It is the middle of the night. You feel the weight of your body force you deep into your bed, like lead weights, and suddenly your eyes shoot open. Your arms and legs are paralysed and rigid, useless and impossible to move. In this half-wakened state, you see bizarre, monstrous beings enter your room, approaching you and making horrendous sounds. You are unable to cry out, move, or even close your eyes. This is what it is like to suffer from sleep paralysis, and it is the subject of the film The Nightmare, from RodneyAscher, director of the acclaimed (if obsessive) The Shining documentary, Room 237.
Following a half-dozen subjects from around the world, Mr. Ascher details their individual bouts with the condition, as well as how it has affected them all. All claim to have “seem” similar versions of the same hallucinations — shadow and “static” people — as well as heard similar noises and sounds, all symptoms the subjects have experienced nearly every single night since at least adolescence (one subject had his very first memory be of a sleep paralysis episode).
The brilliance of the documentary is in how it recreates the hallucinatory and terrifying visions each subject describes. There is a definite sense of dread, with production value that is impressive for a documentary, as well as a disciplined and determined sense of pacing that rivals most modern horror films. If Ascher were to ever venture into narrative filmmaking, he’d have quite the following in the horror world.
While the film itself is impressive — and the subject matter absolutely fascinating — there lacked a definitive sense of a thesis. It seemed as if Mr. Ascher merely made an info-piece about sleep paralysis, but didn’t add any opinion about it one way or the other. The film, in fact, ends (rather abruptly), on the suggestion that sleep paralysis is somehow spiritually based– but doesn’t add anything more to the suggestion, neither supporting nor arguing against the idea. Its lack of deep insight or extensive contribution from psychologists seemed another missed opportunity as well.
Without these elements, it feels more like the film glosses over an insanely interesting topic without really discussing it. However, the film delves into a bizarre and terrifying phenomena, and is a film that rivals some of the most unnerving, cerebral scary films, and is worth watching for the re-enactments alone. The Nightmare can be watched on-demand.
Here’s the thing. As any huge fan of horror movies knows, there is the conundrum of abundance that is ever frustrating. Horror fans have a massive library to choose from, more so than any other genre out there by a wide margin. The problem is, one has to sort through a lot of crap to find what is good.
@radioadventure
Well, Creep just so happens to be one of those good things that cuts through the crap and it’s not just good–it’s great.
Though, on paper it should be average-at-best if not “bless ’em they tried, but let’s watch something else” kind of bad.
The film is done in (bare with me) the much overused and misused found footage style, has a cast of literally only two people (Mark Duplass and Patrick Brice) that ever appear on screen and it clocks in at a staggeringly short 82-minutes. However, this is a movie that used found footage and a minimalistic approach to its genuine advantage, not just because it was easy and it paid off in spades.
Basically a videographer (Brice) answers an online ad to go and videotape this guy Josef (Duplass) for a day at a remote cabin, oh, because he is dying of a brain tumor and wants to be able to show his unborn son what he was like. Let’s just say Things don’t pan out.
This is a movie best enjoyed not knowing much of anything going into it. Duplass allows the film to live up to its name and he lives up to his nearly perfect reputation in the business. Brice deserves a lot of praise for being in nearly every single minute of this movie, as well as directing it and balancing his dual role like a champion.
Creep is a slow burn, but the payoff is absolutely there and that is what so many horror movies lack. This film manages to deliver on the very simple promise made by the title and does so in a way that sticks with you like unsettling generic peanut butter stuck to the roof of your mouth. It is creepy in a way that is reminiscent of all great minimalistic horror films but it also feels fresh, even though there are no new tricks to speak of.
This is a movie that shows great things can happen with very little. No bells, no whistles. Just a super creepy dude, an axe and a wolf mask are all these guys needed to make a truly enjoyable horror flick. When it comes down to it, that is all that most horror fans want. We are aware that new isn’t necessarily a realistic expectation all of the time, but we don’t want to be insulted with god awful performances and clearly thrown together garbage.
Creep is unfortunately the exception and not the rule, but it should be an example moving forward. No, it won’t change your life or win any Academy awards, but it is damn enjoyable.
