The Dark Nightmare

I really don't understand all the negative reviews of this film? Because it really isn't that bad at all.

There are obviously many many clichés and none of the horror is really original, it does get kinda campy and formulaic quite often, and it really isn't all that scary (in my opinion), but there's a solid cast with convincing acting and good enough writing to keep you engaged if you have a basic attention span, which it seems like a lot of people who saw this movie don't.

It's nice to see some folk horror with a cool modernized twist and the lore, while it's been used many times before, works in this film's favor. If you're into the sub-genre of dream horror, this is totally a film you should watch.

I think it was really cool to link sleep paralysis, and sleep disorders with the Norwegian myth of the Mare. Having Mona and her friend go to lecture on them was a great way to explain them to a none Norwegian audience. I liked the creature design.

I thought the way Mona slipped into sleep without always realising made it pretty creepy. And there were some nice creepy moments in the film, the problems with the neighbours was pretty cool as well. The story was decent enough.

The acting was pretty good, and the pacing wasn't perfect but it was a really good attempt. I found it really enjoyable, and I do really like supernatural horror.

... and dream of better horror films, perhaps?

Believe me, I honestly don't like writing harsh and negative things about a film like "Marerittet". I want to encourage ambitious and intelligent new horror stories, especially when they come from one of my favorite countries in the world, but unfortunately "Nightmare" is mostly dull, unremarkable, implausible, and featuring far too many phony jump-scares than tolerable.

The Brussels' Film Festival, where I saw the film, describes "Marerittet" as mixture between "Nightmare on Elm Street" and "Rosemary's Baby". That's fairly accurate plot-wise, but obviously not in terms of quality or impact. Terrible events from the lead girl's dreams manifest themselves when she wakes up, and there are demonic babies that desperately want to be born, but "Marerittet" undoubtedly won't ever be considered as genre classic like the other two. Notably the first full hour is too slow-paced and too clichéd. The final act touches upon some taboo subjects (like abortion and insights in the concept of lucid dreaming) and contains a handful of strong moments, but the overall result remains unsatisfying. The strong performance of Eili Harboe does make me want to seek out the acclaimed fantasy/thriller "Thelma", in which she plays the titular role.

Moving into a new flat together, a couple looking to start their lives together become troubled by her constant nightmares and sleepwalking issues which soon leads to the potential discovery of a deadly folklore being at the center of it all and tries to find a way to stop it from affecting her.

This was a generally dreadful and not all that worthwhile of a feature. Among the few likable factors for this one is the atmosphere of the first half featuring the couple moving into the new apartment which leads to the burgeoning appearance of the supernatural entity. Nicely exploring the concept of her being targeted by the being with the loneliness, the argumentative neighbors, and the constant crying noises she hears that soon develop into the sleep paralysis problems she suffers from, the way this comes together into a landing spot for the introduction of the spirit tormenting her. That leads into the second half where the dream revelations of her troubled state are a fun series of sexually-charged dreams centered on the demon manipulating everything, but that's all that works here. There are some really big issues here that hold this one back and make it as bad as it is. One of the biggest detriments to this one is an utterly unappealing pace that just drains any potential fun out of this from the very start. Conversations range from nothing particularly interesting about either member detailing his work career or her trying to clean up the apartment at a lethargic flow with no energy or enthusiasm. It makes what happens here have no impact or importance due to the lifeless atmosphere on display which causes the dull and flat appearance throughout the first half as the uninteresting material in its own right has no chance of being engaging due to the problematic presentation so there's no chance of anything starting off well. N top of this problematic factor, the film doesn't do itself any favors by keeping the creature off-screen for just about the entire running time. While it gets brought up as a potential cause early on, the immediate aftermath is to ignore everything about it in favor of asinine abortion regulations and an insomnia study that is completely uninteresting. None of these subplots are that enjoyable as it leads to nothing that impressive as we get either lifeless relationship troubles or dull experimentation scenes in the doctor's care trying to put his science to the test so the film comes off quite dull as there's nothing interesting happening at a pace that drains the life out of the film without a villain on-screen for much of it these lower the film significantly to the point of being unwatchable.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language and Violence.

I don't know where to start, usually don't write negative reviews, but seeing the rating of this movie (which is quite high for a horror movie) I felt somebody needs to speak up. Boring movie, the plot could be interesting, but alas. And it paints an inproper picture of what a norwegian woman would expect in a doctor's appointment if she wants to take an abortion (here comes the sorry attempt for PC since most political parties in Norway are against abortion, but Norway stil wants to play the «democratic» card, while they're just having heavily socialist politics). All in all a bad, boring movie.