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Plot

This visually inventive French sci-fi/fantasy tale began winning a cult following practically from the moment it was released. Krank (Daniel Emilfork) is a foul, monstrous creature who lords over the inhabitants of a small island; Krank's emotional being is every bit as ugly as his physical personage, largely because he does not have the ability to dream. However, he has developed a machine that can drain the dreams of others from their heads, and he devotes himself to kidnapping children from a nearby harbor town so that he can steal their pleasant dreams. Denree (Joseph Lucien) is one of the children who has been spirited off to the island; Krank discovers that he's an even bigger problem than he imagined when his big brother One (Ron Perlman), a harpoon-wielding mountain of a man, sets out on a rescue mission. Once he arrives on Krank's island, One encounters a brain in a fish tank that has learned to talk, a group of clones who can't decide who is the original, a pair of Siamese twins, an octopus that guides a group of orphaned thieves, and a girl named Miette (Judith Vittet) who says she can guide One to Denree.
MPAA Rating:
R for disturbing and grotesque images of violence and menace.
Genre(s):
Action,Drama,Fantasy,Science Fiction
Run Time:
112min.
Theatrical Release Date:
12/15/1995
DVD Release Date:
10/19/1999
Distributor(s):
Sony Classics
Director(s):
Themes:
Heroic Mission,Daring Rescues
Tone:
Atmospheric,Bleak,Disturbing,Dreamlike,Fanciful,Hallucinatory,Clever,Whimsical,Stylized
Keywords:
captive,captor,castle,escape,freak,gangster,kidnapping,mad-scientist,orphan
Language:
English,French