No Surrender Cinema: Dreamcatcher (2021)

It was supposed to be the most amazing party, but things took a wrong turn faster than you can say Fyre Festival. Now a masked maniac has set out to pick off a group of friends until there’s no one left. Join me in this bonus edition of No Surrender Cinema as we move through dimly lit rooms and deafening beats to track down a killer in Dreamcatcher!

Pierce (Niki Koss) and Ivy (Elizabeth Posey) are sisters that aren’t quite BFF’s. The pair appears to be polar opposites, with Ivy in medical school and Pierce spending her nights watching cult horror movies with her companion Jake (Zachary Gordon). Though Pierce states that she’s content indulging in throwback slashers, Ivy and her friend Brecken (Emrhys Cooper) decide that it’s time Pierce and Jake get off their asses and have some real fun. Before you can say “glow sticks”, the quartet is off to Cataclysm, which is being touted as the ultimate EDM festival. The feature act is DJ Dreamcatcher, an artist who is famous for disguising himself a la Deadmau5 and Daft Punk. His headgear of choice is a sleeker version of the gothic Plague doctor mask, and that just so happens to be the mask of choice for our killer, who we are introduced to in the opening minutes as Cataclysm is being set up.

I made the joke about Fyre Festival earlier, but at least that shit show got people out to the Bahamas for a few days. The mega event in this movie looks to be taking place deep in the industrial district of a city. That’s all well and good if you’re running one of those all night raves with watered down drinks that caters to the college crowd, but this is supposed to be the can’t miss party of the year. I fully endorse a vintage “going back to your roots” campaign, but hype around this event doesn’t match up to what we see. It’s like if Wrestlemania was coming to us live from the ECW Arena.

Despite Cataclysm emanating from the warehouse where the Reservoir Dogs gang was hiding out, the quartet are all ready to have a good time. Pierce’s old FWB Hunter shows up to confront her, even though he’s involved with an empowered, nymphomaniac lawyer, but her night takes a turn for the better when who should she run into and befriend but DJ Dreamcatcher himself! Dreamcatcher, aka Dylan, bares his soul to Pierce, and when he suggests that they trip out together, she’s game. Next thing you know, there’s a body on the floor, and the rest of the group are being stalked and slaughtered. Is it Dylan’s domineering agent trying to eliminate any potential fallout? Has one of the group gone completely insane and decided to off their own friends? Or has success gone to DJ Dreamcatcher’s head, making him think that his level of fame means he can get away with anything… even murder?

Dreamcatcher has some interesting ideas spread out throughout the film, but unfortunately I don’t think it ever capitalizes on the potential it shows. There were times where the film felt flat, even boring, and that doesn’t bode well for what should be a tension filled whodunit slasher. A lot of attention was paid to the aesthetic of the film, with the flickering imagery, pulsing lights, and synthesized soundtrack. Using the rave setting to enhance the mindfuck aspects of the film was a novel approach, but it never truly gets there. In fact, the final act takes place away from a perfect horror movie setting (gritty, dark streets and buildings hosting a chaotic all night rave) and moves the action to a condo in the hills. 

Technically, there is a big twist in the film, but if you’re paying attention to the earlier dialogue, it’s all but spelled out for you. The constant hints in the third act made me wonder if they were just trying to throw me off the scent, but then it happened and I was like “oh, there it is”. Granted I’ve earned a rep for having seen thousands of films from across all genres, so my exposure to an eclectic selection through the years has enabled me to call things out that casual viewers won’t always pick up on. I didn’t find that to be the case here. The twist here is rather pedestrian, and when Dreamcatcher ends with the same problem it had for most of its runtime; director Jacob Johnston put far too much effort into going for visual appeal, and the script suffered for it. 

There were areas of the film where I thought it might be going in the direction of satire slashers like Scream and Urban Legend, which would have earned it more of my support. Those films were self aware and made fun of the 90’s young adult mindset while delivering intriguing stories. Though Dreamcatcher snuck in a few plot points that targeted female empowerment, coddled millennials and cancel culture, none of it was really expanded upon past some throwaway lines. The cast didn’t have much to work with, and I found that all of the characters were just vapid character types. No one was particularly enthralling, and I didn’t feel like we had anyone to root for. Usually circumstances like that enable the killer to become an anti-hero and turn into the star of the show, but there wasn’t even one kill scene that went above and beyond the call of duty.

Although I didn’t give Dreamcatcher a rave review (yeah I know, too easy), I encourage anyone reading this whose curiosity may have been piqued to check it out for themselves. The film gets its widespread release this weekend, and I’d be interested to know if others see it my way or have a different perspective on this new entry into the world of slasher films.

Dreamcatcher is available On Digital and VOD March 5, 2021.