PLOT: At an underground rave, a group of friends gets put in an impossible situation when the headliner (DJ Dreamcatcher) becomes involved with the suspicious suicide of their friend. Not to mention someone’s running around wearing the DJ’s signature mask murdering folks like it’s nobody’s business.
LOWDOWN: Dreamcatcher (WATCH IT HERE) opens in a place that looks like its sole purpose is to dismantle bodies in a sex trafficking ring. Yet a low PR rep is handling business for her client, and picking up an envelope of cash, for some reason, is the most suspicious location ever. To no one’s surprise, she’s dispatched rather quickly in a gruesome and effective kill by the movie’s masked killer. A decent start that shows off the type of gore we should expect with an interesting choice in garb. I was cautiously optimistic about where Dreamcatcher would go and if this could help elevate the rut slashers have been in as of late. Don’t @ me either; you know what I mean. So let us dig into this and see if it is worth a Jack and Coke Friday night viewing. Oh, and minor spoilers ahead.
Platonic friends Pierce (Niki Koss) and Jake (Zachary Gordon) are hanging out watching scary movies when Pierce’s sister Ivy (Elizabeth Posey) and boyfriend show up with surprise tickets to some sold-out rave with the “hottest” Dj. After a solid start, things started becoming worrisome once we get to the rave, where the first red flag appears. Things become very dialogue-heavy, and though I’m all for a talky type of movie, I’m a bit more suspicious when it comes in the form of a slasher. With monologues that go on forever that don’t do much in developing the characters, it just makes you realize that the movie thinks it’s smarter than it actually is. After being seduced by Dylan, the DJ (Travis Burns), Pierce ODs while on a “spirit quest,” and here friends and family are too late to help.
So then Dylan’s agent Josephine (Adrienne Wilkinson) comes in like Winston ‘The Wolf’ Wolf, blackmails everyone, and cleans sh*t up real quick. Now with a plot twist like this, plus a masked madman on the loose, you’d hope that things would level-up and peak with a body count for the ages, but you know what? This ends up being surprisingly tame. Pierce’s death is meant to be the catalyst for the story, yet it stalls, and we just hang out for the majority of the movie. Dreamcatcher is two different stories awkwardly fused to make what I assume is the Gen Z answer to Scream, only without the magic, charm, or heart of the slasher revival.
Besides the occasional kill, which never lives up to the opening scene, we just watch them hanging out while seemingly not too troubled by the crazy situation they are in. It’s more of a mild inconvenience, I guess? I like Niki Koss as Pierce, who seems to have a lot of fun with the crude and honest female lead, but everyone else just rambles on about life, their feelings, and past trauma. Not that I’m against the idea of discussing one’s feelings or working through societal aggressions in the story of my movie, but not a f*cking slasher. Give me some kills and someone to root for, please. As I mentioned earlier, this seems to have a strong Scream influence, yet in Dreamcatcher, Gen Z wit is valued over a decent body count or any semblance of tension.
The movie is beautiful looking and has a great color scheme. Director Jacob Johnston has a keen eye, and look-wise, nothing is flat or dull. He’s a visual development producer, and so he does bring his A-game in that department. Acting-wise, I think everyone did a fine job with the evil and manipulative agent providing some over-the-top entertainment. Adrienne Wilkinson spent the movie chewing scenery and was my rock throughout this tedious experience. Dylan, aka DJ Dreamcatcher, was good as the hunky Aussie that may be involved in the killings ( or is he?) Yet, everything comes to a halt by banter that drags on and on.
GORE: We get a great head smash and a few stabbings, but Dreamcatcher is surprisingly tame in the kill department.
BOTTOM LINE: I may have genuinely aged out of the market that Dreamcatcher aims for. This could be an accurate and creative representation of the younger generation and the types of movies they enjoy. I hope not, but only time will tell. If you like the Electronic music scene and Gen Z dialogue, this may be the slasher for you. But in my case, I’ll stick to Nick Cave and the Hatchet series to get my fill.
DREAMCATCHER is available On Digital and VOD March 5, 2021.