Review: The Nightmare (Sundance 2015)

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

PLOT: A documentary focusing on the phenomenon of sleep paralysis as

experienced by eight strangers.

REVIEW: Rodney Ascher’s THE NIGHTMARE should have been a

slam­dunk. His SHINING doc, ROOM 237, was unsettling even if most if the interpretations put

across in the film were nonsense. It had so much style that it didn’t really matter if most of the

participants sounded crazy. THE NIGHTMARE goes further by exploring sleep paralysis (aka

nightmares), something I’m sure everyone can relate to. How often have you woken up in a cold

sweat from a dream that truly terrified you but you were helpless to escape from? Nightmares can

be terribly unsettling, and it’s definitely a fact that many people have a higher sensitivity to them

and suffer from them constantly. But the question is why?

Sadly, that’s a question Ascher doesn’t seen remotely interested in answering or even

exploring. Rather, THE NIGHTMARE is just the recollections of eight people from different

backgrounds, all of whom seem vulnerable, and many of whom seem mentally ill, with their

stories arguably being exploited by Ascher. The experiences are tied together thinly by a figure

many of them claim to be seeing in the dreams, a so­called “shadow man”. Possibly the only

interesting part of the film is when the participants remember seeing movies that closely paralleled

their nightmares (including A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET and COMMUNION).It’s briefly

mentioned that these figures are relatively common in dreams, which is something Ascher could

have followed up on with some scientific sources, or academics with real insight into the

condition.

Alas, that never happens. Instead, Ascher just has the people talk and talk about their dreams,

cutting to the occasional recreation, some of which are admittedly unsettling. Yet, the subjects

seem extremely unreliable, and the idea of there being a psychological root to their problems

seems to be shirked off in favor of the oft­cited notion that these are demonic or otherworldly

figures (probably the only interesting thing is when one person hypothesizes that people who claim

to have been abducted by aliens are actually suffering from sleep paralysis). As demonstrated in

ROOM 237, Ascher has a strong visual sense which redeems the film somewhat, and he would

probably ace a narrative film. The musical score is also extremely effective. But, the movie’s

technical sophistication does not make up for how bizarrely uninteresting it is given the subject

matter.

Granted, the people interviewed here seem to be troubled, and there’s very little doubt that the

experiences they’re describing are actually happening. But Ascher could have gone so much deeper

and tried to explain why. Instead, THE NIGHTMARE is clearly meant to be a kind of pseudo-horror film rather than a documentary, giving this a rather schlocky vibe as opposed to the

sophisticated ROOM 237. This is really a missed opportunity and a weak second feature from

Ascher, who clearly has talent but has taken an interesting premise and turned it into something

that feels like it will only play to the most gullible audience members.

The Nightmare

NOT GOOD

4