Nightmare (AKA Nightmare in a Damaged Brain) 1981
Directed by Romano Scavolini
Nightmare has to be one of the most generic names for a slasher movie that I’ve ever heard. Nightmare in a Damaged Brain is much better, it sets it apart from the pack. Anyway…I finally got a chance to watch this, as I have heard that it is actually a pretty solid slasher entry. It was on Amazon Prime so I figured this was a good a time as any to sit down and watch it.
The plot of the movie centers around George Tatum, a mental patient (of course) that has a reoccurring nightmare of a man and woman banging it out in slight bondage until they’re murdered with an axe as a small boy that looks like the Walmart yodeling boy watches on. George is shown numerous times screaming in a padded room in a strait jacket. Orderlies come in and give him medication and he stops screaming (no screaming pills!). After a while George is considered cured from his nightmares and he is released into society. Of course, he goes to a peep show, because this is an Italian/American film, they always go to peep shows or brothels. Seeing the naked woman dance gives George flashbacks of his nightmare, thus causing him to snap and start murdering people. “…but now he’s out there killing people. And we can’t have that!” Soon George starts messing with a young boy named C.J. and C.J. is kind of a dick. He constantly plays mean tricks on his family, like faking being stabbed and bleeding out. HOW HILARIOUS!
The acting in Nightmare is middle of the road. When I say that just realize it is better than 70% of slasher movies haha. While it may be better than most, it is still kinda shitty. Baird Stafford as George Tatum is very believable as a psychotic murderer. He has great facial expressions and captures the blank soulless look of a psycho. The kid that plays C.J. is pretty bad, but he’s a child actor, in the 80s, in a horror movie so it is just expected. C.J.’s mother is a whack job, my lord what a weirdo. The scene where C.J. is pretending he was stabbed, the other kids are going nuts, which is justified, they think their brother is dying. She starts screaming at them. She also says some pretty terrible things to C.J. on the beach later on, she’s fucked basically.
Gore is plentiful in this movie! Bright red viscous splatter everywhere and gruesome/graphic kills are the exclamation point. No surprise it was a UK Video Nasty. The distributor actually did 18 months in prison for refusing to edit the film at all. The main and reoccurring scene of the decapitation of the woman straddling the tied-up man is brutal, tons of blood and great effects. This movie is also notorious for claiming Tom Savini did the special effects, but he was only a consultant, if that. While they might not be of Savini quality, they do not disappoint. With these Italian/American films I love the orangish red blood they use, it looks so fake and hilarious.
The ending really seemed shoehorned in at the last minute. The movie moves along at a normal pace, actually a little slow in some parts, but that happens with early 80s slashers. The climax was comical to me. George breaks into the family’s house and kills the babysitter and her boyfriend. While he is wearing an old man mask, that is genuinely creepy! The babysitter death made me laugh. George is walking down the stairs and she’s screaming at him and berating him, she thinks it is C.J. Ok lets get this straight. George is like 6ft 2, at least. C.J. is a 7 year old boy, so he’s probably like 4 ft tall, IF THAT. I know he has that costume thing that makes him look tall, but it is obviously fake. Anyway George buries a hammer in her back like five times and kills her. George turns his attention to C.J. and chases him into a room. C.J. shuts the door and hides on the bed with a revolver. George starts breaking through and C.J. shoots him numerous times in the stomach and hand. George groans and falls down. C.J. runs to another room and George gets up and goes after him saying “NO, you don’t understand!” C.J. then grabs a shotgun or rifle or something and shoots George multiple times and he falls down the stairs. Of course it is shown in slow motion, with C.J. looking like a badass. “IT’S JUST BEEN REVOKED!” C.J. yelled after shooting George. Not really but how badass would that be? While George is dying we see the full flashback and realize the Walmart Yodeling boy from the dream is a young George (is that suppose to be a surprise?!). George came home to his father and girlfriend having sex, so he grabbed an axe and chopped up the girlfriend. The dad screams no and tries to calm George down, whom then buries the axe in his dad’s head. George sits down and smiles at the camera, covered in blood. Back to reality and the parents come home and the paramedics are wheeling George’s body out of the house. They pull the sheet down and remove the mask, C.J.’s mom screams “THAT’S MY HUSBAND!” Then the final shot we see is C.J. in the back of a cop car, as he looks at the camera and smiles. Yeah that’s the ending lol.
Nightmare was better than a lot of the shitty slashers I have seen but it doesn’t hold up to hidden gems like The Burning, Pieces, or Popcorn. The acting was inconsistent, the ending was laughable but the gore was great. The story is really nothing new, again I still think every small town in the 80s had an insane asylum with terrible security! I would give Nightmare a C-. It really is average all around. If you love slasher movies or gore, give it a shot, otherwise watch something else.
