Der Nachtmahr

Against the indispensable backdrop of techno-psychedelic throbbing drug-infused party experiences, a teenage girl starts seeing a hyperstitional monster resembling a living-corpse embryo in her house, which wants to idle around, consume food and come closer to the girl. Alongside classical dynamism of sanity vs. craziness, there's an unique kind of isomorphism going on between the girl and monster — Tina is the monster and grows an attachment to it (when it's hurt, she feels the repercussions on her flesh and mind) — uncovering themes of self-image, uncertainty of pregnancy and relation to friends (especially the guy she has a crush on), making this a more intelligible coming-of-age film (she becomes 18). However the film is edited in a way to seem free and incomprehensible, in the sense that planes of reality, dream and perception are merged, such that for example scenes later in the film seem to occur as if those before didn't happen, vice versa, and so on. The hand-held camera always sweeps to make the viewer feel as a fellow party-goer or a ghost gliding next to the characters. The beginning already introduces a lot of ambiguity with its portrayal of a non-linear time disturbance that's very much related to plausible anxious visions happening on a reckless passionate party night, with its libidinal and death instincts, distinctive visceral flowing trajectories and trips, that fervently coalesce in this psychological rave film.

Just found a new favourite. The Nightmare. Kind of like a mix of E. T., Climax, and Basket Case. And for a film about a young woman losing her mind, it's a well handled and nice movie. It actually had me cheering towards the end. It's not for everybody. But I 💜 it.

Awesome film. I saw an excellent combination on the same evening, first a documentary titled Zen For Nothing, about a Swiss girl spending some 6 months at a zen monastery in japan. A very quiet film about finding yourself, some of the characters eventually experiencing a cathartic moment, letting their emotional demons out along the way, meditating, working or just chatting the rest of the time. I knew that Nachtmahr was going to be quite the opposite as I had read about the subject and the rave music and aggressive lights etc, but it was a total surprise to discover that it touched on a similar theme as the zen documentary.Of course the social environments are completely different and it is significant that Nachtmahr is about a teenager's emotional state and the two couldn't be stylistically more different, but nevertheless both films are about finding and asserting one's true self. I actually recommend watching the two as a sort of diptych as they really complement each other: on the one hand the silence, bells and zen chanting immersed in subdued natural winter light, on the other the wild aggressive rave beats and flashing colored electrical strobe lights. Apart from that, I really enjoyed the rave scenes, the visuals the structure or storytelling and the underlying humor as well as the "unpretentiousness" and obvious "not big budget productionness" of Der Nachtmahr. If you liked films like Morvern Callar, Aurora and David Lynch films, you'll like this.. It's not hard to find flaws if you're after the perfect festival winning movie but this film is not perfect and I loved that about it.

Der Nachtmahr is a unique and highly innovative genre film made in Germany. What starts out as a potential horror movie quickly turns into a very original piece of art featuring elements of different genres. It's like Donnie Darko and Black Swan were fused together to create something completely new.

Tina (superbly portrayed by young German actress Carolyn Genzkow) is 17. All she is interested in are rave parties, drugs and a guy named Adam. One night she spots this strange little creature in the bushes that looks like ET's ugly brother (and ET wasn't a beauty himself). Tina seems to be the only one who is able to see that being that becomes an important part of her life...

At the beginning of the film there are two warnings (which tell the audience to beware of both light and sound of the following movie) and a request that this movie should be experienced with high volume nonetheless. At that point I personally thought that these warnings were kind of empty and inserted to generate a dramatic feeling before the actual movie started…And boy, was I wrong. These dance scenes are extremely intense and unique, that's all I will tell you about that, go and experience it yourself!

What stands out to me about the cinematographic approach of Der Nachtmahr is this melange of the typical German movie style which features extreme pragmatic and realistic dialogues and characters (90 % of German movies are made that way and most of them suck in my opinion) and these fantasy scenes where the Nachtmahr appears and disappears miraculously. These kind of opposite movie styles fuse throughout the film and there are several scenes where you start wondering what is going on, is it reality or some kind of dream sequence? It's not just that this film doesn't give clear answers to the questions you might have, it constantly tries to lure you in wrong directions…

Der Nachtmahr is a splendid film with unique style and an extraordinary approach. You cannot watch it, you have to experience it.

I watched Der Nachtmahr as part of the Glasgow Youth Film Festival, and enjoyed it very much. Depending how you look at it, it's a monster film or a coming-of-age drama. The film blends both in a smooth way, which introduces clever twists and fresh takes that will appeal to fans of both genres.

Carolyn Genzkow delivers a striking performance that clearly marks the many stages in the struggles of Tina, the protagonist, against the challenges of growing up alienated and misunderstood in 2010s Berlin. Commonplace locations come across as eye-catching visuals because of the lavish cinematography, matched by a booming club soundtrack. Likewise, it's always a pleasure to see Kim Gordon on screen, and an even greater one to hear her voice (the Sonic Youth vocalist has a minor role in the film as an English language teacher discussing William Blake with her students).

Der Nachtmahr is one of those films that don't give you a fully rounded, unequivocal plot with a nifty moral message attached. It requires you to think about it and come up with your own interpretations. That's what makes it so enjoyable to watch: the characters, situations and outcomes are very powerful, and fun to explore as you put them together to understand their significance.

If you're expecting flashy CGI peppered with jump scares, or schmaltzy self-help masquerading as fiction, you won't find it here. Der Nachtmahr is a poetic, low-key movie about monsters, whether real or perceived. The dangerous sound frequencies it warns you about in an introductory disclaimer are probably no more hazardous than those in Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music, but be careful with the flickering lights of the club scenes: a friend of mine came along and had to leave after five minutes to get some paracetamol. And he's not even epileptic (it was just a petit mal migraine, though, no more).