PodBill Just what I expected

Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Steve Nyland (Squonkamatic) Guys, guys GUYS! People get a grip, please. There's a thing called The Spoiler, whereby commentators on films will spoil the fun of getting to see the movie for other people by carelessly revealing a pivotal development, revelation, or secret held by a movie. The fun for viewers is to get to encounter that revelation on their own without having the moment ruined by knowing about it in advance."Nightmares" has such a revelation and it only comes in the very last minute of the film. The payoff was fantastic, and thank goodness I had not sought out reviews of the film beforehand or the fun would have been ruined. Almost every review, post, or synopsis of the movie contains that revelation which viewers should have to earn after sitting through the rest of it. By knowing in advance the potency of the scenes which lead up to it is diluted and there were some very potent scenes here which would have suffered from advance knowledge of the revelation. Best way to sum up the story is to say that a patient from a secret drug treatment program for the criminally insane is released prematurely, goes off his personality modifying meds, and embarks on a journey through the seedy side of America's east coast during which he commits several gruesome killings. That's the extent of what should be revealed. Anything more would spoil the mind- screw of that last minute, and reduce the meaning of the film to a checklist of slasher movie components pieced together by an oblique story which will only serve to distract genre viewers from the horror of it all.And hence the film's current status: Regarded as a classic by some but dismissed by many more as boring & derivative. Because without coming upon that revelation on your own it is sort of a 2nd rate overly arty if competently made slasher-type horror movie rating just about 5 out of 10: Covers the bases, constructed with skill but not really having anything too spectacular with a comparatively modest body count (I believe it is eight, if you count the big flashback scene). The gore effects may or may not have been "supervised" by Tom Savini, it doesn't really matter, they serve the film well enough. The extra notoriety the controversy generated only means more opportunities for reviewers to spill the beans for audience members who could care less.I'm glad I ignored it all. With that spoiler intact I give the film a 7 out of ten, with very tight plotting that is only revealed as being more thorough than usual once that revelation takes place. The film is very well made from a technical standpoint with an interesting use of film speeds and droll, non-sensational music. But who watches slasher movies for their plotting, technical work or soundtracks? They are traditionally a series of gruesome set pieces connected by some sort of story which may or may not hold up to the light of day when evaluated separate from the gore. This one does and that alone is somewhat remarkable. Just don't read any more reviews until after watching it or you too may be tempted to dismiss the results for being something different than the usual brainless mayhem.

Woodyanders Dangerously unstable schizophrenic psychopath George Tatum (ably played with harrowing conviction by Baird Stafford) escapes from a sanitarium and embarks on a bloodthirsty spree.Writer/director Romano Scavolini grounds the harsh and seamy, yet still gripping and believable premise in a totally sordid and plausible drab workaday reality, brings a no-holds-barred nihilistic attitude to the bleak material (a little boy even gets killed!), maintains an unsparingly dark and grim tone throughout, delivers a handy helping of hideously graphic gore, and offers a satisfying smattering of sizzling sleaze and tasty bare distaff skin. The brutal murder scenes and overall clammy mood pack a super ferocious and unsettling punch. Giovanni Fiore Coltellaci's plain cinematography further enhances the sense of grungy verisimilitude. The funky'n'bluesy score by Jack Erik Williams hits the right-on groovy spot. Moreover, this film takes a radical break from the fright feature norm by having an annoying bratty kid (a spot-on obnoxious portrayal by C.J. Cooke) turn out to be the unlikely hero of the piece, plus warrants additional points by concluding everything on a properly downbeat note. A nice'n'nasty grindhouse nugget.

WaxBellaAmours Trying to bring the Italian giallo genre into the then-popular American slasher genre, Nightmare is a half-clever attempt. Those two extremes don't seem like a good fit, with the typical slash-and-hack, one-by-one structure of the slasher genre mixing a bit awkwardly with the more flamboyant, open-ended and director-focused giallo film movement. "Nightmare" isn't particularly coherent and can feel a bit half-hearted at times, but it has enough startling moments and a truly twisted (and brutal) view of sexuality to at least be interesting beyond it's initial viewing.Often considered a Grindhouse staple, it shares the qualities of many other films of that "genre": lousy dubbing, horrid acting, completely conspicious continuity blunders, a soundtrack and film print that makes the viewer feel like their head is being held under muddy water. It's also unusually bleak and morally ambiguous for an American film, a telling sign that this was directed by an European. There's also a sense of the American-slasher puritanism, as noticed by the Killer's view of promiscious adults around him, but it's not quite as black-and-white as many of the like-minded films at the time. Largely because we're asked to look at the film's largely unseen killer with a more subjective eye."Nightmare" may be poorly made, although a few cat-and-mouse sequences are well-staged and engaging enough, but it's far from useless. It's cross between American DIY ethos and lavish, fetishitistic European flavoring is uneven and sloppy but always weird and alluring enough to keep you watching. The film's modest cult following is understandable.

MovieGuy01 I thought that Nightmare In A Damaged Brain was a good video nasty from the 1980's which was banned for quite some years in the UK. It is about A mental-patient called George Tatum (Baird Stafford) who has been having horrible nightmares, he has escaped from an North Eastern mental institution. He trys to go to his home in Florida, on the way, he has recurring nightmares of a violent incident from his childhood, where he catches his father cheating on his mother with a mistress in bed. George's ex-wife, Susan Temper (Sharon Smith), young son C.J. (C.J. Cooke),begin to get phone calls, where the caller keeps hanging-up every time. which none of them realise it is George making the calls, to make sure his family is home. The closer he gets to his home the more gruesome his murders become and the memories of his first child-murder get stronger. I thought that this was quite a disturbing horror film with some strong bloody violence at times. 5/10