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Review
by
Doug Red
Film:6
:
DVD:9
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| 1980's
Nightmares (AKA Stage Fright),
is a vintage slasher from Australia from the time that slashers
ruled the world of horror film. The story begins in 1963 with
creepy young child Cathy being disturbed by her mom's constant
parade of cheating. After causing a car accident with her mom
and mom's boyfriend of the day, Cathy uses a bit of broken glass
to take out her injured mom. After a brief period of recovery
where her dad impotently confronts her about killing her mom,
the film shifts gears to the present day as Helen Selleck (played
by comely, leggy blonde Jenny Neumann), an aspiring actress who
is up for a part in a new play which is described by it's director
as a comedy about death. Helen's past as the murderous Cathy is
unknown to the young cast and crew of the play; to them she is
a lovely young starlet. When dead bodies start to pile up in and
around the theater, Helen begins to worry that Cathy is in control
again, even as she deals with the pressures of acting and all
that comes with it. Who may be next on the list of death — the
lecherous critic, the hateful director, the catty older actress,
the oversexed playboy male lead, the cute soap star brought onboard
to bring in the TV audience? |
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Producer/director
John D. Lamond has crafted an odd twist on the slasher genre.
By showing us pretty much from the beginning that Cathy and Helen
are one in the same, there is little doubt about who is perpetrating
the murders. Without the mystery, the audience abandons asking
'who' and is left with asking 'why' and 'how' the murders take
place, along with a 'will' Helen/Cathy be stopped. Nightmares
is ultimately a film that straddles Henry:
Portrait of a Serial Killer and Friday
the 13th by taking something of the best from both approaches.
The killer's face is not shown, and the editing uses stalker-cam
shots extensively as well as the killer-obscuring hands holding
murder implements or the killer's shoes, which does indeed play
into the typical slasher tropes of the era. However, since there
is no other logical explanation for Helen's dreams about Cathy
(and her dreams of the murders) other than being the killer herself,
audiences are really left with her as the only logical choice
for who Cathy is. Nightmares also
moves away from the usual giallo template where there is
at least a nominal mystery as to the killer's identity, so the
pleasures of watching the film is seeing how unhinged Helen deals
with everyday life and how various pressures of work and social
life set her off to bring out her inner murderous child. Helen/Cathy
tends to like to work with broken glass (or mirrors) which gives
her a unique weapon with which to dispatch her victims, so when
you see glass or a mirror break, you know somebody is about to
get it. She also seems to be set off usually by the natural approach
of burgeoning young love. The hunky young actor Terry Besanko
(Gary Sweet) is making a gentle play for Helen's affection, and
she seems to welcome it, but as Terry gets closer to Helen, it
seems to allow Cathy and her murderous impulses more control over
her. |
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Nightmares
has some stylish touches that helps to compensate for the lack
of mystery. Granted, the stalker-cam sequences are a bit long
in a few instances, but mostly they detail fairly frightening
moments of stalk-'n'-slash executed well on a low budget. Many
of the murders take place in an alley beside the theater, which
is apparently the hotbed of sexual activity in town because everybody
is doing it there. In each instance the male is killed early on
(without revealing the full monty) and the female is left to scream
and bounce nakedly through the perennially raining alleyway avoiding
the sharp weapons of the killer. If you see a naked woman in that
alleyway, you know what the conclusion will be after much jiggling
and running away. Other kills reveal the inner workings of the
grand old theater where the play is taking place, a labyrinth
of sawdust and dreams where there are many exits but all of them
lead to a piece of broken glass in the jugular (or other vulnerable
body part). |
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| Severin's
new DVD of Nightmares is a topnotch
effort from the label. The print looks clean and colorful with
only a few telltale scratches and blemishes; the transfer is in
the widescreen 2.35:1 aspect ratio enhanced for 16x9 TVs. Audio
is your basic digital mono, adequately clear. |
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Extras
begin with a feature commentary with director/writer/producer
Lamond and documentarian Mark Hartley of Not
Quite Hollywood and Ozploitation
fame. Next up is the short featurette A Brief History of Slasher
Films hosted by Adam Rockoff, which takes a quick (15 min.)
trip through the dark world of the slasher. The piece is spiced
up with clips and poster art from various slasher titles, but
it won't bring amazing new insight to knowledgeable horror fans.
There is also a John Lamond trailer reel featuring a number of
choice films trailers. They include The
ABCs of Love and Sex: Australia Style (appears to be a
"mondo" style sexposé from the late '60s), Felicity
(charming sex comedy with lovely Glory Annen), Pacific
Banana (broad sex farce with some old dude huffing and
puffing his way through the ladies at a resort), Breakfast
in Paris (a respectable looking romantic comedy) and Sky
Pirates (an Indiana Jones style action/adventure fantasy).
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The
disc is rounded out with the lengthy Nightmares
trailer, plus promos for three other Severin titles: Bloody
Moon, Psychomania,
and Horror Express
(the latter to be released by Severin as a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack
this September). 7/10/11 |
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