Genre: Fantasy/Horror
Director: Jonathan Glazer
Writer: Chad Taylor
Based on DC Comics characters
Cast: Johnny Depp, Florence Pugh, John Goodman, Sam Claflin, Aisling Franciosi, Eva Marie Saint, Timothy Spall, Noah Jupe, James Norton, John Gallagher Jr., Grace Van Dien, Gabriella Wilde
Plot:
PROLOGUE - 1923
Roderick Burgess (James Norton) is the spoiled son of a well-to-do family in Sussex, England. A follower of Aleister Crowley, Roderick is obsessed with harnessing the power of immortality. To do this, he attempts to summon the living embodiment of Death but mistakenly summons another being by mistake. We cannot get a good look at it as Burgess keeps the being locked in a dungeon of his mansion, hoping to evade retribution from Death. The decades start to pass as Burgess keeps the being locked in his basement, while continuing to try to summon Death and achieve immortality.
Briefly, in 1939, we see a young woman (Gabriella Wilde) lying in a hospital bed. She is in a coma. We overhear doctors say that she is pregnant.
The decades continue to rapidly pass before we hit 1986. Burgess is now an old man, although he still clings on to hope. The being sits in the shadows, still biding his time. A young woman (Aisling Francisoi) with jet-black hair, dressed like a punk rocker with spunk in her step enters the mansion. She looks lost or as if she is looking for something. Someone. She reaches the basement and sees the being there. He remains in the shadows. “Sister, have you come to save me?” “Dream! Is that you? We’ve been wondering where you went. How did you end up here?” Dream tells his sister that Burgess was trying to summon her but got him by mistake. Death tells him that’s just his luck as she has come here for Mr. Burgess.
Dream pleads for her to not do her job, for once, and give this one to him. She seems annoyed but reminds him that he cannot kill anyone here. He says that he does not want to kill him. We cut to Burgess in bed falling asleep. We hear Dream’s voice: “It begins.” Burgess suddenly wakes and his bedside nurse comes to visit him. When she asks what is wrong, he says he had a terrible dream. As he says this, she pulls out large butcher knife and cuts off her own head, which rolls on to Burgess’s lap. The bodiless head is still talking to him, telling him he better wake up. He does, in a cold sweat and now nervous. He gets up from his bed and makes his way to the door to call his nurse. When he opens the door, Dream (Johnny Depp) is standing before him - tall, pale, ghastly, with glowing eyes. He has sand in his hand and blows it into Burgess’s face. “Wake up.”
“Is it eternal dreaming or eternal waking? Either way, it’s kind of immortality, right?” Death asks. Dream simply shrugs his shoulders and instead thanks his sister. He asks her how long he has been gone and she says 63 years. He says that he has business to attend to.
THE SANDMAN
In upstate New York, Rose Walker (Florence Pugh) is moving into a new home. She doesn’t really know why, upon being asked by her new landlord Hal (John Gallagher Jr.). A streak of red runs through her blonde hair, matching her recent-college-dropout vibe. Hal introduces Rose to one of her flatmates Barbie (Grace Van Dien). While they share the same hair color, Barbie’s bubbling personality makes it clear that her and Rose are nothing alike. Barbie asks if Rose has met Gilbert, the older man who lives in the top flat. Hal tells her she never likely will, he keeps to himself a lot. The next day Rose goes on a job search but to no luck. Upon returning home, she learns that she has already received new mail.In the envelope is a plane ticket to England and a letter that she skims that invites her to a grand home in England’s countryside. While she is off-put by this, she also is feeling rather directionless at the moment so she decides to do it. On the plane over, Rose tries to read some books but can’t focus her attention.
We see a montage of Dream entering people’s dreams and gathering possessions like clothes to cover his naked body and his mask. After this, he pays a visit to his kingdom: the Dreaming. The lurid landscapes are punctuated by a castle on a hill, Dream’s home. He enters the castle to meet his butler Lucien (Timothy Spall) who is joyous to see him. Dream explains to Lucien his capture and then asks what he has missed in the years he was gone. Lucien seems concerned and says that things are not good. Earth was overtaken with sleeping sickness in his absence. Four inhabitants of the Dreaming have escaped to Earth: Brute, Glob, Fiddler’s Green and the Corinthian. Dream says that he expected that from the the other three but Fiddler’s Green, too? He says that he must retrieve them.
Lucien has one last thing: there are rumors of a vortex. The first of this era. Dream confirms and says he has sensed the same thing. Lucien tells him that he must go hunt for it. Dream tells him that it’s a “she”. He says that if you look closely, you can see her observing us. He takes Lucien’s head and turns it towards the camera, them both looking us straight in the eye.
Rose is jolted awake from a nap she was having in the cab over to the manor house. It’s good timing as she has arrived. When she enters the home, the butler introduces her to Unity Kinkaid (Eva Saint Marie), the owner of the home and the writer of the letter. Unity invites Rose to some tea, which she accepts. Unity says that Rose must be wondered why she was invited here.
She explains: for years, she (and others) dealt with the sleeping sickness. In her case, she was asleep for nearly 30 years and didn’t wake up until the 1960s. She has been told that somehow during this time, she became pregnant and gave birth to a baby girl. But because she was in a coma, she never got to meet the girl. Rose looks shocked and asks if she is talking about Rose. Unity says no, no, the baby was born in 1940. She was put up for adoption and the family ended up moving to America. Upon waking and being informed of this news, Unity spent years trying to find her daughter to no luck. Finally, when she had a breakthrough, it was too late: her daughter Miranda had tragically passed in a car accident. When Rose hears that name, she all of a sudden realizes that she is talking about Rose’s parents. Rose asks if this means that Unity is Rose’s real grandmother and she confirms. They share a hug and she tells Rose that she is going to put her in her will as well as send her money monthly. Unity asks if Jed got his letter and Rose grows quiet. She says that she hasn’t heard from Jed in years so she isn’t sure. Unity tells her that’s OK. She tells Rose that she doesn’t need to move here but encourages her to visit often. Rose says that she will. For now, Unity gives Rose an annulet that is a trusted possession of hers.
In a hotel room, there is a knock on the door. A shirtless man (Sam Claflin) with pure-white hair and wearing sunglasses answers and room service is on the other side. He gladly receives his bottle of wine and returns to his privacy. He goes to the bathroom where we find a prostitute tied up at her wrists, ankles and around her mouth. She is pleading for mercy as he takes a swig of wine and removes the rope from her mouth. She begs to let her go, says she will do anything kinky for him just not this. He takes another swig of wine and, from his point-of-view, we see him remove his sunglasses - to her horror. “It’s playtime,” he announces.
Back in America, Rose finds herself bored in her apartment and decides to go out for a drink. She invites Barbie who agrees to go with her. She starts to open up and, the more she drinks, the more emotional she becomes. She talks about her brother Jed, nine years her junior. She hasn’t seen him in six years, since their parents died. He went to distant relatives while she went into foster care. Barbie is surprised to hear all of this and is not really in the mood to hear such a depressing story so she orders more shots. On their way back, Barbie mentions a shortcut Hal showed her through an alley. As they walk through it, they begin to be heckled in the shadows, as multiple men start talking to them. As soon as one begins to emerge, a burly man (John Goodman) with a cane steps in and protects the girls. Barbie exclaims “Gilbert!” and Rose realizes she has finally met her third neighbor.
When they get back to their home, Gilbert offers Rose up for some coffee to his apartment. He is very warm and offers an open ear to her story. As she tells him what she told Barbie (about her brother), he becomes very interested and starts asking more. As the night rolls on, he proposes they go on a road trip tomorrow morning to find that family and to find Jed. She is surprised by this spontaneity but does sound intrigued by this idea. She agrees to it.
Jed (Noah Jupe) wakes up, looking thin and disheveled. In voiceover, we hear Rose tell Gilbert that she hypothesizes that the “family” is getting the government checks for taking care of Jed but that they don’t really care about him. We can see that this is true. We see his surroundings: a barren basement lit by merely one hanging lightbulb. He gets up and urinates on a nearby wall. He starts to sing to himself, while upstairs we see an older couple complain about the noise and yell at him to shut up.
In a dark alley, we see the man with white hair from earlier. He is heckled by a few grifters who say that he is invading their turf. He turns around and approached them. They gang up on him and demand that he leave. One of them becomes annoyed by his sunglasses so they go to remove them. However, then the sunglasses are taken off, the grifter’s fingers are bitten off. The man picks up his sunglasses and we see that he has two additional mouths in the place of where his eyes would be. Those teeth are now covered in blood as chews off the grifter’s fingers. He pulls out a knife and says that they shouldn’t have done that. He proceeds to murder the three men with his knife.
Rose and Gilbert arrive at a hotel in Georgia to stay overnight. The clerk tells them that he is all booked up for a cereal convention the next day. They say that they only need it for one night and will be out before the convention begins. The clerk says that he does have two rooms but they must be gone by 8am in the morning. They agree that they will. As they head up to their rooms, they debate what a cereal convention even is: cereal enthusiasts? Scholars? What is there to even talk about?
We head back to the dreamscape where we see the two creatures from earlier. As they talk, their conversation is interrupted by the sudden appearance of Dream. They looks scared shitless. “Brute, Glob, what are you doing here?” he says. They respond that they were just trying to have some fun in his absence. He chides them and tells them they need to head back to the Dreaming to await their punishment. When Jed wakes up suddenly, he finds one of the walls to the basement has been destroyed and he can see outside. Jed uses this opportunity to escape the home. He runs through the dark and gloomy night, eventually reaching a road. He tries to hitchhike before he can be caught by his guardians. Finally, a car stops and offers him a ride. He looks so relieved and thanks the person. The camera turns to reveal the driver to be the white-haired man.
The next day, the hotel is bustling with visitors for the convention. The hotel clerk tells the organizer that he may have to double up some people in rooms as two visitors have had to extend their stay. This is the least of the organizer’s problems. His keynote speaker has canceled and he has to find a replacement. Various “collectors” start to check in and are reminded to use an alias. Just then, the white-haired man enters the hotel and checks in. Name? The Corinthian. When the organizer overhears this, he knows he has found his speaker, the legend himself. As the Corinthian and the organizer begin to talk to the guests, it becomes clear that this is a convention for serial killers or “collectors” as they’d like to be known. The two of them enter an elevator and Rose and Gilbert are on it. Gilbert looks at the Corinthian and starts to sweat and looks away. When The Corinthian and the organizer get off, Rose comments that some of these cereal enthusiasts are kind of hot.
Gilbert, however, is shaken from seeing the Corinthian. He tells Rose she needs to go to her room immediately. He then writes down a name on a piece of paper and says that if she feels in danger to read this name to herself and not aloud. Back in her room, Rose looks nervous as she tries to sleep but cannot. She starts to see the doorknob move but she feels some security by the lock on the door. However, the door is kicked down by The Corinthian. He says that he knows he was told not to shit wear he eats but she looked too insatiable. Despite her resistance, he strips her of her clothes, ties her up and puts her in the bathtub like he did with the prostitute before. He tells her he has a big speech to make and will be back in no time.
The head of the convention introduces himself in the ballroom and says that it is time for their keynote speaker. He apologizes for their original choice having to cancel but they’ve gotten a damn fine replacement: The Corinthian. The Corinthian starts to pump up the crowd, talking about how they should be proud of what they do. Rose, in the tub, is panicked as she tries to get free. Unsuccessful, she finally remembers the paper that Gilbert gave her but can’t quite remember the name. Orphan? Orpheus? Morpheus! As The Corinthian speaks, he becomes confused by a certain audience member. It is Dream.
Dream stands up and interrupts. He starts to tell the Corinthian about himself: how he was created to be a nightmare that acted as a black mirror for society to reflect everything about itself that humanity will not confront. And now he has been out of the Dreaming for all these years, infecting others with his joy of death. And what has he become? Just another scare? The Corinthian is surprised to see Dream back out of captivity but also angry. The Corinthian says that he is not going to just go back to the Dreaming easily and pulls out his knife. However, Dream tells him he is not going back to the Dreaming. He has made a mistake in the way that he created him and will not make that mistake next time. Since he is Dream’s creation, Dream has the ability to dissolve The Corinthian as well. After kills him, Dream addresses the audience of collectors and tells them that they have all been fed daydreams about their journeys that position them as the heroes of their own stories and absolving them of wrongdoing. No more. Dream breaks this illusion and makes them face the fact that they are all serial killers.
Rose has been let loose and she ventures outside where she finds Gilbert, with Jed in his arms. He says that he heard him sobbing in the trunk of a car and needs to get to a hospital ASAP. Days pass and Rose and Gilbert stay by Jed’s side. He is transferred to a hospital nearer Rose’s hometown. Gilbert tells Rose she looks in rough shape and recommends her to go home for some rest. When she arrives at the house, Hal tells her that she has another letter from England. She finds out that her grandmother has had a stroke. While this breaks her heart, she decides that she has to stay here in America until her brother recovers.
Rose tries to sleep but finds herself falling in and out of dreams. We see some of the dreams of her housemates: Barbie in high-class, Beverly Hills lifestyle and Hal in what is essentially Oz, with him taking the place of Dorothy. Dream and Lucien stand at his castle as they observe a large tornado in the distance. Lucien inquires about it but Dream says that he has a job for him to do: he needs him to go to the boy’s mortal body and bring him back someone while he deals with this.
Rose finally falls asleep and the dreams start to merge as the walls between them collapse. Not just the people in her household but all over the world. Rose’s body starts to float in a dreamscape all of its own. Dream appears and tries to say something but she cannot hear it yet.
Lucien, in the form of a raven, appears at Jed’s hospital room. He tries to talk to Jed but then wonders if he can even hear what he is saying. Gilbert says that the boy cannot but he can. When he inquires about why the raven is here, he finds out that Lucien used to be a human but is now a dream. Gilbert is surprised to hear this and says that he was the opposite. He began as a dream. Believing Lucien to be Death, he begins to lament on his life as a human. He says that he will miss this life and his new friend Rose Walker. Lucien is startled to hear this and asks if he means the vortex. Gilbert becomes startled at the news that Rose is the vortex. Lucien is confused and Gilbert explains: there is a vortex in every era that threatens the world of the dreaming. If Dream does not stop the vortex, human-life as we know it will be unlivable. “Stop?” Lucien asks. Gilbert says that Dream must kill the human body of the vortex, one of the only times he can kill a human. It’s one of the rules.
Rose finds herself flying in her dream, in complete ecstasy. Colors burst on the screen as the darkness surrounding Dream grows closer. Dream finally puts a stop to this as he repeatedly calls Rose’s name. He introduces himself as the lord of this realm and says what he must do: kill Rose because she is the vortex of this era. She pleads for her life, saying that she was only starting to get living. He tells her he must do it. However, Dream is interrupted when someone steps in between them: Gilbert. Gilbert says that he will sacrifice himself to save Rose’s life. “Fiddler’s Green, I was disappointed to see that you left the Dreaming. You are the heart of the Dreaming,” Dream says. Dream tells him that he cannot trade his life for Rose’s since he is a part of the Dreaming. He says that he cannot bring himself to punish his trusted ally, not yet, but that he needs to at least assign him back to his post. Gilbert tearfully gives Rose a hug and says that she made human life a joy. Gilbert then transforms into a vast landscape of forests, mountains, and waterfalls.
Rose, defeated, feels like this is it. Dream nears closer to her and apologizes for what he must do. However, before he can touch her, someone else emerges before them. A beautiful glowing blonde girl (Gabriella Wilde), the same one we saw in the coma earlier. She introduces herself as Unity Kinkaid. Dream seems annoyed at this point and says he knows who she is but asks why she is here. She explains that decades ago, she was to become the vortex. But because he was imprisoned, it must have been passed on to her successors. Therefore she is the vortex that needs to die. She asks Rose if she still has the annulet she gave her and Rose confirms. She then instructs Rose to reach inside herself and give Unity her heart. Rose is obviously hesitant but Unity points out that this is a dream: anything is possible. Rose reaches into her chest and pulls out a crystallized heart, handing it to Unity. Unity hands Dream the heart and says that she is the vortex and that she is ready to die. Unity places it into herself and bursts into a ray of light.
Rose is shocked by all of this but Dream helps her up. She asks if he is still going to kill her and he says no. He doesn’t even understand fully what just happened but the vortex is gone and Rose’s life has been spared. He tells her she must leave the Dreaming now. He will ensure that her brother will regain consciousness in the morning, as her family has suffered enough. “Goodbye, Rose Walker.”
Six Months Later
Jed has moved in with his sister. They are outside riding their bikes at a park, taking in the scenery. Rose requests they come to a stop, as she is getting out of breathe. He obliges and they park their bikes and lay down in the grass. “Jed...did I ever tell you about this strange dream I had a few months back?”
THE END
Credits Scene: Dream walks down a street with Death. He explains to her everything that happen. When Death hears about the crystal heart, she says this could do something with Desire. He says that sounds right. Perhaps they had something to do with Unity getting pregnant while in a coma, just to mess with him. He will not take forget this. Death says that she sees someone in the distance that looks like the person she's looking for. She tells her brother best of luck on getting through to Desire. He tells her goodbye. He then enters a gallery where we see various sigils, representing the seven Endless siblings: Dream, Death, Desire, Despair, Delirium, Destruction and Destiny.
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