EDITOR’S NOTE: Night Cries was on the CBS Late Movie on January 8 and July 9, 1982.
Jeannie (Susan Saint James) and Mitch Haskins (Michael Parks) have just had a baby. Or at least that’s what they thought, as when Jeannie wakes up, in a room with a woman who has just lost a child, she’s shocked to learn that her baby has died.
She’s sure that her daughter was taken from her and keeps having horrific dreams of a house and being attacked by Nurse Green (Delores Dorn). She decides to work with a sleep expert, Dr. Whelan (William Conrad), to discover what exactly has happened.
Those dreams are so amazing. Jeannie dreams a baby carriage has gone into water and when she saves it, it’s a grandfather clock. Directed by Richard Lang (Don’t Go to Sleep) and written by Brian Taggart (The Spell), this TV movie uses those dreams to make use of its low budget and become really odd in the best way.
I also am amazed that the house in her dreams gets explored and its owner, Mrs. Delesande (Cathleen Nebitt), just lets her in. The 1970s were way too forgiving of people who come to your home and say, “I’ve been dreaming of my dead child in your house” and they just let the dreamer explore the home. This would never happen today, right?
Then again, when you have real skeletons in your closet, let people look around.
Also: James and Conrad’s scene where they argue about her dream is really intense. The bedside manner of 70s made for TV doctors is really not good.
You can watch this on YouTube.
