From the crazy to the comic to the scary, cinematic minds have often relied on the power of dreams to express important elements of plots, introduce surreal story layers, and add new dimensions to characters. Ever find yourself pondering movie-induced dreams or dream-induced movies from the comfort of your bed? We’ve compiled some of the best dreams from movies over the past several decades. Check out our list of the best movies with dream scenes for both entertainment and motivation!
15. Vanilla Sky (2001)
In the opening of Vanilla Sky, Tom Cruise sprints across an empty Times Square, and the absence of street noise is enough to give you chills. David Aames finds himself alone in the entire city. He appears as though he’d gladly pay a hefty sum to have everyone return.
It’s a nightmare that establishes David’s struggle with distinguishing what’s real. Cameron Crowe blends romance with the dread that your own mind can’t be relied on, then keeps shifting the meaning of scenes you believed you’d grasped.
14. Earth Girls Are Easy (1988)
In this late 80s gem, Jeff Goldblum, Jim Carrey, and Damon Wayans play aliens who crash-land in the California pool of Geena Davis, who recently caught her fiancé cheating.
Davis’s dream scene is replete with all kinds of aliens overtaking her house and neighborhood, dry ice smoke, oversized objects, auto-tuned voices, a cheating fiancé with an oxygen helmet, and more, which makes Earth Girls Are Easy a cool fictional dream movie.
13. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)
Walter Mitty can transform a boring moment into a full-blown action movie inside his head. Ben Stiller portrays a photo editor whose daydreams allow him to be daring, particularly around his coworker Cheryl, played by Kristen Wiig.
In one wild sequence, an argument with his boss bursts out of the office and turns into a chase across New York. The humor lies in how far his imagination can travel while his body remains in place.
These are waking fantasies, so the tone is far lighter than the nightmares found elsewhere on this list. If you’ve ever replayed the ideal response long after a conversation was over, you’ll relate to Walter.
12. Dumb & Dumber (1994)
Jim Carrey’s beloved “dumb” character Lloyd is supposed to be driving but instead falls asleep fantasizing about returning the briefcase. In the dream, his love interest greets him with doves and hugs.
After a round of Carrey’s jokes, he comically dream-fights other potential suitors in a restaurant and then has a disturbing make-out session until a semi wakes him, ending Dumb & Dumber.
11. Shutter Island (2010)
In yet another trippy Leonardo DiCaprio movie, dreams and altered reality make up the plot of Shutter Island. While viewers eventually learn that the story is neither paranormal nor an altered reality, the scenery and plot twists make it a unique psychological thriller.
In the dream sequence, the audience is introduced to some of the lead character’s guilt and repression issues, foreshadowing what is to come. The rest of the film is disturbing, and if being a bit restless on your mattress is not your thing, skip this film.
10. Dream Scenario (2023)
Entering other people’s dreams sounds enjoyable – until they begin holding you responsible for what happens in them.
In the role of Paul Matthews, a college professor, Nicolas Cage keeps appearing in the dreams of people he doesn’t know. At the start, he mostly just stands there while terrible things unfold around him. That helpless presence is a brilliant joke: even inside someone else’s nightmare, Paul still can’t be the hero.
Later, the version of him in the dreams becomes violent. Those who once asked him for a selfie now dread the real man, who has no control over what his sleeping counterpart does. Cage portrays Paul’s craving for attention so awkwardly that you might wince before the dream sequences even frighten you.
9. The Big Lebowski (1998)
The Big Lebowski is a 90s cult classic in which “The Dude” stars in the classic Gutterball dream scene. The psychedelic bowling-themed dream opens with Saddam Hussein as the shoe clerk, followed by a checkered scene with synchronized dancing ladies.
The Dude becomes a bowling ball, then is chased by red spandex men with giant scissors, until he wakes up running down a street and gets arrested.
8. Mulholland Drive (2001)
At Winkie’s diner, a man recounts a dream to his friend. He was seated right there, frightened of something behind the building. They head outside to investigate, and David Lynch turns a brief walk into a seriously ominous idea.
That scene is a great place to begin with Mulholland Drive, since it doesn’t require any explanation to unsettle you. The remainder of the film centers on Betty, an eager young actress, and a woman with amnesia who calls herself Rita. You’ll find plenty to debate in the way their stories come together. The diner scene is easier to agree on: you might wish they had stayed at the table.
7. Raising Arizona (1987)
Raising Arizona is a classic Nicolas Cage movie in which a cop and criminal fall in love and decide to steal a baby from a well-to-do furniture store owner who had multiple children.
After the kidnapping, Cage has a guilt-ridden, foretelling nightmare about a “Lone Biker of the Apocalypse” who leaves a trail of fire blazing down desert highways.
6. Dumbo (1941)
Disney’s classic floppy-eared elephant experiences quite a trippy dream in the original version of the film. After accidentally consuming champagne, Dumbo and Timothy share a hallucinatory, pink-tinted dream with the ubiquitous “pink elephants on parade”.
Perhaps it was a warning about the dangers of alcohol consumption, but whatever the intended message, its purpose in the Disney flick has surely confused generations of movie watchers.
5. The Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
The cult classic Nightmare on Elm Street movie plays on the fear of nightmares and the uncontrollability of sleep. Serial killer Freddy kills victims in their dreams, which results in real-life death.
The original movie can still keep you up at night, or make you think twice about the nap during class.
4. Inception (2010)
Nearly the entire movie consists of elaborately designed dream scenes, so picking just one scene from Inception is quite difficult. Inarguably, it’s a game-changer in film history. However, the “hallway fight” scene is often cited as the movie’s greatest triumph as it was made without the aid of CGI. With the dream in a dream in a dream in progress, Joseph Gordon-Levitt battles an agent in the hotel hallway while Dileep Rao fights motorcyclists off in the previous level.
The wild car chase scene creates chaos on Gordon-Levitt’s stage, resulting in wild gravity shifts during the hotel hallway fight and a stunning picture. The collapsing dream and escape from limbo scenes also prove very intriguing.
3. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Joel pays to have his memories of his ex erased, but then changes his mind while the procedure is already in progress. Bad timing. Jim Carrey portrays Joel with a shyness that is a far cry from Lloyd’s daydream in Dumb & Dumber, while Clementine (Kate Winslet) helps him conceal himself in memories where she doesn’t belong.
These scenes unfold in Joel’s sleeping mind during the erasure, which gives Michel Gondry the chance to make a beach house crumble and place a grown man back in his childhood kitchen. The strange scale of that kitchen is amusing at first. Panic sets in as Joel runs out of places to hide, still hoping he can preserve something of their time together.
2. Inside Out (2015)
Pixar gives Riley’s dreams a film studio of their own, complete with sets and a crew. While she is asleep, Joy and Sadness attempt to wake her so that the Train of Thought can start running again. Their first plan involves a dog costume, which turns out about as well as you would expect.
Then Bing Bong helps bring in Jangles, an enormous clown drawn from Riley’s worst fears.
The scene makes good use of a simple joke: dreams feel convincing while you are in them, even when the production is a mess. You get to see the panic behind the scenes, while Riley has no idea who is running the show.
1. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
The Wizard of Oz is one of the true classics when it comes to movies with dream scenes; nearly everyone has seen Dorothy get whisked away in a tornado to Munchkinland and search for a way home. As she encounters various flawed characters that represent people in her life, she discovers that Oz is an illusion and she can go home.
Dorothy then wakes in her bed at home, revealing the entire movie was a dream.
Because the true nature and purpose of dreams remain a mystery, they are perfect canvases for the fantasy world of movies. Directors thus utilize films with dreams as windows to subconscious thoughts, the future, and even as alternate planes of reality capable of affecting “real life”. Whatever your take on dreams, films can offer insight, as well as mystery and even comic relief.
What are your favorite movies with dream scenes? Share with us in the comments!