Nightmare Cinema

I’m back. I feel remiss having not written anything for a few weeks, given that my business manager has repeatedly requested I make posts daily. I do have a bunch of things in mind right now though.

I’ll start off with the movie I just watched last night. Nightmare Cinema blew me away!

Well, no it didn’t. The concept did though!

I’ve often said that I love any form of short fiction, whether it be short films, novellas, one-act plays, or episodes of The Twilight Zone. I’ve also discussed on this blog how much I love horror. Thus a film telling a handful of brief scary tales is perfect for me.

How good are these tales? I’ll go in chronological order:

• “The Thing in the Woods”: Wasn’t a fan. There was a twist but it wasn’t anything memorable. The story also couldn’t seem to decide whether the main character was meant to be sympathetic or not. Worse, it couldn’t seem to decide whether it was supposed to be camp or straight-up horror.
• “Mirare”: Kept me really gripped the whole time but the ending made no sense to me on multiple levels. Big disappointment coming from the only director here of whom I was a fan (or had even heard of before) – Gremlins auteur Joe Dante.
• “Matshit”: What was the point of this one? Some sort of demonic/possession story that lacks a clear arc or even a clear protagonist and dissipates all the tension by filming the scary sequences like they’re meant for a music video.

You’ll notice I was very disappointed by now. Good news is things picked up a lot!

• “This Way to Egress”: A harrowing exploration into mental illness and how it can terrifyingly leave someone unable to know what’s real and what’s not. I knew the main actress very well from somewhere and realized afterwards that she was Shirl on The Haunting of Hill House. I really loved that show so this was a reminder of how I need to start utilizing my “Streaming” section of this blog. Coming back to this story though, the terrific premise, cinematography, visual effects, makeup, and lead performance from Elizabeth Reaser make this – in spite of the unsatisfying ending – a riveting experience.
• “Dead”: By far the most polished entry and also the most compelling. A teen survives a tragedy but then gets haunted by his new supernatural ability. Wonderful character drama complements the chills.

I need to mention the wraparound sequences featuring Mickey Rourke as “The Projectionist”. They fail to tie together the movie in any effective way (seem to unsuccessfully try aping Tales from the Crypt) but they kind of work on their own solely due to his charisma. This further saddened me as far his vaunted comeback a decade ago quickly giving way to his returning to B-movies.

Is this at least a good B-movie though? I guess.

Up Next: Much, much better attempt on the same sort of concept.

Bottom Line: I recommend this movie but you’re not missing much if you skip it.