Part of our SECS Fest 2017 Archival Program

NIGHTDREAMS (1981)
Directed by Stephen Sayadian (aka Rinse Dream)

Introduction by David Church, PhD*

Stephen Sayadian, who used the pseudonym Rinse Dream for his explicit films, is a successful artistic director. Formerly the creative director of Hustler magazine, Sayadian has also created memorable posters for films such as Brian De Palma’s “Dressed to Kill”, Tobe Hooper’s “Funhouse”, and Carpenter’s “Escape from New York” and “The Fog”. NIGHTDREAMS was Sayadian’s first feature. Though its off-the-wall charisma was ill received at the box office, NIGHTDREAMS as well as CAFE FLESH and DR. CALIGARI, have become cult favs. Sayadian continues to work in television and film. One of his more recent projects “Playing Lynch”, involved John Malkovich playing different Lynch characters for the David Lynch Foundation.

NIGHTDREAMS follows the erotic dreams of Mrs. Van Houten, who is being observed by a medical team for “erotic trauma”. Through several dream vignettes, we are taken into Van Houten’s darker fantasies that span the breadth of cowgirl threesomes to a human-sized Cream of Wheat man. As an avant-garde hardcore film, NIGHTDREAMS is visually riveting throughout. Each bizarre dream sequence is uniquely mesmerizing. Sayadian’s creative direction – costumes, set design, sound editing – is a marvel. With elements of horror, sci-fi and surrealism, NIGHTDREAMS is unlike any other explicit film you’ve ever seen.

*Dr. David Church is a Lecturer of Cinema Studies at Northern Arizona University, where he specializes in genre studies, gender/sexuality studies, taste cultures, and histories of film exhibition and distribution. His books include Disposable Passions: Vintage Pornography and the Material Legacies of Adult Cinema (Bloomsbury Academic, 2016) and Grindhouse Nostalgia: Memory, Home Video, and Exploitation Film Fandom (Edinburgh University Press, 2015).

*No one under 18 admitted*