Nightmares (1980)

User Rating:

4.0/10   

Director:

John D. Lamond

Writers:

Colin Eggleston (writer)
John Michael Howson (story)

Release Date:

30 October 1980 (Australia)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

Many motion pictures promise you terror but this one is truly frightening!

Plot:

A little girl named Cathy tries to keep her mother from making out with a man while driving one day...

Plot Keywords:

Actress | Slasher | Murder | Psychopath | Past

Cast

Jenny Neumann	...	Helen Selleck
Gary Sweet	...	Terry Besanko
Nina Landis	...	Judy
Max Phipps	...	George D'alberg
John Michael Howson	...	Bennett Collingswood
Edmund Pegge	...	Bruce
Sue Jones	...	Fay
Briony Behets	...	Angela
Maureen Edwards	...	Mother
Peter Tulloch	...	Brian
Tania Uren	...	Policewoman
Gary Day	...	Policeman 2
Joy Westmore	...	Matron
Lise Rodgers	...	Mousy Auditionee
Doug Bowles	...	Babysitter

Also Known As:

Stage Fright (USA)

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

Australia

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:18 (re-rating) | Argentina:X (original rating) | Australia:R

Filming Locations:

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Company:

John Lamond Motion Picture Enterprises

Movie Connections:

Featured in Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation! (2008)

Aargh.

This is clearly a bad film, but I can't help watching it when there's nothing better to do. A lot of bad movies are like that, right? "Nightmares" concerns Jenny Neumann slashing people to death with broken glass for seemingly no reason. She caused her mother's death by accident when she was a kid because she didn't like her cheating with another man, and now goes out to deal her own kind of warped justice on young lovers and her fellow cast in some stage show she is acting in.

The plot doesn't seem to go anywhere other than to make sure the rest of the characters are killed off. The crew also try and put a great deal of effort into disguising who the killer is, but it's blatantly obvious from the start. The nauseating POV shots become completely ridiculous in the end, with the camera just meandering through dark halls for at least two minutes for no reason. At one point, the shot even freezes for five seconds! The lighting is absolutely horrendous, and most of the time it is too dark to see what is going on. The camera seems to like to stay focused on empty corridors and rooms, and then pan slightly to a doorway to show a character entering or exiting. Why not have the camera on the door the whole time? It's very hard to ignore all this shoddy work, and really drags the film down.

There is quite a bit of blood and gore, and the effects are actually quite good. Jenny Neumann certainly adds beauty to the film also, but it isn't enough to save this murky disaster. Pity really. Anyway, not a good film at all, but certainly not the worst horror flick out there.