10 Best Movie Dream Sequences

For all the bad things Hollywood has given us — a paparazzi culture, inflated ticket prices, Big Momma's House — they've also come up with some great stuff. There might be no better use of film than a great dream sequence. Yes, movies have the power to show life as it really is, but it takes a whole other kind of skill and ingenuity to capture on film the surreal fantasies that feel both strange and universal. Just about anyone can set up a camera and shoot two people talking (this is how Kevin Smith makes money); very few people, though, can blend sound and image and pure feeling into something as compelling as a good dream sequence. Some are commonplace, like sexual encounters or school-based nightmares, while others are wholly unique. But they're all prime examples of the power of movies. Here are ten of the best:

1. The Big Lebowski: How could this not make the list? The Big Lebowski is arguably the best movie the Coen brothers have ever made (certainly the most Coen-nish one, if that makes sense), and the absurd comedy is anchored by this glorious dream sequence that mashes up everything in the Dude's head, from bowling to porn to Saddam Hussein. It's perfectly scored to "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)," a song by The First Edition with Kenny "Roasters" Rogers on lead vocals. How awesome is that?
2. Fast Times at Ridgemont High: For a generation of young men, the strains of The Cars' "Moving in Stereo" still evoke strong, unexplained urges. Fast Times at Ridgemont High is a fantastic teen comedy with one of the best high-school scripts ever written, so it almost wouldn't be right if the movie didn't include a sequence in which a high school boy indulged in some intensely personal recreational pursuits. (Weirdly, though, Judge Reinhold was in his mid-20s when the movie was filmed.)
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3. The Science of Sleep: Michel Gondry has always done amazing things with visual effects (his music videos are a good place to start), and the 2006 film The Science of Sleep is no exception. The film plays with the walls between reality and dreams by having the main character (Gael Garcia Bernal) slide between the two with such ease that the viewer is often unsure where one stops and the other begins. One of the most memorable dream sequences in the film sees the man doing battle with himself as he tries to work with giant hands that have a shop-made look only Gondry could bring to them.
4. Trainspotting: Watching Danny Boyle's Trainspotting while sick or hungover is not at all advisable. The visceral feeling of watching heroin junkies go through addiction and withdrawal is not, shall we say, a pleasant way to spend an afternoon. But the images of Renton (Ewan McGregor) going through withdrawal and hallucinating that a baby with a swivel head is crawling across his ceiling should be enough to remind you that drugs are not a good idea. Ever.
5. Spellbound: Alfred Hitchcock's 1945 thriller is one of his better works, and it's notable especially for the fact that Hitch hired Salvador Dali to design the dream sequences that would illustrate the fragility of human perception and the nature of delusion. The resulting sequence is a gorgeous one that plays to Dali's surrealist strengths while also elevating the overall quality of Hitchcock's already impressive film. It's rare to see titans of such different media working together like this, which is why the dream sequence remains one of the best in movie history.
6. Wild Strawberries: Ingmar Bergman's 1957 exploration of mortality uses dream sequences to potent effect, allowing an old man's confusing, unreal dreams to set the tone for the entire movie. It's a slow-moving sequence, but never a boring one, and it's a great example of how things that would just look like random accidents in real life can take on a new level of importance in dreams.
7. Vertigo: Heck yes, Alfred Hitchcock makes the list twice. Have you seen these movies? They're trippy, awesome examples of what happens when mid-century filmmaking goes a little wacko. Vertigo is by no means a perfect film — it gets a little draggy in the final act — but it's still vintage Hitchcock, with all the double-crosses and hot blondes you could ask for. When Scottie (James Stewart) sees his love plummet to her death, he's hit with a creepy nightmare built on flashing colors and eerie animation. Throw in some classic music from composer Bernard Herrmann and you're all set. Movie Videos & Movie Scenes at MOVIECLIPS.com
8. Rosemary's Baby: Before sexually assaulting a 13-year-old, Roman Polanski was mainly known for making some good movies. His 1968 horror flick Rosemary's Baby uses a shocky premise — woman gives birth to Satan's baby — and mines it for sheer atmospheric terror. After Rosemary (Mia Farrow) is drugged, she passes out and has a vivid dream in which she hallucinates (or thinks she does) that she's being impregnated.
9. Dumbo: Never let it be said that Disney is completely devoted to safe entertainment. Sometimes they're all about genuine terror, especially if you go back a few years. Dumbo packs some classic moments into its trim 64 minutes, including a mother-son song that's guaranteed to make you cry, but it's the acid-fueled dream sequence that's been scarring kids for decades. The sequence is probably meant to be a caution against drunkenness, or just a good example of why an elephant and a mouse should never be allowed to have champagne, but there's almost no story value at all in the dream. It's just plain freaky.
10. Mulholland Drive: Mullholland Drive is, technically, one giant Mobius strip of dream sequences. The twist comes when the viewer realizes that the entire setting of the film so far has been a fantasy, and that Naomi Watts' character isn't a bright young star but a desperate woman in love with someone she can never have. A genius offering from David Lynch, and one worth watching again just to figure out what's going on. It's hard to pick just one sequence from the film, but this one's one of the best: