SWEET DREAMS ARE MADE OF THESE

Rating: 9/10 (19 April 2018)

There are a lot of ways to describe this flick: surreal grindhouse, Gothic music video, video game movie, prison girl film, Heavy Metal meets LOTR etc. The movie for the most part was 5 stars. I didn't like the ending as they attempted to make a statement when none was needed. Baby Doll's mother dies. The step-dad was left out of the will so he kills Baby doll's sister and blames her during a goth version of "Sweet Dreams" (Annie Lennox). Baby Doll is committed to the Lennox asylum in Brattleboro, Vt. She is supposed to get a lobotomy in 5 days, during which she plans an escape.
The asylum has a stage where the girls perform. Baby Doll has a dance which mesmerizes people, a dance, we the audience never get to see. While Baby Doll dances she goes into a trance or dream world where she imagines she is battling all kinds of creatures (zombies, orcs etc). This is all done to a great soundtrack and computer graphics. In this aspect, the movie reminded me of "Heavy Metal", a series of stories loosely connected by a plot. This actually works well, unfortunately when the movie deviates from it, it doesn't work at all. During the first dance Baby Doll is told to get certain objects so she can escape. During her subsequent dances she entrances the males in the audience while her fellow inmates steal the item they need. The item they steal relates to the surreal imagination of Baby Doll.
No nudity, no sex, and the language was acceptable. Girls run around in short skirts with tight black hip boots. This is this generation's "Heavy Metal" movie, one that would be best watched on the big screen at a midnight showing