‘Il Tempo del Sogno – Dream Time’ Blu-Ray Review – A Limited Look At Italian Horror Cinema

The Dream Time is a docufilm that will take you back to the golden age of Italian Horror cinema in the 80s and 90s, with interviews with the protagonists who marked that wonderful period, such as Lamberto Bava, Michele Soavi, Luigi Cozzi, Claudio Simonetti, Fiore Argento, Fabio Frizzi, Sergio Stivaletti, and many others. The film offers an authentic journey through the atmosphere of that period, guided by the engaging Davide Pulici (Nocturno) and skillfully directed by filmmaker Claudio Lattanzi (Zombi 5, Aquarius Visionarius, Everybloody’s End). It is an exciting visual experience that will encourage you to rediscover the secrets of a now lost cinema english subtitles

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Video Quality

Dream Time arrives on Blu-Ray featuring a solid transfer with a variety of materials in mostly stable quality. The new interview segments are well composed and look crisp and clear with natural skin tones and subtle facial features observable. The archival materials presented appear to be the best versions available when the documentary was produced. We wish the film could have utilized some clips to contextualize the conversations further. The transfer of the feature and everything within it looks as technically excellent as you would hope for in high definition. Rustblade Pictures has seemingly delivered a formidable encode with room to breathe to avoid compression artifacts. This transfer is a win for fans in all respects.

Audio Quality

This Blu-Ray disc comes with a DTS-HD 5.1 and 2.0 Master Audio track in the original Italian that provides this film with a consistent presentation. There are optional English subtitles provided, but it should be noted in our experience that English subtitles must be selected prior to starting the feature in order for them to be generated. Simply pressing play without choosing English subtitles and then attempting to turn them on via the pop-up menu did not work for us. This is mostly an interview showcase with talking heads abound, so dialogue is the focus right up front in the center channel. Environmental sounds are minor, but the score makes the soundscape feel a bit more open. This audio track is not breaking any new ground, but you get all of the information clearly.

Special Features

• Interview with Davide Pulici: A 13-minute interview with the screenwriter in which he discusses the original ideas from Claudio Lattanzi, what drew them to this journey, the ideas behind the title of the film, talking with the subjects they got for the film, and more. 

• In-Depth Study by Federico Frusciante (11:20): This played with audio (in Italian with no subtitles) and no video, likely due to being sub-HD quality interlaced and not progressive in a US player. The previous interview is interlaced but in HD, so it shows up. 

• Photo Gallery: Same issues as above. 

• Trailer: Same issue as above. 

Final Thoughts

Dream Time is a great idea for a documentary that never reaches its full potential. There are so many great interviews throughout this journey, but they do not feel cohesive in any meaningful way. Instead, it feels like you have hit “Play All” on the special features of your favorite boutique label. The creative forces behind this endeavor allow their own beliefs to strangle the possibilities within this exploration. It always appears as if they have a conclusion they are trying to reach by any means necessary. The film has moments that genre fans will enjoy, but this is a much more tedious viewing experience than we anticipated. Rustblade Pictures has provided a Blu-Ray set with a good A/V presentation along with special features that might not play well with North American audiences.

Dream Time is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray. 

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Rustblade Pictures has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.