Dreamscape

Alex Gardner is a young man with psychic abilities who is recruited by Dr. Paul Novotny to take part in a government research project. The work involves entering other people's dreams, and Novotny wants to use Alex's talent to help patients confront the psychological damage they carry. The arrangement draws Alex into a larger conflict when he comes to suspect that one of the project's other psychics is using the same ability to harm people inside their dreams, with fatal results in waking life. Alex has to find a way to stop the killings, and the project's political backers have their own interest in what the dream work can be turned into.

Joseph Ruben directed the film, which he also wrote with David Loughery and Chuck Russell. It was the second feature in a directing career that had begun with The Pom Pom Girls, and it sits between that film and The Stepfather. Dennis Quaid plays Alex, with Max von Sydow as Novotny, Christopher Plummer as Bob Blair, Eddie Albert as the President, Kate Capshaw as Jane DeVries and David Patrick Kelly as Tommy Ray Glatman.

The film was released in August 1984 and runs 99 minutes. It took about 12 million dollars worldwide. On IMDb it holds 6.3 out of 10 from roughly 20,000 votes, and on TMDB 6.1 out of 10 from far fewer votes. A critics' rating of 6.4 from 32 reviews places it close to the audience scores.