Nightmare (In a Damaged Brain) is a movie I get back to from time to time. Today it’s almost two years since I saw it the last time, just when I got the DVD from Code Red - and it’s of course the same way I’ve seen it now. When I first saw Nightmare it was on a Swedish x-rental, surprisingly uncut and in decent quality. It was me and a couple of friends, none of them particularly interested in the horror genre - but everyone was blown away by the gritty style and the in-your-face graphic violence. It took some years for me to actually realize its a great movie - for real, not just because of the splatter, but the simple storyline and exploitative roots might confuse us to think it’s less good than it actually is.
Blair Stafford is brilliant in the lead, George Tatum, a mentally ill man who just escaped from the hospital and now is conducting a killing spree on his way to his ex-wife and his kids. As the murders gets more and more violent, his obsessiveness with his family and the trauma that might have lead him to go bonkers in the first place, becomes more and more intensive…
The story isn’t much to write about. It’s a basic plot: killer escapes, goes on a rampage and kills a lot of people. What it doesn’t lack is a intelligent storytelling by Scavolini, sometimes almost documentary style footage, a bit too intimate sometimes, mixed with very stylish and brutal special effects-driven kills. Tom Savini was the supervisor on the film - but the filmmakers credited him as the actual special effects guy - which caused him to sue and refusing to talk about the film forever since. Personally I think it’s something in-between. Maybe he felt it was a bit to exploitative for him (I mean, the man has never been simple to work with) and felt he needed to get away from the cheaper gore after a few years in the biz. And instead he did stuff like The Burning and starred in The Ripper. Says a lot. I still like him though.
Yeah, anyway. The special effects are all great. They’re very f**king graphic with a lot of artery spray hitting walls and nearby objects as George uses knives, axes and a few other things to chop his way through the cast. It’s never “fun”, like in Friday the 13th or any other similar slasher from the same time. This is much more dirtier, more painful. I can only imagine an audience of horny teengers waiting for the kills start, expecting something cheesy and silly and instead gets the death angst of George tossed in their face together with black, gooey blood.
The finale is truly one of a kind, but I don’t want to reveal anything for you who haven’t seen it. But it sure delivers on the gore front. That’s a fact.
Nightmare isn’t just an effective slasher/horror/thriller, it’s a fine low budget film with an inspired director behind the camera and a fine cast of talented nobodies. Blair Stafford is alone worth watching it, and him in combination with the massive amount of graphic violence makes this a roaring exploitation success!
"Nightmare (In a Damaged Brain) is a movie I get back to from time to time."
I don´t think I heard about this one before.
"The story isn’t much to write about. It’s a basic plot: killer escapes, goes on a rampage and kills a lot of people. What it doesn’t lack is a intelligent storytelling by Scavolini, sometimes almost documentary style footage, a bit too intimate sometimes, mixed with very stylish and brutal special effects-driven kills."
Scavolini went in a more dark, gritty, direction.....
"Tom Savini was the supervisor on the film - but the filmmakers credited him as the actual special effects guy - which caused him to sue and refusing to talk about the film forever since. Personally I think it’s something in-between. Maybe he felt it was a bit to exploitative for him (I mean, the man has never been simple to work with) and felt he needed to get away from the cheaper gore after a few years in the biz."
I didn´t know Savini was difficult.....I guess the years in Vietnam still looms over him like a dark shadow.
"Nightmare isn’t just an effective slasher/horror/thriller, it’s a fine low budget film with an inspired director behind the camera and a fine cast of talented nobodies."
And tons of SFX by Savini.....good review and thanks Fred.
Posted by: Megatron | May 01, 2014 at 00:50
This is a gem.
Posted by: Tobe | May 01, 2014 at 04:57
I think you would like it, Megatron. It's a special movie, even if it might feel generic when reading about it.
Posted by: Fred Anderson | May 01, 2014 at 07:19
It really is!
Posted by: Fred Anderson | May 01, 2014 at 07:19