Nightmare Man starts as Bill (Luciano Szafir) is driving his wife Ellen (Blythe Metz) cross country to a mental institute, apparently Ellen thinks she's possessed by some sort of demon from an Afican tribal wood carved face mask, obviously she isn't & that's why she's on her way to a loony bin. However en-route the car runs out of petrol in the middle of nowhere, Bill sets off on foot to find a petrol station while Ellen stays behind in the car. It turns out though Ellen may not be as mad as originally anticipated as the Nightmare Man (Aaron Sherry) becomes a living reality that wants to kill her, she runs away into some wood where she stumbles upon a log cabin with four friends inside who all become potential victims for the Nightmare Man...
Written, produced & directed by Rolfe Kanefsky this low budget teen slasher isn't quite as bad as I had feared & isn't too bad if you have low enough expectations. The script obviously takes it inspiration from the self conscious Scream (1996) & it's imitators, this is a basic teen slasher & to be honest it doesn't really try to be anything else. Sure there are a couple of average twists in the story to liven things up a bit but at heart this is just a slasher. To be positive at least it moves along at a nice enough pace, there might have been a couple more murders but I wasn't bored with it, the character's are actually a lot better than I thought with reasonable decision making like actively trying to stick together & deciding not to go out in the woods alone or split up which is a nice change & generally speaking I thought it was a painless if undemanding & forgettable enough way to pass 90 odd minutes. The other thing that I liked about this film is Tiffany Shepis who I have seen in several other low budget horror films but didn't particularly know her in the sense if I saw a picture of her I wouldn't recognise her, here though she's probably the best thing about Nightmare Man as she runs around in her extremely mini skirt & boots holding a huge hunting rifle spouting mildly amusing one-liners, hey I'm easily pleased OK?
Director Kanefsky does alright on a low budget but it's not stylish & it all rather flat & bland. I've just realised that I've seen every horror film Kanefsky has directed to this point (lucky me, not), The Hazing (2004) which is pretty good, Corpses (2004) which is not so good, Jacqueline Hyde (2006) which is terrible & this which is OK. There's no scares, the twists aren't entirely successful or surprising, there's not much tension & no atmosphere but nothings perfect I suppose. Horror fans will also be able to spot the blatant The Evil Dead (1982) homage. There's not much gore here, an arrow fired into someones mouth, a knife stuck under someones chin & a bit of blood splatter & not much else.
Withn a supposed budget of about $250,000 this is as well made as you could expect, it's certainly glossier & nicer looking than many low budget straight-to-video/DVD horror film crap that's out there. As I said Tiffany Shepis is the best thing about Nightmare Man, she's a really hot looking chick with a great body & she actually gives a decent performance here which I'm sure no one was expecting to hear. The rest of the cast do OK & all of the girls find themselves in some degree of undress at one point or another.
Nightmare Man isn't anything particularly special, in fact it's nothing more than OK but even that's still a hell of a lot better than I was expecting. Worth a watch for horror fans who have to see everything & anything but other more casual viewers out there may not be that impressed.
Written, produced & directed by Rolfe Kanefsky this low budget teen slasher isn't quite as bad as I had feared & isn't too bad if you have low enough expectations. The script obviously takes it inspiration from the self conscious Scream (1996) & it's imitators, this is a basic teen slasher & to be honest it doesn't really try to be anything else. Sure there are a couple of average twists in the story to liven things up a bit but at heart this is just a slasher. To be positive at least it moves along at a nice enough pace, there might have been a couple more murders but I wasn't bored with it, the character's are actually a lot better than I thought with reasonable decision making like actively trying to stick together & deciding not to go out in the woods alone or split up which is a nice change & generally speaking I thought it was a painless if undemanding & forgettable enough way to pass 90 odd minutes. The other thing that I liked about this film is Tiffany Shepis who I have seen in several other low budget horror films but didn't particularly know her in the sense if I saw a picture of her I wouldn't recognise her, here though she's probably the best thing about Nightmare Man as she runs around in her extremely mini skirt & boots holding a huge hunting rifle spouting mildly amusing one-liners, hey I'm easily pleased OK?
Director Kanefsky does alright on a low budget but it's not stylish & it all rather flat & bland. I've just realised that I've seen every horror film Kanefsky has directed to this point (lucky me, not), The Hazing (2004) which is pretty good, Corpses (2004) which is not so good, Jacqueline Hyde (2006) which is terrible & this which is OK. There's no scares, the twists aren't entirely successful or surprising, there's not much tension & no atmosphere but nothings perfect I suppose. Horror fans will also be able to spot the blatant The Evil Dead (1982) homage. There's not much gore here, an arrow fired into someones mouth, a knife stuck under someones chin & a bit of blood splatter & not much else.
Withn a supposed budget of about $250,000 this is as well made as you could expect, it's certainly glossier & nicer looking than many low budget straight-to-video/DVD horror film crap that's out there. As I said Tiffany Shepis is the best thing about Nightmare Man, she's a really hot looking chick with a great body & she actually gives a decent performance here which I'm sure no one was expecting to hear. The rest of the cast do OK & all of the girls find themselves in some degree of undress at one point or another.
Nightmare Man isn't anything particularly special, in fact it's nothing more than OK but even that's still a hell of a lot better than I was expecting. Worth a watch for horror fans who have to see everything & anything but other more casual viewers out there may not be that impressed.