Day of the Nightmare

Entertaining in a strange sort of way. Not sure who the editor was on this film but the husband was seen driving a particular car in one scene but in the same scene after a short break when you see his wife opening a trunk low and behold he's in a different car??

Near the end of the movie when the police are chasing him in the dark dressed as a woman, low and behold he opoens a gate and its broad daylight. The film was littered with these amusing mistakes. Having noticed these badly put together scenes, I spent most of the movie looking for more, in that this kept me entertained when the actual script did not.

Contrary to what the plot summary says, this is NOT about a woman returning from the dead! The story concerns Jonathan Crane, an artist with a decidedly sick way of getting his models in the mood to pose. The movie opens with Jonathan having a topless lovely lay across a couch, then binding her ankles and wrists and beating her back with a belt while wailing, "Unclean!Unclean!" Ooohkaaay. To top THAT off, Jonathan's wife is being stalked by a mysterious woman who slips into the house and chases the wife out and through some woods. The wife is baffled as to who the woman is, but she's someone closer to Mrs. Crane than she realizes . . .

A weird psychosexual drama with all kinds of dysfunctional kinkiness. In between the story concerning Jonathan's kinkiness and the mystery woman are some sleazy scenes including an orgy and a flashback revealing an adolescent sex encounter between Jonathan and an older woman that indicates where he got his taste for whipping from. Grotesquely fascinating.

"Day of the Nightmare" is a dandy psycho picture. Now I am not saying it's a great film, but in light of the very low budget, it's awfully entertaining.

The film begins with two strange events. The first is when a couple are heard arguing violently in their apartment and the police are called. The couple is gone, but their dog has been viciously kicked to death--and the police assume the woman was murdered since some neighbor saw a man hauling away a large trunk nearby. The second involves a woman stalking another lady--you think there's going to be a murder, but a friend shows up and frightens away the attacker. The problem is, that the intended victim doesn't know she was almost killed. How does all this fit together? See the film for yourself to find out.

For 1965, this is a rather scandalous film and must have caught audiences by surprise. I guessed the surprise twist--but that is because now in 2013, practically anything goes on TV and in films! My only serious complaint is that this twist was revealed a bit too early and impaired the suspense just a bit. Still, worth seeing and really strange for the time in which it was made.

Have you seen Brian De Palma's "Dressed To Kill"? It would appear that De Palma was "inspired" by this little low budget thriller. If you agree that "Fatal Attraction" ripped off "Play Misty For Me", then you'll likely feel the same about De Palma's 1980 effort.

There seemed to be two purposes to this little oddity - firstly, a rather flat and ham-fisted attempt (surely shot on a miniscule budget) at a 'psychological thriller' and secondly (and far more interestingly) what was basically a promotional reel for lead actress Beverly Bain.

Ms Bain occupies about 40% of the screen time and when I say 'occupies', I mean she gets sole use of the camera's time. We see her go to bed, get up, tidy up in the kitchen, walk round her house, ascend the stairs, descend the stairs. All with no one else in shot.

IMDB states that she had never made a movie prior to this one and never made a movie after this one so, for me, the real mystery here is not who was the mystery blonde (a 5 year old could have sussed that one out in 2 minutes) but what was the real story behind Ms Bain's one and only role?

And, yes, I agree with the previous reviewer who aligned this film to something Ed Wood would have released. There are plenty similarities, especially the cod-psychiatry and Paul Marco-like cop who plays John Ireland's stooge.

By the way, one or two of BB's scenes must have been very close to being cut as she's showing quite a bit more than her acting chops as she bends over to make the bed!