Parents' Guide to

Dreamcatcher

By Jeffrey Anderson, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 17+

Awful, gory serial killer movie set in music world.

Movie NR 2021 108 minutes
Dreamcatcher Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

See all

There aren't any parent reviews yet. Be the first to review this title.

What's the Story?

In DREAMCATCHER, a woman is shown being killed by a masked figure. We then meet Pierce (Niki Koss) and Jake (Zachary Gordon), best friends since childhood, as they watch horror movies on a Friday night. Pierce's sister, Ivy (Elizabeth Posey), and her friend Brecken (Emrhys Cooper) arrive, and Ivy has tickets to a huge underground music festival called Cataclysm, where rising star DJ Dreamcatcher (Travis Burns) will be playing. At the festival, Pierce meets the star (real name Dylan) and gets an invite to his dressing room, where he gives her a hallucinogenic drug. This results in a tragic accident, and Dylan's agent, Josephine (Adrienne Wilkinson), offers to pay them all off if they stay quiet. But even as they try to figure out what to do, the killer comes back into the picture.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say Not yet rated
Kids say (1):

Shallow and all surface, this not-scary, nonsensical, and far too long "horror" movie offers nothing new and seems to have been made by people whose chief interest was posing for the camera. Not to be confused with the 2003 Stephen King adaptation of the same name, this Dreamcatcher is a slog that's filled from top to bottom with incomprehensible shaky-cam cinematography and strange dialogue (both overwritten and underwritten) that calls attention to itself with lines like "I can feel the fracturing beneath my skin" or "I tripped into some bushes" (one character's explanation of mysterious cuts and bruises).

Attempts to quote Shakespeare and a reference to Faust can't make up for dumb moments that feel lifted from innumerable other movies, including a character divulging sensitive information on the phone when her back is turned to another character, who comes up behind her and hears it. The actors seem game, but they don't have much to do when the characters can't even muster up a little sadness or mourning when their friends start dying. Overall, Dreamcatcher seems to have been an attempt to merge a serial killer story with the music industry while offering some kind of message about the price of fame, but it ends up being more about a distasteful lust for fame.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about Dreamcatcher's violence. How did it make you feel? Could the story have been told without it?

  • How is sex depicted? Why is Pierce determined to have meaningless flings rather than a real relationship? What values are imparted?

  • Is the movie scary? What's the appeal of scary movies? Why do people sometimes like to be afraid?

  • What does the movie have to say about fame? What are the plusses and minuses? Why do you think people want to be famous?

  • How are alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs depicted? Are they glamorized? Are there consequences? Why does that matter?

Movie Details

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

See all recommended movie lists

Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

See how we rate