Day of the Nightmare

The film I saw was neither the one described in IMDb's synopsis nor that described in the other reviews. I watched it on Netflix and assume the more lurid scenes were cut. This is a shame. Although I don't particularly enjoy watching depictions of sadism, etc, I see no reason for a movie not to be shown in its entirety, especially on a site which is generally not so squeamish. That being said, I enjoyed the movie despite its bad acting and lack of continuity (the cars driven by the characters, especially the hero/heroine's station wagon, varied in age and marque.) The subject was interesting and the central character well played. There was an inventive use of cheap sets, and the actors seemed to have been chosen from the director's friends and acquaintances, much like in an Ed Wood production. If you enjoy watching Ed Wood's movies, you won't want to miss Day of the Nightmare. It is one step up and quite a bit darker.

Nice locations and decent "daytime" cinematography in La Jolla, but a terrible low-grade exploitation flick..YUCK! Lots of booze bottles and tacky paintings in this movie. The father and son look to be the same age. The cross-dressing psycho is completely idiotic..he has such a pretty wife. What's his problem? Best line of dialogue - "People go crazy...every day people go crazy". What is John Ireland doing in this one? I know he made some bad flicks, but this is too much. Some nudity. A 2 out of 10. Best performance = Beverly Bain. Ms. Bain plays the attractive and very normal wife of the crazy. Elena Verdugo from MARCUS WELBY, M.D. has a small role as does Liz Renay from John Waters flicks.

The Good Deed Mission guys are right out of the Bowery Boys. Not much to recommend here with the acting low-grade and repellent passivity of most of the characters, especially Mr. Ireland as the world-weary detective. Terrible!

"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.

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.

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.