Dark Dreams (Vinegar Syndrome) Review

Distributor: Vinegar Syndrome Edition Details: Standard DVD Movie Specs: Genres: Classic, Feature Film, Horror Also known as: Inner Circle Run Time: 74 minutes Rated: X Release Year: 1971 Director: Roger Guermantes Written by: Canidia Ference Cast: Laura Cannon (as Kitty Cat), Patrice de Veur, June Dulu, Tom Lee, Harry Reems (as Tim Long), Alan Martin, Darby Lloyd Rains, Tina Russell (as Lina Russell), Storm Cloud, Suzy Mann (as Stella Worth), Yoryck Yezno, Arlana Blue Release Specs: Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono Subtitles: none Video: Full Frame, 1.33:1 Video Format: NTSC Format: DVD Regional Code (for DVD/Blu-ray): 0 (All) Number of discs: 1

Dark Dreams is a hardcore horror feature adult film from the reportedly husband and wife team of Roger Guermantes and Canidia Ference. Dark Dreams has a dream-based plot, which has uneven results in the adult film world. There are some excellent dream-based films, such as Lem and John Amero's Bacchanale, and there are others that don't work very well at all. Unfortunately, Dark Dreams is the latter category.

In Dark Dreams, Jack (Harry Reems) and Jill (Tina Russell) have just gotten married. On their way to the honeymoon, their car gets a flat tire in the middle of nowhere and they find that they are without a spare. They head to the only house they can see, which belongs to an old lady (Patrice de Veur) to use the phone. She offers them tea while they wait and start to have hallucinations of some strange sexual encounters.

Dark Dreams is an odd horror/adult hybrid film and there are numerous problems that drag Dark Dreams down as a film. The first is that come the time the entire film is over, the dream-based idea doesn't make much sense and while the film is being presented to the viewer, the dreams don't make much sense either. With a dream-based film, somehow tying everything together logically is rather important. Once the hallucinations start, the film becomes essentially an all sex film that is devoid of dialog except for one brief sequence that tries to explain the film to the viewer. Despite the presence of a very good cast, the sex scenes are often not that erotic.

The film is poorly assembled as well. The film opens with shots of Patrice de Veur creating a potion with a three-minute narration on magic. The entire opening seems out of place, even by the time the viewer has come to the end of the film, this opening just feels like something added to try and pad the runtime of the film. The film is oddly edited with hardcore inserts stuck into places of the film that literally make no sense at all. This seems like an attempt to bring some hardcore sex to beginning of the film from the end of the film to balance out the sex, however, it honestly doesn't work in the film's favor. The editing in the film is often choppy and feels very erratically assembled.

The shots used in the film aren't always the greatest either. The film appears to have been shot with one stationary camera that hasn't always been well placed resulting in some very poorly shot sequences within the film. Dark Dreams does have a well-done score and some great sound effects that give a chilling feel to the film.

Overall, Dark Dreams is a very hard film to recommend to anyone. While the idea behind the film is intriguing, there are too many problems with the film to make it worth watching. The story is lacking, the editing seems haphazard, and the sex scenes aren't thrilling.

Vinegar Syndrome has done a great job with their DVD release of Dark Dreams. Dark Dreams was shot on film and Vinegar Syndrome has used a 2K scan of the 35mm negative for their release. Dark Dreams is presented in the Academy aspect ratio of 1.33:1 in 480p. The presentation of the film looks absolutely beautiful on Vinegar Syndrome's release. There are the expected artifacts, print damage, and grain present. The colors in the film look beautiful. As is standard with Vinegar Syndrome's releases, Dark Dreams looks absolutely beautiful.

Dark Dreams is presented with an English Dolby Digital 1.0 monaural audio track. There are some pops and crackles present throughout the film presentation. The dialog in the film is clear and easy to understand and the film sounds good.

The only extra on the release is the theatrical trailer.

Vinegar Syndrome has done an absolutely stunning job with their DVD release of Roger Guermantes 1971 film Dark Dreams. Unfortunately, the film, itself, isn't that good. Dark Dreams is a horror/adult feature film hybrid which is a dream-based film. Even when the viewer reaches the end of the film, the plot makes little sense and the film is very erratically edited with some less than erotic sex scenes. Dark Dreams looks absolutely beautiful on this release, however, the film itself is impossible to recommend.

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