“Deadly Dreams” is a psychological thriller with a slasher bent that features decent scares but minimal gore.

THE PLOT: As a 10 year old, Alex witnesses his parent’s murder on Christmas Eve by a hunter wearing a wolf mask. Now an aspiring writer, Alex suffers from nightmares and bizarre hallucinations. Before long the nightmares begin leading to death and a shocking secret is revealed…

“Deadly Dreams” is a competently made, well paced thriller that plays out like a combination of “Bad Dreams” (1988) and “Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge” (1985). There’s little gore but the film features disturbing dream sequences and a few nice scares. The acting isn’t half bad and Juliette Cummins (Friday the 13^th Part V: A New Beginning, Psycho III) has a few sex scenes. There’s also a nice homoerotic subtext between Alex and his friend Danny (screenwriter Thoms Babbes). “Deadly Dreams” packs a lot of fun stuff in a short 79 minute runtime.

But the dream sequences get a bit repetitive and annoying towards the climax and the film’s soundtrack is underwhelming. I’m not sure how original the plot is either…I mean, “Slaughterhouse Rock” (1988) had a similar premise as did the aforementioned “Bad Dreams” and “Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge”. They even steal dialogue from the original “Nightmare on Elm Street” about dying in your dreams causes you to die for real.

The film features one hell of a mean spirited twist ending. I saw it coming about halfway through but didn’t expect it to actually go down the way it did. Director Kristine Peterson (Kickboxer 5) effectively stages scares and know when to call it quits (clocking in under 80 minutes. “Deadly Dreams” isn’t a lost classic or an above average horror film but it’s entertaining and brisk and worth a watch.

“Deadly Dreams” features visible boom mics, a dead deer in the bathtub, knife through the bed than through the chest, jogging gone wrong, “pig bitch”, a hand popping out of a grave, and Xander Berkely (Terminator 2) as Alex’s dickhead brother.

GORE SCORE-1/5

Tit-O-Meter-3/5

Virgin Vision/79mins