The Nightmare
What we do in the shadows…
Sleep paralys is is among the most terrifying things the human mind can do to itself. Trapped between waking and sleeping, sufferers endure hallucinations so vivid they’re closer to near-death experiences than dreams. The phenomenon inspired Nightmare On Elm Street’s ingenious MO, and its imagery can be seen everywhere from Insidious to Natural Born Killers. If you’ve ever experienced it, you’ll be relieved to see you’re not alone. If you haven’t, well, you’ll just be relieved.
Documentary director/editor Rodney Ascher has suffered sleep paralysis himself, and The Nightmare does something similar to Room 237, his stylised dissertation on The Shining, telling us as much about the subjects as it does the subject. The film introduces eight sufferers from around the world who share their stories straight to camera, then it brings their haunting visions to life in alarming re-enactments. What’s striking about these – unrelated – people is the communality of their visions: each describes being stalked by “shadow men”, whether aliens, old hags, or succubi; nobody seeks professional help for fear of being considered mentally ill; and most seem damaged to begin with, whether by familial abuse or drugs. It’s not monsters we’re dealing with, Ascher seems to be saying, but a misunderstood human reaction to trauma, hence the singular ‘Nightmare’.
Re-enactments, by their nature, compromise editorial objectivity even as they draw us in. While Ascher’s conjure all kinds of creepy moments, he’s keen to remind us that what we’re watching is a construct, which makes for uneven viewing. One gorgeous camera movement sweeps through a set in which numerous shadow men haunt numerous sleeping children, like footage from the Blumhouse backlot. Cheesy chapter headings and cheap jump-scares don’t help, but this artful, experiential doc has an honourable aim: to make us feel what the subjects do, then pull back, so we know it’s not real. If only they were so lucky. THE VERDICT Ascher’s sincere, spooky study can’t decide whether to document or dramatise, but it’s an absorbing glimpse into the dark corners of the psyche. › Certificate TBC Director Rodney Ascher Starring: Siegfried Peters, Yatoya Toy, Nicole Bosworth, Stephen Michael Joseph, Elise Robson Screenplay N/A Distributor Altitude Running Time 91 mins