Nightmare (2005)

the audience applauded

Fantastic!

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

First of all, a quick message to the crew of the movie. When you go onto a site like IMDb, where people can click on the user-name you made up in two seconds by mashing on the keyboard to make up good reviews for your own movie, it is a good idea to maybe review some other titles first? Just so you don't, you know, look like you are shamelessly self-promoting. Because that makes you look like a scab.Anyway, I digress.Our hero of the story, a film student who is celebrating his latest well-received project, goes to a party and meets a girl. Within about an hour of meeting the girl, the two bump ugly for most of the night. Waking up the next morning, they find a mysterious camcorder. And on the camcorder is what appears to be the two of them committing a murder. Rather than do the logical thing and either turn it in to the police or destroy it, our hero decides to use not just the concept, but the camera its self for his latest script.Now. This is the best way I can describe the movie: naked. This movie is very naked. Softcore porn naked. In fact, this movie could pretty much be described as such with a violent bent. Nearly every character in the movie struts about naked, with most of the primaries including the two protagonists strutting about in their birthday suits for at least a quarter of the movie, in many scenes to where it becomes farcical. In one instance, the main character goes out into a hallway and strikes up a conversation with another character in the buff for no apparent reason.But then again, a lot of things in this movie seem to happen for no apparent reason. Once you get past the point where they discover the camera and tape, the film begins to get shaky. And by the middle of the film, the plot completely derails. Where the main characters are and what their motivations are become fuzzier and fuzzier. And that is if they make it to the end of the movie without completely vanishing. Character development, save their development towards an inevitable nude scene is practically non-existent. And where it does exist, it goes off into irrelevant tangents and confused "twists". Ultimately, little if anything gets resolved. Even the initial plot starter--the mysterious tape--is never explained or largely even touched upon.Another core aspect of the movie is the violence. Just as prevalent as the nudity and often accompanying it are violent scenes that are literally senseless. This is not at all enhanced by poor effects that often seem better suited for some D-grade slasher or monster movie. It contributes nothing to the plot and is clearly made only to shock and disturb.Nightmare is, in summation a pretentious and cheap shlock film. It almost seems as if it were written and directed by a pubescent pre-teen, claiming some shaky premise of artistic merit and using his time behind the camera to get as much fake blood and as many people naked on-screen as possible. If you want to watch a movie in the style this attempts, go watch Jacobs Ladder. It is in far, far better taste.

Oh boy, here we have another over-ambitious young filmmaker who single-handedly intends to restore everything that's wrong with nowadays horror cinema…Pardon my cynicism but we all heard this before and – usually – these youngsters fail to live up to their own expectations. For his debut film, videostore clerk turned director Dylan Bank comes up with a psychedelic but immensely confusing story about a film student who makes a movie about his own nightmare that miraculously appear to be taped on camera every morning when he wakes up. The idea is admirable and the film does feature a handful of nice touches, but Dylan Bank never really seems to realize that his visions and interpretations on horror AREN'T groundbreaking or even that shocking. This type of 'mental assault'-cinema is the territory of genius directors like David Lynch, Alejandro Jodorowsky and Shinya Tsukamoto, only their films are more fascinating and truly a lot more disturbing! The story material has potential but "Nightmare" lacks involvement and commitment with the characters whereas, with Lynch, you pretty much feel like you're inside the protagonists' heads and you fear what they fear! The film often just exists of blurry and roughly edited images that make no sense or add nothing to the basic premise at all, but Bank uses them (as padding?) anyway. New characters and locations are introduced randomly and they simply disappear again without any form of coherence. Also, for being a new type of horror film, "Nightmare" doesn't contain much atmosphere, scary moments or even violent images. There's quite a lot of nudity (the non-artistic kind), the acting performances are acceptable and the use of uncanny music is very good. Worth a look if you're in an experimental mood once.

It has taken me a little while to write about this film after I saw what I believe was it's East Coast Premier in Oct. at the Eerie Horror Fest (a new and remarkably well run film fest.) This is the first comment I've made on IMDb and feel this film is important for those who love surreal art, horror films, or the process of creating art -which leads right back into the surreal (secret deep, dark thoughts) anyways and now you're trapped in twisted, fun part of your imagination which is a neat place to be! The film is hard to describe because it deals with human impulses of sex, and drive for success, and violence and all sorts of dormant notions in the quiet places inside all of us - by taking us into an actual nightmare (how can you really describe a nightmare and get all the chilling feelings on IMDb?). It is a film that needs to be experienced.The acting is great - also it is a film about actors so again the nightmare cycle is already in full swing. Its a story of actualizing your dreams and creating expression - you see the tight interplay of ideas already? Smart, smart pop-psychological masterpiece. The horror aspects are brutal and disturbing (several times during the film I thought 'I'm imagining this whole thing...right?) A certain giddy sense of absurdity and feverish mania is also a strong part of what makes this movie (or film...or movie...or film) so great.Easily the best part about this film is that it feels like a dream...the sort of dream only hinted at by the title. It is strange, well crafted work that made me quite, quite satisfied.

Twists you will never imagine make every minute of this movie intriguing and fascinating to to watch. The acting is amazing and the director has creating a thrilling masterpiece. As you learn more about the characters in this film, things change, making you wonder if you were paying enough attention. Jason Scott Campbell is an amazing actor who keeps the level of intensity high as he winds his way through the maze of events in this film. You will be going between thinking he is the only sane one in the film to wondering how people could not know he is totally nuts. Or is it him? Or another director? Or the college professor? The cinematographer? Everyone is suspect at some time during the movie. This is one nightmare I would be screaming to wake up from.