Nightmare

(2005) Nightmare HORROR

Co-written and directed by Dylan Bank that has an inspiring low budget film maker, Leon (J. Bloomrosen) gets deja vu after a wild party that includes booze and drugs, and a snuff murder occurs before him on screen after he wakes up, motivating him to reevaluate what happened! Low budget somewhat improvised horror film which does not make a whole lot of sense by the time you finish watching it.

And speaking of synopsis, what's up with movie database allowing an one line sentence to describe the entire plot of this movie when users like us need more than 500 characters.

Oh boy, here we have another over-ambitious young filmmaker who single-handedly intends to restore everything that's wrong with nowadays horror cinema…Pardon my cynicism but we all heard this before and – usually – these youngsters fail to live up to their own expectations. For his debut film, videostore clerk turned director Dylan Bank comes up with a psychedelic but immensely confusing story about a film student who makes a movie about his own nightmare that miraculously appear to be taped on camera every morning when he wakes up. The idea is admirable and the film does feature a handful of nice touches, but Dylan Bank never really seems to realize that his visions and interpretations on horror AREN'T groundbreaking or even that shocking. This type of 'mental assault'-cinema is the territory of genius directors like David Lynch, Alejandro Jodorowsky and Shinya Tsukamoto, only their films are more fascinating and truly a lot more disturbing! The story material has potential but "Nightmare" lacks involvement and commitment with the characters whereas, with Lynch, you pretty much feel like you're inside the protagonists' heads and you fear what they fear! The film often just exists of blurry and roughly edited images that make no sense or add nothing to the basic premise at all, but Bank uses them (as padding?) anyway. New characters and locations are introduced randomly and they simply disappear again without any form of coherence. Also, for being a new type of horror film, "Nightmare" doesn't contain much atmosphere, scary moments or even violent images. There's quite a lot of nudity (the non-artistic kind), the acting performances are acceptable and the use of uncanny music is very good. Worth a look if you're in an experimental mood once.

It has taken me a little while to write about this film after I saw what I believe was it's East Coast Premier in Oct. at the Eerie Horror Fest (a new and remarkably well run film fest.) This is the first comment I've made on IMDb and feel this film is important for those who love surreal art, horror films, or the process of creating art -which leads right back into the surreal (secret deep, dark thoughts) anyways and now you're trapped in twisted, fun part of your imagination which is a neat place to be! The film is hard to describe because it deals with human impulses of sex, and drive for success, and violence and all sorts of dormant notions in the quiet places inside all of us - by taking us into an actual nightmare (how can you really describe a nightmare and get all the chilling feelings on IMDb?). It is a film that needs to be experienced.

The acting is great - also it is a film about actors so again the nightmare cycle is already in full swing. Its a story of actualizing your dreams and creating expression - you see the tight interplay of ideas already? Smart, smart pop-psychological masterpiece. The horror aspects are brutal and disturbing (several times during the film I thought 'I'm imagining this whole thing...right?) A certain giddy sense of absurdity and feverish mania is also a strong part of what makes this movie (or film...or movie...or film) so great.

Easily the best part about this film is that it feels like a dream...the sort of dream only hinted at by the title. It is strange, well crafted work that made me quite, quite satisfied.

Twists you will never imagine make every minute of this movie intriguing and fascinating to to watch. The acting is amazing and the director has creating a thrilling masterpiece. As you learn more about the characters in this film, things change, making you wonder if you were paying enough attention. Jason Scott Campbell is an amazing actor who keeps the level of intensity high as he winds his way through the maze of events in this film. You will be going between thinking he is the only sane one in the film to wondering how people could not know he is totally nuts. Or is it him? Or another director? Or the college professor? The cinematographer? Everyone is suspect at some time during the movie. This is one nightmare I would be screaming to wake up from.

I had the pleasure of viewing Bank's film at the Boston Underground Film Festival recently. The theater was packed, and the director was on hand for an introduction and Q & A, to which the audience was very receptive. This film is one of the best I've seen in a long time, and for a first feature, this film presents itself as a phenomenal work. The acting is excellent- the leads have won numerous awards at several festivals, as well as the film itself, and of course, Mr. Banks. The film has a touch of Lost Highway as well as American Psycho, and nearly from the start, you descend into a type of madness into which you cannot escape, because reality versus perhaps another plane of existence blur continuously until the bitter end. With a film as strong as this, I was surprised to learn how young the director is- it seems as if he's been doing this for at least a decade. Everything about the production is very professional- I would not be surprised if Lion's Gate picked this up for distribution and released it in theaters. I hope that happens. This is a film that deserves to be seen. It crawls under your skin in a perverse, horrific, and sexually exciting way. And I'm a film programmer myself. I should know. No matter what film snobs may say, this is an audience film and one that's very enjoyable and deserves to put this director on the map.