AboutBarbara L. Baker Expertise I am a professor of communication at a midwest university, with expertise in film. I can answer most questions on the original "Star Wars" trilogy, and some on the newer trilogy. I also have expertise in general science-fiction film (both history and theory), especially in the United States. I can probably answer questions related to genres, mythic implications of science-fiction films, as well as questions on hybrids (especially comic science fiction) and cult science fiction films (such as "Repo Man" and "The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai," etc.). For movie titles, noting significant plot details and characters are better than minor plot events, and it is even better if you can recall the time period when the film was made, an actor or director's name, and if it is a film or TV movie. I am less able to answer the following, although I will do my best to track down an answer for you--recent SF films, episodes of TV shows, and horror/SF hybrids. I cannot answer questions about anime/manga or about film collectables. Nor will I answer obvious homework (although I will point you to resources to help answer the question, if asked). I also can't help you find movie stars, movie memorabilia, or tell you how to break into the business.
Experience
Past/Present clients My students at UCM, I suppose.
Question Ok I have been searching and searching for the name of this film and unfortunately noone I know seems to remember the movie. I am hoping you or someone on here would know.
Back in the late 80's (possibly extremely early 90's) there was a film on tv (I dont know what channel). It was about a couple of kids who had a little clubhouse or something that they would bring neighborhood kids into with them. Inside, the three would sit and the main 2 would stare at eachother. the room was dimly lit in red and after a short time of staring the whole place suddenly changed as if a gateway to another dimension or something. The little clubhouse was now a huge palace like area. I remember a checkered floor and the 2 main kids had evil looking costumes. They were robes with the high back cape like thing that had spikes and stuff (Kinda like the fan thing that was popular behind the heads in old kings and queens type of thing. The 2 main kids would ask their "captive" what they always dreamed of having. I know one kid wanted a horse and the 2 gave it to the kid. Later the horse turned evil or dissapeared one and the kid was trapped there supposedly forever. The big plot poit I can remember is a wall that was bubblegum colored and had all the kids they had trapped behind it and their faces and hands were pushing through it trying to get out. The tide turns and all the kids are freed when the 2 main kids start crying or something.
Like I said I cant remember a whole lot of detail as I was pretty young. But I can say that while not really all that scary of a movie, it is the only sci-fi horror film that has ever given me nightmares. I used to dream that I was stuck behind the wall. It scared the crap out of me and I have been searching for it ever since.
Please, if you can help me in any way possible, I would be grateful.
Thanks
Mike Carroll
Pittsburg State University (KS)
Answer Mike, this film is not familiar to me. I did a search of the keywords, and came up with a possible answer, but I am not 100% certain this is the one you are looking for.
This might be "Little Monsters," a 1989 film that starred Fred Savage. The description on the Internet Movie Data Base came the closet to your plot information; however the monsters are under his bed, not in a clubhouse.
There also were some horror films from earlier in the 1980s that dealt with bad dreams, but they would have been even more scary. The only one I located that dealt with kids' dreams was "Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors" from 1987.
If one of these is the film you are looking for, that's great. If not the film you are looking for, I'm sorry I couldn't find it.
If this is the case, I can try again but I'm be going on vacation shortly, so it will have to wait until I return. I will need some more information, however, to have the best chance of locating it--is there anything more you can recall about the film? If not, I'm not sure I can find it, assuming that neither of the above films are the one you are looking for.
