LONG DREAM on Region1 DVD

J-Horror from the Creator and Director of UZUMAKI Author: Keith Aiken Source: Tidepoint Pictures, Facets Video Dr. Kuroda (Masami Horiuchi) is perplexed by one of his patients, Tetsuro Mukouda (Shuuji Kashiwabara), who is terrified of going to sleep. It seems the young man`s dreams are spanning months and even years in a single night, and he can no longer tell what`s real life and what`s just a dream. As the dreams grow longer and longer, they begin taking as disturbing a toll on Mukouda`s body as they have on his mind. Overtaken by ambition, Kuroda begins to believe that the secret to human immortality can be found in the long dream. He experiments on Mukouda, then another patient, Mami Takeshima (Tsgumi), who believes she is being hunted by Death. Finally, Kuroda begins the long dream experiment on himself, hoping to be reunited with his long-lost love Kana Sakurai (Eriko Hatsune) in dreamland...

In 1986, artist Junji Ito created the award-winning horror manga Tomie, the tale of a high school girl who inspires such jealousy and lust in others that it leads to madness and murder. Tomie is killed by her classmates only to return from the dead and start the cycle all over again. The character would also return in several more stories which were reprinted in The Junji Ito Horror Manga Collection, and inspired a film series that began with TOMIE (1999) and has included seven sequels up to TOMIE VS TOMIE (2007). Following the success of the first TOMIE movie, several of Junji Ito`s works were adapted into two feature films and five television movies in 2000 alone. Of the seven made that year, by far the most acclaimed was UZUMAKI, directed by Ukranian-born filmmaker Higuchinsky (Akihiro Higuchi). The amazingly bizarre UZUMAKI is generally considered one of the best J-Horror films of the past decade. Higuchinsky and Ito reunited for the made-for-TV movie LONG DREAM (Nagai Yume), which premiered July 7, 2000 on TV Asahi. Working from a screenplay by Kyouichi Nanatsuki (EKO EKO AZARAK III: MISA THE DARK ANGEL), Higuchinsky was the director, cinematographer, and editor of the film. Visual effects were created by Issei Oda (UZUMAKI, TOMIE: FORBIDDEN FRUIT) and the music was provided by Zuntata, the house band for the Taito Corporation responsible for many video game soundtracks. LONG DREAM was produced by KTV, Omega Micott Inc., and TV Asahi. While not nearly as strong as the theatrically made UZUMAKI, LONG DREAM overcomes its obviously low budget and is an effectively creepy 59 minute-long tale. It should appeal to viewers who have enjoyed Junji Ito and Higuchinsky`s other films as well as fans of shows like TWILIGHT ZONE and THE OUTER LIMITS. LONG DREAM has recently been released on DVD by Tidepoint Pictures. The movie was shot on video and looks it, but the picture quality is as good as could be expected. LONG DREAM is presented in 1.77:1 widescreen, with the original Japanese audio and removable English and Spanish subtitles. There are 6 chapter stops. Extras include a DVD trailer for the film, an interview with Junji Ito (4 minutes), an interview with the reclusive Higuchinsky— whose face is hidden by pixelization (5:15 min), an interview with actor Shuuji Kashiwabara (3:53), and bonus interviews with Ito and Higuchinsky (6:03). The are also trailers for the Tidepoint releases NORIKO`S DINNER TABLE, LATE BLOOMER, TAKING FATHER HOME, and DEAR PYONGYANG. The LONG DREAM DVD is now available in stores and from online retailers. It has a suggested retail price of $19.95.