Dream Eater Review

The first movie from Eli Roth’s new production studio, The Horror Section, was Jimmy and Stiggs, a jaw dropping descent into goopy, neon madness. It was a perfect midnight movie that nonetheless played the multiplex. That was all it took to convince me that seeking out the studio’s films moving forward would be worthwhile. Roth himself has a couple lined up, and with titles like Ice Cream Man and Don’t Go In That House, Bitch!, they’re certain to be more akin to Thanksgiving than last year’s calamitous Borderlands.

In the meantime, they’re tiding us over with a few releases from smaller filmmakers. Enter Dream Eater, from directors Alex Lee Williams, Mallory Drumm, and Jay Drakulic. Williams and Drumm co-star as Alex and Mallory, a couple who travel to a remote, snowy cabin with the idea that a week-long change of scenery may help Alex’s increasingly disturbing and violent sleepwalking problem (Drakulic also has a small role as a TV presenter). As one would expect given that you’re watching a horror film, this just makes it worse. He sits up in the middle of the night muttering nigh indecipherable gibberish, runs out into the snow barefoot, and returns hours later with black…stuff on his hands and clothing, either confused about what happened, or adamant that nothing has.

Alex’s doctor wants Mallory, a documentarian looking for her next project, to film him at all times so they can track his progression. As such, Dream Eater is primarily a found footage film, although there are a bunch of jarring usages of security camera footage (complete with painfully fake scanlines), and even a few traditional establishing shots. When Mallory hops on a Zoom call, it momentarily becomes a screenlife, although the windows jump around and resize across shots, making it more disorienting than grounding. The frequently shifting filming styles foregrounds the artificiality, keeping you a distant observer as you cannot help but note each change and think about why.

Despite that self-imposed handicap, Mallory’s attempts to follow Alex when he rises in the middle of the night are genuinely tense. As is true of most found footage films, it relies heavily on jump scares, but the lead up does its job of building your anticipation. Often, we can hear him, or even catch a glimpse as he passes a doorway, causing our eyes to strain to see around the corner before the camera can. A few of his more deranged actions and facial expressions remain etched in my brain, and there are even a few silent scares that will elevate your heart rate despite the lack of an audio sting to scream at you.

While it’s clear from jump that this isn’t a normal case of sleepwalking, the movie withholds any concrete idea of what’s really going on for quite some time. Alex’s behavior is creepy, absolutely, but remains a random assortment of tropes for most of the film. Even once the presence of the supernatural is revealed, it only raises more questions. For while we have an answer, it never connects in any meaningful way to what we’ve been experiencing. The filmmaking team has an excellent sense of how to fray your nerves, but is far less adept at turning that into anything narratively or thematically satisfying.

All of that is before considering the dramatic scenes that bridge Alex’s somnambulism. I don’t wish to rag on them too hard, as it was made by a small and clearly passionate team on a tiny budget. But the reality of the production doesn’t change how painful those non-horror moments are. The writing is horribly bland, failing to make Mallory’s investigations into Alex’s state the least bit engaging, especially as she seems to lose interest multiple times. Her attempts to dig into Alex’s family history are always met with angry refusal, which could have worked if the script didn’t insist on playing it out half a dozen times before the dam breaks near the end. The humor, mostly coming from Alex as he tries to make light of the situation, just doesn’t play at all, coming off forced and trite.

Neither performance does anything to smooth over the weak script. Drumm’s dramatic skill is lacking, every line landing as the stereotypical exasperated girlfriend despite her refusal to do anything about their situation, flattening out the character. Williams is all over the place, never quite sure how to make Alex as likable as he wants, even his jokes making him more of a prick who’d rather be left alone than insecure or endearing. However, he is the primary reason the scares work at all, preventing the movie from being a complete failure.

Despite its flaws, that something like Dream Eater can get released in a few hundred theaters nationwide is a huge credit to The Horror Section. More than just a vanity label for Roth (although each release so far has his name slathered across its title card), it has the potential to elevate and develop young talent. Whether a brand new team like this, or someone like Joe Begos who’s been working for over a decade, attaching such a recognizable name to their work can bring it visibility that would have been difficult to achieve otherwise. Sure, I’d prefer if the movies were good, but most important is the injection of new voices into the cinema landscape. Increasing the access filmmakers have to the theatrical experience can only be a positive, as it continues to diversify the offerings at the multiplex past superheroes and video games. Not every film will be a success, but the willingness to fail implies a willingness to take chances, which is the key to maintaining a healthy industry, and the preservation of theatrical exhibition for years to come.