Jul 17, 20184 min
Updated: Dec 24, 2020
There are quite a few lists of lucid dreaming films around the Web, with the usual mentions:
Inception (2010)
Paprika (2006)
Vanilla Sky (2001)
Waking Life (2001)
The Science of Sleep (2006)
The Good Night (2007)
You can read reviews for these films and more here.
Below, I've added some others that I've seen over the past few years. Click on the title to see the IMDB page. Links to full film / TV series posted where available.
1. The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1920)
Mysterious, artistic, wonderful (if you like old films). Dr Caligari is a sideshow operator exhibiting the Somnambulist, a man he claims has been sleeping since he was born, and who can answer anyone's question. However, when a death he predicts comes true, he becomes a suspect.
2. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984/2010)
Probably put a generation off lucid dreaming. Then again, a lot of people learn to lucid dream through their nightmares, so get the popcorn ready.
Cheesy made-for-TV movie about a man and a woman who keep dreaming of each other. The dreams become more and more lucid and they decide to try to meet while awake. Nice film to watch when you're feeling sentimental, or in bed sick and in need of something easy yet dream-related.
Similar title, much darker premise. A very disturbing film (don't say I didn't warn you) featuring Robert Downey Jr as a 'cross-dressing serial killer with mommy issues' who has a telepathic link with the mother of one of his victims. Can she use their shared dreams to prevent his next crime?
This film is more about wake-like recurring dreams and dream analysis than lucid dreams themselves. I really enjoyed this film, which is really a series of stories tied together. Available on Amazon Prime.
7. Yesterday's Children (2000)
Caution: This one's a tear jerker! I mean just listen to the soundtrack in the clip, sung beautifully in Gaelic and English. Based on the true story of Jenny Cockell, who while pregnant begins having recurring dreams of a previous life in Ireland. Her concern for the children she left behind, who are all grown now, leads her to Malahide, Ireland.
In Korean. After his child is kidnapped, a father goes on a journey for clues in lucid dreams, with help from an assistant.
9. Quiet Comes the Dawn (Rassvet) (2018)
In Russian. After waking up from a lucid dream, the world doesn't seem to be as it was.
A psychic is commissioned by the US government to enter people's dreams in order to stop their nightmares. However, there is a darker side to their plan.
It may not be about lucid dreams per se, but I had to include this because: dream analysis is at the core of the plot, it's an atmospheric Hitchcock film, and because it stars Gregory Peck and Ingrid Bergman (cheers to the no-nonsense female characters of 40s film). The plot is complex and interesting, with Bergman as the doctor and sweetheart of phobia-ridden Gregory Peck, who isn't quite what he seems.
I didn't see the connection with dreaming until I read this article on the official Dream Leaf site: Dreams and Fight Club: an internal Project Mayhem
A team of dream researchers use technology to enter other people's dreams.
The lives of these three strangers collide in their lucid dreams.
3. The Twilight Zone - Shadow Play (1961)
A man is trapped in a recurring nightmare, and tries to tell the people around him that they are imaginary.
4. The Twilight Zone - A Stop at Willoughby (1960)
Unhappy in his job and marriage, a man has a recurring dream about an idyllic town called Willoughby.
5. The Twilight Zone - Twenty Two (1961)
A hospitalised woman has a recurring dream of the morgue, and her doctor suggests that she try a lucid dreaming technique.
6. Stephen King's The Stand (1994)
TV miniseries (6 hours running time). A plague sweeps across America, and the survivors are called by two forces through their lucid dreams: an old wise woman in a field or the devil in Las Vegas.
7. Snow Lotus (aka Lucid Dream) (2000)
Korean mini-series. A man and woman dream of living thousands of years ago, and will now meet in real life. But will they recognize each other?
Three strangers realise that they are sharing pieces of a sinister plot in their dreams.
9. Are You Afraid of the Dark? - (S02E05) The Tale of the Dream Machine (1993)
Teenagers find a typewriter that can write them into other peoples' dreams.
I would appreciate anyone letting me know if there's another film/series that I can add to this list.