BAD DREAMS -5 SHORT MOVIES OF HORROR AND HUMANS

BAD DREAMS is a series of short films filmed in Australia between 1971-74.

They are in the mould of the Twilight Zone, but are semi-professional films.

Over 30 years later these films have been restored as best as possible using FINAL CUT STUDIO PRO.

These films are an example of this type of film making in Australia at that time, and is dedicated to all who worked on and appeared in them. Besides, it was also a lot of fun.....

Alan Richard Bond 2008

First in series of short Australian films made in the early 1970's, now digitally enhanced and restored to the best available condition from a 20 year old VHS copy which itself was copied from a professional Umatic Tape, and now available for viewing for the first time in over 30 years. The film was originally shot on 16mm at an old mansion in Sydney called the Abbey. It was built in the late 19th Century and we were very fortunate we had a sympathetic owner who allowed use to use the place. The film was made with a partial Government Film Making Grant, unfortunately a change of Government prevented us from obtaining any more funds to finish off the film. None of us could afford to do it. However the 16mm workprint and synchronised soundtrack allowed us to dub to the Umatic as described above. Attempts to resurrect the 16mm print have failed, so all we are left with the VHS version which the Final Cut Studio Pro from Apple Mac has done a very good job of restoration. This film is about four young people invited by an unseen host to a mysterious party in an equally mysterious mansion. Unfortunately a cast list was not kept and only some of the names are remembered including leading lady, Yvonne Kuvener, and also Maurice Hatter, Christine Coombs and Trevor Scahill as the Devil.

This was filmed on Standard 8 mm film widescreen in 1972. In those days this was known as amateur film making.

This film was made by people of the Progressive Film Society who were enthusiastic to do their bit for the Australian film industry. Keen amateurs they gave their all.

There was no HD-Video or computer technology. It was all done by hand with a spring wound camera. Painstakingly edited with 8mm editor with cutter and film cement to join.

On site sound recording was done wild. Effects and music were added via a microphone attached to the film projector which dubbed on the sound.

This restoration has improved the original dialogue track, colour, image with new added titles, credits, effects and music.

The cast was made up of people from the Film Society. These people were:

ALAN BENTLIN, LORRAINE DOYLE, MICHAEL BASTICK, ROBERT COOPER, JENNIFER DIETRICH, BRIAN WILSON, SUE BASTICK, PETER TURNER, JIM NOLAN, IAN POTTER, HENRY DEBSKI, DENNIS O'BRIEN, RON DOYLE and CHRIS DWYER.

The film was made on location at BUDAWANG RANGES, SOUTH COAST, NEW SOUTH WALES, and LUCAS HEIGHTS, SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA

It is to those keen amateurs on a long ago, far away day, that this film is dedicated.

After the rigours of making such an involved film as ALPHA OMEGA, a few of us decided to make something simpler. We came up with a simple chase scenario of one man hunting another. Once again it was filmed on Standard 8 mm film widescreen in 1972. We did on location wild sound recording and minimum dialogue for the actors as we just wanted to concentrate on the action in such a scenic location west of Sydney. It was filmed in the Glenbrook Gorge, Glenbrook, Blue Mountains. It was a 2 man cast that featured Trevor Scahill as the Hunted and Ralph Easton as the Hunter.

This film is another example of "amateur" film making. Produced in 1971 on Standard 8mm film, using a spring loaded camera, it has been restored with

new credits, upgraded colour, sound, music with 16:9 ratio.

Keen amateurs jumped in to have some fun, yet still adding to the film making experience in Australia at that period.

The film is about the seach for a missing young boy, and what the search party finds, or finds them....

Another small cast with the players being Julian Hatlee, Michael Bastick, Jim Nolan, Bob Allen and Edward Wilson. It was filmed near the George’s River, just south of Sydney.

The 4th and final in a series of restored films shot on Standard 8mm film in

the early 1970's, AMPHIBIAN-PURSUIT is also a film that had been thought

lost forever until rediscovered 20 years later in the early part of the 21st Century.

It has been restored with enhanced color, sound and visual effects including 16:9 ratio.

It came into being for the simple reason we had so much fun making

AMPHIBIAN we wondered what a sequel would be like, and here it is.....

(and you can't keep a good monster down...)

Since Julian didn’t want to do the sequel, he got bumped off in the first minute of the opening. We disguised Jim Nolan who was in AMPHIBIAN and got killed off, and threw him into it. The others were Brian Wilson, Paul Woolston, Dennis O’Brien, Janette Allen, John Sutton and Sue Bastick.