Review of The Nightmare (2010) by Brett B — 11 Jul 2015

Between this movie and his earlier work, ROOM 237, director Rodney Ascher has firmly established himself as one of the most interesting, idiosyncratic voices working in the documentary film world today.

THE NIGHTMARE is a deeply chilling piece of work, a truly haunting and unnerving work which is more effective at weirding its audience out than many straight-up horror movies, and it comes complete with some legitimately frightening boogeyman-type imagery.

Whereas some documentaries make stabs at being objective to some degree, Ascher goes full on subjective, rendering the re-enactments of his subjects' experiences in highly cinematic and stylized ways, and even the interview segments are staged with a degree of visual craft.

Rarely do we get flatly-shot interviews, here; most are presented in ways that visually tie into the dark subject matter at hand. It's a totally engrossing concoction, and if there was one criticism to be had, it would be that there is little emphasis on the clinical and scientific basis for the experiences presented; granted, a reason for that is because nobody is really sure what the causes of sleep paralysis are - or why it manifests itself in such malicious ways - but some more lip service could have been paid to the medical community's attempt to grapple with the issue.

Setting that aside, THE NIGHTMARE is essential viewing for documentary fans, and even horror disciples will probably find it satisfying eerie.