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.

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 was David DeCoteau's first film, and it shows. But it's still entertaining. A quick summary of the plot involves a young, aspiring rock musician, and budding satanist. He conjures up a succubus during a ritual. His girlfriend (Kim McKamy), her sister, and her sisters' sorority sisters decide to have a party at his house, and the succubus begins to brutally slaughter the party goers, one at a time. Ultimately, it's up to Kim to save the day.Yes, the film is very cheesy and the performances are god awful, with the exception of the gorgeous Kim McKamy, who knows how to react well in horror films. It also looks to be SOV, and given a "film look". Still, for all it's shortcomings, it's still a fun movie to watch. Especially with friends on a rainy night, when you have nothing else to do. The actress who plays the succubus, is so over the top! You'll be grabbing your sides, as they ache with laughter, as you watch her kill people and attempt to look threatening. Ah, David DeCoteau sure knows how to please his fans! This is another film that I got off eBay. It's rare, and very obscure. However, if you can track down another copy of it off ebay, and you like cheesy, tongue in cheek slashers, then give it a look. My rating 6/10.

It's common knowledge that a healthy percentage of the people working within the film industry of today began their career somewhere within the slasher genre. Whilst the gross majority went on to find fortune and fame beyond the realms of masked killers and screaming teens (George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Roger Spottiswoode etc), there are a few that seemed content to dwindle in the security of B-movie minor-budget rhapsody. Among those names are the likes of Fred Olen Ray, David A. Prior, Steve Jarvis, Linnea Quigley and perhaps most importantly, David DeCoteau. Dreamaniac is DeCoteau's first excursion into slasher land and although not particularly groundbreaking, it does have its fingers deep in a few trivia pies. It's mainly notable to cycle buffs for being one of an inexplicably select few of the 400 or so genre entries that mixes elements from giants Halloween and A Nightmare in Elm Street, without straying out of the stalk and slash guide book. Titles such as Playroom and the rancid The Oracle gave up their place in the cycle by edging too far into the realms of supernatural futility. Thankfully, Dreamaniac remains true enough to it's roots to stake a place in the ever-increasing catalogue of Halloween knock-offs.Dreamaniac centres on an archetypal gang of fun loving stereotypical period teens. Boasting a baby face that makes him look like an extra from The Sorcerer's Stone, protagonist Adam (Thomas Bern) shows his eighties credibility by spending most of the runtime sporting a Def Leppard t-shirt. Despite looking like butter wouldn't melt in his mouth, surprisingly Adam is a part time Satanist with a passion for black magic rituals. His bubble-haired girlfriend Pat (Kim McKamy) has no idea that her beau spends his spare time conjuring dark spirits from beyond the grave, and often she wonders why he spends so much time alone in his room. In an attempt to bring him out of his shell for a few hours, Pat has organised a huge party at her boyfriend's vacant abode. The guest list includes all the typical sure-fire body count ingredients, and before long they arrive and get the beer flowing. Unbeknownst to them, Adam has summoned a porn star-like succubus from another dimension and it goes without saying that she has arrived with a taste for blood. Before long the corpses begin to mount as the maniacal fiend begins seducing the male guests and then butchering them in various imaginative ways. Will anyone be able to stop the demon? Or will the rampage continue for the chance of a profit-escalating sequel?Somewhat surprisingly, after the inevitable Halloween-alike synthesiser score, DeCoteau does well not to turn Dreamaniac into a total clone of it's forefathers. There's enough originality in the Freddy/Michael Myers inspired conjunction to allow the movie to lift itself above the notorious "rip-off" status that has jinxed its brethren. Towards the film's finale the director chucks in zombies and various other supernatural gimmicks that add a touch of spice to the standard slasher template. When compared to the likes of Night Ripper from the same year, DeCoteau's effort offers much more in atmosphere and flair. Although the "too gory for the silver screen" boast from the hyperbole packaging is definitely a half-truth, there are one or two credibly handled splatter scenes. Tom Schwartz's power drill decapitation can rank among some of the neatest killings of the genre and the gruesome hand impalement that precedes it is also impressive.Despite the odd distinctive camera trick, there's very little here that would prove to be the stepping-stone for a long career in B-movie cinema for DeCoteau. In fact at times the movie fails to generate any kind of atmosphere at all. The constant homo-erotic references that would become a trademark for the director in later years of his career are excellent for the homosexual viewers. But to be honest they feel somewhat misplaced and unnecessary for everyone else. The slasher is a genre that has survived by sticking to the template of its forefathers and skillfully avoiding the potential catastrophe that is political correctness. As is the case with so many eighties slashers, the film's biggest flaw is the heinous work form the dramatis personae. In fact the level of performance is so dire that it adds strength to the case that the most intelligent member of the cast was the dead cat that was found mutilated 20 minutes in to the feature. Surprisingly enough there was a soon to be "star" amongst the cast of big haired but small brained hopefuls. It is perhaps ironic that young Kim McKamy would go to become a big name in the 'porn' industry. Thus adding further evidence to the level of dramatics that plagued Dreamaniac. The female bogeyman proves to be a real spine-chilling fiend. Even without theatrical make-up she brings to mind a young Kim Basinger after 6 weeks in a Detroit crack house. Scary huh? To be honest there's not much here to warrant hunting out a copy of Dreamaniac. It's standard slasher fare that fails to build on a promising basis. There are a lot better efforts floating around and I recommend only to slasher obsessives.