Rating: 3.5/5
Hooptober 2.0 | 10/31 | Countries 5/5 | Canada
So on his Nightmare through the evening fog Flits the squab Fiend o’er fen, and lake, and bog; Seeks some love-wilder’d maid with sleep oppress’d, Alights, and grinning sits upon her breast. — Erasmus Darwin, Night-Mare
A teenage boy named Tim has nightmares in his bed. Sweating and convulsing, he sees men in hooded cloaks torturing a woman to force a confession. His shouting wakes his grandmother, Agatha, who checks on him and finds his bed empty.
Mandy and Roy sit by a campfire, camping by a lake in a rock quarry. Eyes watch them from a rundown shack. Mandy wants to leave, so Roy uses some tunes to lighten the mood. While he steps away, Mandy sneaks into the shack to jump out and scare Roy. Roy calls for her, and she screams. He enters the shack to find Mandy’s bloodied body. Unseen hands drive a nail-ridden board into Roy’s face.
Tim rushes inside the house and jumps into bed, jeans and Member’s Only jacket still on. Agatha emerges from the shadows to question Tim on his whereabouts. He details his nightmare, the same one he has night after night.
The following day, a man snorkeling at the quarry discovers Roy’s dead body. Sheriff Hank Walden calls Dr. Sam Cordell to inform him about Roy’s murder and Mandy’s rape. He arrives at the hospital OR to find local reporter Laura Kincaid crassly photographing the scene, with Mandy’s parents embracing in tears and Sam filled with quintessential Cassavetes rage.
The local library/museum depicts a similar torture scene to the one in Tim’s nightmares. While closing the building, someone rapes and murders the librarian, Carolyn. Who is doing this? How do Tim’s visions tie in? Why is Sam so dodgy around reporters?
Cassavetes had a hand in the script, giving it a more human quality. I usually have a problem when movies don’t give anyone’s names. This movie has the opposite problem — every person on-screen gets a name, so it’s hard to tell who is important and who is just there.
The film does not mince details regarding the horrendous rapes. The filmmakers don’t show them, but the doctors provide more than enough details. They use slow motion during the kills, which reminds me of Lynch.
This whole movie has Twin Peaks vibes. It’s more overt and explainable, but it’s still weird. All the subplots would be solid fodder for a TV pilot, but they add so much noise.
Despite how messy this is, it’s such a fascinating watch. I would only recommend this to horror fans so they can see how usual this movie is.
** Stray Thoughts / Spoilers **
- Sam ogling his daughter’s naked body. Fine.
- The kid who throws the newspaper at the cat deserves a lethal injection.
- The library has a cheap, shitty version of Fuseli’s The Nightmare. I guess they couldn’t get a print anywhere? The painting features an incubus crouched on a woman’s chest.
- FM’s Lost and Found plays during a scene, and it’s so heavy and out of place, but it fucking rules.
- John Cassavetes says “sperm” more in this movie than I’ve heard in all other movies combined.
- Samson’s Vice Versa has a killer guitar riff, despite the metal trash vocals.