BAD DREAMS (1988) is an '80s horror film I hadn't caught up with before, although I've just rectified that thanks to a recent British TV screening. It's one of those films set in a psychiatric hospital, where a new resident is the sole survivor of fiery incident in which the members of a religious cult committed mass suicide. She's been in a coma for over a decade, but must now rehabilitate while at the same time being plagued by frightening flashbacks.

First thoughts here are that this is a quite open NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET rip-off, and the main actress is even from part three of that franchise. RE-ANIMATOR's Bruce Abbott co-stars as the doctor leading her therapy. Truth be told, it's a fairly low budget and predictable effort, mired very much in a slightly cheesy late '80s look and feel. The usual series of gruesome deaths allows for some fun little set-pieces, but I found the twist ending a complete disappointment. The best bits are the flashbacks, with some great pyrotechnic FX and a fun turn from Richard Lynch as cult leader, complete with memorably decent burn makeup.

Cynthia (Jennifer Rubin),the only survivor of a mass suicide by hippie cult Unity Field, wakes from a 13-year coma to find the spirit of cult leader Harris (Richard Lynch) urging her to take her life to so that he can finally deliver the eternal bliss he promised to his followers. When she refuses, he starts to attack those around her.

If you've seen A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, then you're going to get a strong sense of deja-vu watching Bad Dreams: with a horribly disfigured bogeyman who kills from beyond the grave, a group of mentally unstable people in an institution suffering inexplicably nasty fates, and Elm Street 3 actress Jennifer Rubin in the lead, the similarities are too obvious to ignore.

After plenty of unexceptional Elm-street style death scenes, the film eventually attempts to distance itself from Wes Craven's iconic series by revealing its seemingly supernatural occurrences to be the result of mind-altering drugs dished out by an evil doctor; it's an ending that makes very little sense (precisely what the doctor is trying to achieve is unclear) and one which does nothing to alter the fact that this is a derivative horror at its most mediocre.

4.5 out of 10, generously rounded up to 5 for the spectacular fire scene at the beginning, which features some cool special effects and a few impressive burn stunts.

Ghastly horror item, which may have represented a dead-end for the slasher genre before Wes Craven revived it in the '90s, has cult-suicide survivor Jennifer Rubin spending thirteen years in a coma, only to awaken to a bizarre rash of deaths in her hospital ward. Although Jennifer shows promise in her role, and Susan Ruttan does well in a small part as a mental patient, this cruddy-looking B-flick is far more unpleasant than scary--what with tasteless asides, cheap effects, and googly-eyed Richard Lynch attempting to pull a Jim Jones. Good supporting players E.G. Daily, Damita Jo Freeman and Harris Yulin are sadly wasted. NO STARS from ****