dreamaniac" is a typical 80's slasher directed by David DeCoteau("Nightmare Sisters","Witchouse").Another thing that ensues it's place in the history of horror is that the female lead is the lady who would go on to be known as Ashlyn Gere,one of the more attractive porn stars in recent years.The plot is simple:Adam,a heavy metal fan manages to summon Lily,a succubus.His girlfriend Pat talks him into letting her sister use his apartment to throw a party.When the party begins,the bloodbath ensues..."Dreamaniac" is pretty stupid,but there is plenty of gore...particularly the drill decapitation scene,lots of sex but little nudity and a lot of cheese.Don't expect too much and you won't be disappointed.My rating:6 out of 10.