The Dreaming (1988 film)

The Dreaming
DVD cover
Directed byMario Andreacchio
Produced byCraig Lahiff
Wayne Groom
Screenplay byMario Andreacchio
Rob George
Stephanie McCarthy
Story byTerry Jennings
Craig Lahiff
StarringGary Sweet
Penny Cook
CinematographyEllery Ryan
Production
company
Genesis Films
Release date
1988
Running time
88 mins
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish
BudgetA$2.2 million[1]

The Dreaming is a 1988 Australian horror film.[2]

Plot

After an aboriginal tomb is opened by archaeologist (Arthur Dignam), his daughter, a doctor (Penny Cook), treats a young aboriginal girl (Kristina Nehm) in a hospital emergency room for an unspecified injury. The girl dies and immediately afterwards the attending doctor begins to have bad dreams and waking visions of a horrible past event in aboriginal history. These threatening images from the Dreamtime involve a group of whalers who came ashore two centuries earlier to rape and murder a defenseless aboriginal tribe. This event formed a taint or stain within the Dreaming. Now incorporated into the spiritual landscape, the evil spirits of these murderers roam the imaginal realm seeking whom they may destroy. They have set their sights on the doctor, who is led to solve the mystery of the slaughter of the aboriginal tribe.

Production

The movie was originally meant to be directed by Craig Lahiff but he dropped out before filming, and was replaced by Mario Andreacchio.[3]

The film was made on Kangaroo Island and features shots of many of the island's local landmarks, such as Seal Bay and Admiral's Arch. Kangaroo Island has a genuine history of being visited by rough whaling men who had often kidnapped aboriginal women from Tasmania, The Coorong and other places on Australia's southernmost coastline.

There is an H.P. Lovecraft related in-joke in the film. As Penny Cook's character drives to Kangaroo Island towards the end of the movie in search of her father, her car passes a roadsign which reads "Innsmouth 2 km".

Funds were raised through Antony I. Ginnane's FGH company[4] and the South Australian Film Corporation. The film was pre-sold to US distributor Goldfarb for $1.32 million but Goldfarb encountered financial difficulties and IFM sought other distributors.[5]

The director later said that:

[It] was originally a script that was tackling, quite strongly, the issue of the past treatment of aborigines, the white-black conflict. Unfortunately, there was a time when the script was changed right in front of me and I was subject to other people saying, "No, you can't make that film, you've got to make this film". So, when you're in that position where you're starting out and where nobody trusts you, nobody really has total faith in your vision because you haven't actually got a track record. Then they take the prominent position.[6]

Cast

Principal Cast:

  • Arthur Dignam ...Professor Bernard Thornton
  • Penny Cook ...Cathy Thornton
  • Gary Sweet ...Geoff
  • Laurence Clifford ...Najira
  • Kristina Nehm ...Warindji
  • Patrick Frost ...Dr. Graham
  • John Noble ...Dr. Richards
  • Peter Merrill ...Archaeologist (as Peter Merril)
  • Deborah Little ...Admissions Officer
  • Leo Taylor ...Alf
  • Marcella Russo ...young Nurse
  • Kathy Fisher ...Sister
  • Gary Goodwin ...Policeman
  • Kim Hyde ...Whaler
  • Michael Evans ...Whaler

Movie taglines

"She uncovered a place where ancient mysteries survive and nightmares are real" [DVD] "A burial ground is unearthed, a girl dies, an ancient curse lives on" "Are they dreams or nightmares...Nightmares or premonitions?"

gollark: Fascinating.
gollark: I have harvested MANY good ideas.
gollark: Interesting conversations sometimes happen about things.
gollark: No.
gollark: Or, er, inactive.

References
  1. "Production Survey", Cinema Papers, September 1987 p66
  2. Ed. Scott Murray, Australia on the Small Screen 1970-1995, Oxford Uni Press, 1996 p47
  3. "Interview with Craig Lahiff", Signet, 4 August 1997 Archived 24 August 2013 at the Wayback Machine accessed 19 November 2012
  4. David Stratton, The Avocado Plantation: Boom and Bust in the Australian Film Industry, Pan MacMillan, 1990 p296
  5. GOLDFARB RENEGES ON PRE-SALE DEBT By MARK LAWSON Australian Financial Review 28 April 1988 p 36
  6. Interview with Mario Andreacchio' Signet 20 September 1998 accessed 14 October 2012
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