Nightmare Man

Trademark After Dark Films

As I said in part one, “B” movies have some kind of low budget charm. There’s normally something fun about them. I have a couple friends with whom I enjoy watching bad movies. We had a specific day last summer that we sat down to watch the supposed worst movies ever made. It was probably the most fun I had that entire summer. Jokes flowed free like fine wine on tap from a fire truck. Sometimes we don’t even have to make jokes because the movie itself is so incredibly absurd that neither the film makers nor the audience can take it seriously. If this is what you’re looking for, I suggest Troma films: The Toxic Avenger or Class of Nuk ‘em High among others. So normally as long as your mind is set to the right mood for viewing you can enjoy just about any film. Even Catwoman was bearable if you rented it with the full knowledge and expectation that it was the most god-awful thing in existence. In this mindset you prevent yourself from looking for redeeming qualities. Nightmare Man may actually fit into this category of crappy movies that are fun to make fun of, but not when they’re in the company of the other Horrorfest movies.

Trademark After Dark Films

I was prepared to see something cool, maybe not good, but at least an effort. This movie felt like they didn’t even try. The script is of such poor quality that it could have been punched out in a weekend using crayon. Usually with bad movies part of the charm stems from the fact that the premise is so insane that it’s automatically funny or campy. The premise in this one is not insane; it’s just bad. Starting within the first twenty seconds that I was watching this movie, clear up until the time that I stopped, I kept thinking, “This looks just like Cinemax porn.” I got tired of watching, fetched my laptop and started playing around on the internet to help make the movie experience in the ball park of tolerable. A little solitaire makes everything better. Through the use of imdb.com I discovered that the creative team behind Nightmare Man including some of the cast has a history in film together… on Cinemax porn. What were the people at After Dark Films thinking? “Let’s go get the people who make the nudie movies on cable.” I assume what happened was they ran out of money and wanted to keep the “8 films to die for” gimmick. I applaud After Dark Films for keeping a gimmick that works. It makes it more fun to have an annual running theme. Granted it’s only been going on for two years now, but if they deviate now they lose credibility within their fan base. However, it’s hard for me to believe that they couldn’t find a better script even if it did need to be low budget.

Tiffany Shepis, Trademark After Dark Films

To sum up the acting in this flick I will use two terms: over and under acting. Some of the people have no emotion at all while others try their best and completely overshoot their target. It’s like using a bow and arrow to shoot an apple of a person’s head then accidentally throwing a grenade at the tree. For you Troma fans, the actress playing the part of Mia, Tiffany Shepis a low budget scream queen, started her career with Tromeo and Juliet as Peter. Frankly I don’t even remember which one she was within the group, but who would want to be known for their work in this train wreck? The actress in the main roll of Ellen is Blythe Metz. Her performance is best described as an exercise in the unbelievable. The only reason I bring her up is because there is a youtube video of her trying to show off her ability to be Wonder Woman. What do you guys think? Here it is.

The story in this movie revolves around Ellen acquiring a mask that gives her nightmares about some guy trying to brutalize her while he’s wearing the mask. Then she thinks the nightmare man is becoming real and it’s her fault. In order to get rid of the nightmares she thinks she has to get rid of the mask, but it keeps showing up, I think, because of the efforts of her Brazilian husband, Bill, played by Luciano Szafir. She starts going to therapy, so forth and so on. This is all at the beginning of the movie. The body of the movie is spent when they run out of gas in the woods on their way to some place that no one cares about. They are suddenly chased around by the nightmare man.

SPOILER WARNING

I stopped watching the movie part way through, but I was filled in on what happens. Apparently the nightmare man was a guy hired by Brazilian Bill to terrorize his wife while wearing the mask. They end up in a conveniently placed home in the woods with a few people who serve no other purpose than to die. Then later the actual nightmare man shows up. I don’t know if it’s the worst movie I’ve ever seen, but it’s in the running.

The Verdict: If you’re collecting the Horrorfest movies, I understand if you buy this one to complete the set. But, if you don’t have the first 2006 Horrorfest then buy them first. For non-collectors, don’t buy this movie, don’t rent this movie, don’t even watch it in passing. You’ll feel better if you don’t.

Tags: After Dark Films, Blythe Metz, Horror, Horrorfest, Luciano Szafir, Movies, Nightmare Man, Tiffany Shepis, Wonder Woman

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 1st, 2008 at 3:08 pm and is filed under Horror, Movies, Vincent. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.