What are these 2 movies

MOVIE 1: I originally saw it on TV around 1980. Begins on a battlefield, a young man is struggling to maintain consciousness, but fails. When he comes to, he has developed the ability to “dream effectively,” meaning that whatever he dreams has actually occurred when he awakes, sometimes with disastrous results. For example, it is suggested that he dream about solving overcrowding, and when he awakes, a significant potrtion of the earth’s population has died over the preceding several years due to some disease. On another occasion he tries to dream about the miserable rainy weather in the Pacific northwest, and upon waking the area is in the midst of a many-year-long drought. A scientist tries to manipulate this ability, and eventually gain the ability himself, but in the process he learns that when the guy at the beginning was losing consciousness, he actually died. However, just before he died he started dreaming, and the dream continued after he died. The scientist was just a character in his dream, and this realization drove him mad.

MOVIE 2: This one I saw in a quasi art/foreign film theater around 1982. All I remember is that it featured these aliens who had a power that when the brought somneone to orgasm, that person would die/vanish or something. It was not a porn flick. I also believe it had some punk/new wave themes. Don’t remember anything else.

Any ideas?

The first is “Lathe of Heaven,” which was only recently released to video.

Don’t know about the other one.

The second one sounds like (and almost certainly is)Liquid Sky.

Damn you guys are quick. And absolutely spot on on both counts. Thank you.

Reading about “Lathe” clears up a few things. I had just happened upon it on TV. Later, I described the storyline to many people (made for good conversation given the right -ahem- mood) and no one I talked to had ever seen it. Makes sense if it was only televised briefly on PBS.

Liquid Sky, as I remember it, was wierd, but I wouldn;t recommend it. As I was trying to describe it I was thinking about a miniature space ship, but thought, “Them durn neurons must be misfiring again.” What has stuck with me about this flick was the “revenge” scene near the end where the one chick got the other (alien?) chick off to get rid of her.

Thanks again.