Director: Rodney Ascher
MPAA Rating: NR
Run Time: 91 min.
Rodney Ascher, director of the Stanley Kubrick conspiracy theory doc, Room 237, is back tackling another interesting subject in The Nightmare, a look at the phenomena of sleep paralysis, wherein those afflicted often wake up in their beds and witness shadowy figures hovering over them. It’s a creepy topic to be sure, but the film does little to explore or explain this strange ailment.
The documentary amounts to little more than conversations between eight subjects who tell nightmarish tales of their experiences with sleep paralysis and the sordid horror that they witness on a regular basis.
As the subjects tell their story, Ascher stages recreations in order to add a visual element to the terror, most of which work to varying degrees. Some of the stories feature jump scares and intensely creepy imagery, however after the first few, the well runs dry.
The big problem I had with this film is that, like in real life, it’s just not that interesting hearing people tell you about the dreams they had, even if they aren’t exactly dreams and are accompanied by some Rescue 911-style reenactments. My skepticism often got the better of me during the film, and I found myself wondering how many of these recollections were embellished or spiced up for the camera, something we can never know for sure.
Sleep paralysis is an inherently interesting topic, especially since most people afflicted with it have very similar experiences, mainly with “shadow people” watching over them, lurking in the corners of the bedroom or hovering directly above them. Unfortunately, there isn’t much happening in the film that’s dedicated to explaining why this occurs, other than indicating that each person had a significant amount of stress in their lives when it started.
It would have been nice to feature some interviews with sleep experts or have some of the subjects attend a sleep clinic to learn more about the physical aspects of this disorder instead of just rehashing the same stories over and over again.
Like with Room 237, Ascher’s technique is on point and visually appealing, and this entry feels more like a professional documentary than his prior documentary, which had a slight YouTube vibe to it. However, Room 237 – though more ridiculous in spots – is more entertaining than The Nightmare, which becomes fairly dull by its conclusion.
The Nightmare is an interesting concept for a documentary, and does manage to be both a horror film and talking-head doc, but the fascination of sleep paralysis wears out its welcome after only a short time, and all we’re left with is a group of people telling us about their sh*tty dreams, which is only slightly more interesting than when one of your friends say, “you’re never going to believe this crazy dream I had!”
