House of Dreams (DVD)

A writer is haunted by dreams of a strange old house he visited once in his youth. The dreams become more vivid as his life begins to fall apart around him. Realizing his misfortunes and the old house must be connected, he visits it for the first time in years. What he finds there will make him question his already decaying sanity...

House of Dreams is one of the most unusual products of the early 60s drive-in horror era. This obscure, almost completely forgotten feature is more like an avant-garde film than a haunted house AIP picture. Joseph A. Ziemba of the entertainment website Bleeding Skull has called it a "sincere, chilling, and imaginative mini-epic." With its weird camera angles and eerie electric organ soundtrack, writer-director-producer-star Robert Berry was clearly influenced by Herk Harvey's Carnival of Souls (1962), which was released the year prior. Filmed in Decker, Indiana, House of Dreams also features future CNN anchor David Goodnow in a small role (Goodnow was a Decker native at the time.)

BONUS: The Unfinished Experimental Films of Stephen Kaplan (1969): Alpha Video's Stephen Kaplan presents two unfinished short films from his days as an experimental avant-garde filmmaker in the late 1960s. Kaplan honed his use of moody lighting, handheld camera work, and inventive editing techniques making pre-MTV music videos for major record labels. The first film, Rite, shot at Allaire State Park in New Jersey, features Anne Lewis and Joseph Teller. Today, Lewis is an award-winning documentarian whose work deals with human rights and social justice. The second, an untitled work filmed in Asbury Park and Lakewood, NJ, stars Susan Doukas. Years later, Doukas would have a major role in the renowned experimental feature Liquid Sky (1982).

• horror