Verdict
Summary
Dream Time (Il Tempo del Sogno) is, unfortunately, only for the diehard fans of these films, and I say that as one such fan. It has absolutely no film footage from the movies it discusses, which is really perplexing because almost every other documentary about movies or a film subject includes footage of the films discussed. This one barely includes photographs, saving a few promo material for the very last few moments of the film. It’s aggravating because the movie is so slow and moves at a snail’s pace; it needed the spicy aspect of inserting footage of the scenes being mentioned.
Plot:
A documentary about the heyday and downfall of Italian horror movies.
Review:
What we have here is a full two-hour documentary about the heyday of Italian horror films from director Claudio Lattanzi, who himself directed Zombie 5: Killing Birds and a post-apocalyptic horror film from 2019 (which isn’t bad at all) called Crucified. Lattanzi and his writer Davide Pulici walk us (literally) through the genre’s absolute zenith, which they insist was in 1985 when Lamberto Bava made the first Demons, the first film that Dario Argento actively produced. They interview Bava and some actors from that film in several very formal and stylishly lit sessions who wax on about working on that film and what it meant for the Italian horror genre. Lattanzi and his partner also insist that the genre’s turning point for its downfall was the film Cemetery Man from 1994, which they ironically say was the death knell for the Italian horror industry (aptly titled), which is the point where the titans of the genre like Argento, Bava, and many others, including Fulci, started doing films for television. Once that happened, the Italian horror genre dipped in quality and quantity, whereas before it was a cottage industry. The filmmakers take you on a very slow moving journey to the sets and locations of a handful of these films, always settling back to the couches and chairs where their subjects discuss and answer questions about the films they made that really defined the genre and the industry.
Dream Time (Il Tempo del Sogno) is, unfortunately, only for the diehard fans of these films, and I say that as one such fan. It has absolutely no film footage from the movies it discusses, which is really perplexing because almost every other documentary about movies or a film subject includes footage of the films discussed. This one barely includes photographs, saving a few promo material for the very last few moments of the film. It’s aggravating because the movie is so slow and moves at a snail’s pace; it needed the spicy aspect of inserting footage of the scenes being mentioned. The film includes interviews with some of the composers of these movies, which is cool, and at least it shows Claudio Simonetti and Luigi Cozzi demonstrating their instruments and adding live music, but other than that, this is one seriously boring documentary. As I said, though: It’s for the most ardent fans who’ll appreciate it more than anyone else. All other viewers will be bored to tears.
Rustblade’s Blu-ray edition of Dream Time comes with an extra interview, a photo gallery, a trailer, and another bonus featurette.
