BAD DREAMS

In 1975, a cult called Unity Fields commits mass suicide by fire at the behest of its psychopathic leader, Franklin Harris. Cynthia Weston, a child in the cult, refuses to commit suicide and is the sole survivor, but remains comatose.

Thirteen years later, Cynthia awakens from her coma in the hospital. Plagued by disturbing flashbacks of her childhood, Cynthia is forced to attend experimental group therapy sessions for borderline personality disorder at the facility, led by Dr. Alex Karmen. Cynthia is soon visited by visions of a burnt Harris, who beckons her to end her life and attacks fellow patients. In one vision, patient Lana, is drowned by Harris in a baptismal ceremony; moments later, she is found dead in the swimming pool. Cynthia's roommate, Miriam, subsequently dies after leaping from a window in an apparent suicide. Alex reassures Cynthia she is not to blame for the deaths.

Ed and Connie, patients who are lovers, are later killed by walking together into the blades of an industrial fan in the utility room of the hospital. Ralph Pesco, a troubled masochist patient with a tendency for violent outbursts, becomes enamored with Cynthia; finding himself on the edge after the deaths of his fellow members in the group, he knocks down a policeman who was watching him, and goes to talk to Cynthia, who was spending the night with Dr. Karmen in order to feel safe. When he is distracted, Ralph and Cynthia take an elevator to the basement of the hospital. There, during an apparent episode of psychosis and violence, he commits suicide by stabbing himself multiple times.

Awakening from sedation after the incident, Cynthia finds Harris sitting in her room, calling her his "love child," and urging her to commit suicide. Shortly after, Harris visits Gilda, a clairvoyant patient. Instead of allowing him to kill her, Gilda drinks formaldehyde, effectively killing herself. Meanwhile, Karmen discovers his corrupt peer, Dr. Berrisford, has intentionally laced the therapy group's drugs with psychogenic substances, in the hope that it will effectively make the patients suicidal, and thus corroborate Berrisford's research. Alex realizes that Cynthia's suicide is the ultimate goal for Berrisford, so he orders the nurses to call the police and Detective Wasserman, an investigator on the Unity Fields incident. Alex confronts Cynthia, insisting her visions of Harris are not real. He is surprised by Berrisford from behind, who knocks him out and takes Cynthia with him.

Karmen wakes up and pulls the hospital's emergency alarm. Cynthia flees to the rooftop, where Alex finds her standing on the ledge, with Berrisford at her side, encouraging her to jump. She leaps from the building, but before hitting the ground, awakens back at the house in which the Unity Fields members committed suicide. There, she is confronted by Harris, who welcomes her; however, it is only a vision, and she awakens to Alex holding her by the arm as they both dangle over the ledge. Berrisford, knowing that Dr. Karmen has discovered his plot, stabs Alex's hand and attempts to push him to his death as well. His attempt is thwarted by the arrival of the police and Wasserman, who help Alex and Cynthia to climb back. Berrisford uses the distraction to grab one of the cop's revolvers, and readily insists that Dr. Karmen is responsible for altering the patients' medication and the suicides. Alex explains to the police that things are the other way around and shows how Berrisford stabbed his hand. Knowing that all of his schemes have failed, Berrisford pulls the stolen revolver and pretends to commit suicide, but quickly points the gun towards Alex. Before he shoots, Cynthia finally confronts her fear of Harris, realizing that Berrisford is a totally different person, and reacts by charging and pushing him over the ledge to his death.

The authorities retreat from the rooftop. While being comforted there by Dr. Karmen, Cynthia has another brief vision of Harris climbing back from the edge of the building and trying to grab her, which scares her for a second. Alex shakes Cynthia and reassures her that her nightmares are over and there is nothing to fear anymore. She calms down and they both tightly embrace one another.

Cynthia is manipulated toward suicide by both her visions and Dr. Berrisford, culminating in a rooftop confrontation. She leaps from the building but awakens from the vision, rescued by Dr. Karmen.

The climax reveals that the real threat was not supernatural but orchestrated by Dr. Berrisford, who drugged the patients to induce suicidal tendencies, exploiting Cynthia’s trauma for his own research. Cynthia's confrontation with her past and her ability to resist Harris's psychological grip mark her survival and recovery, closing the chapter on her cult-induced nightmares.