In Dreams (1999) | Robert Downey Jr. as a Fairy Tale Serial Killer

Movie Memory Machine

In Dreams (1999) is a psychological thriller that opens in a fairy tale and ends in a flood of glass, apples, and psychic bleed-through. Directed by Neil Jordan and starring Annette Bening, this dark fantasia tried to rewire genre expectations, and nearly drowned in the process.

In Dreams is a 1999 psychological thriller where a New England illustrator begins having vivid, terrifying visions of a serial killer only to discover those dreams might be real. Directed by Neil Jordan and starring Annette Bening, Aidan Quinn, Stephen Rea, and Robert Downey Jr., the film was released by DreamWorks during a period of heavy genre experimentation. Positioned between prestige horror and art-house melodrama, it was met with critical confusion and audience disinterest, but left behind an unforgettable visual signature and one of Bening’s most emotionally unmoored performances.

What's included:

• The dreamlike logic, visual ambition, and narrative incoherence of In Dreams

• Why Neil Jordan and Bruce Robinson’s screenplay may have fought the film’s potential

• How Robert Downey Jr.’s performance both enhances and destabilizes the movie

• The hosts’ deep dive into “sad 1999s,” therapy aesthetics, and the limits of metaphor

• A tangent on 1990s airport terminal architecture and apple symbolism in cinema

Follow the show for new episodes every Friday.

Support us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/gruntworkpod

Browse the season’s films on Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/moviememorypod/

Tags: In Dreams, 1999, Neil Jordan, Annette Bening, Robert Downey Jr., Psychological Thriller, DreamWorks, Forgotten Films