"Nightmares", a.k.a. "Stage Fright", is an Australian entry into the slasher film boom of the late 70s and 80s. Jenny Neumann ("Hell Night"), giving a thoroughly inane performance, stars as Helen Selleck, who as a child had caused the car accident that killed her (adulterous) mother. Now, as a 20-something woman, Helen is a struggling theater actress, trying to satisfy demanding director George D'alberg (Max Phipps, "Mad Max 2") and tentatively responding to the affections of co-star Terry Besanko (Gary Sweet, 'Police Rescue'). Then a mad killer turns up and starts slaughtering almost everybody in the company.
"Nightmares" was written by Colin Eggleston ("Long Weekend") and directed by John D. Lamond ("Felicity"), who do understand the requirements of the sub-genre, so they make it especially violent and include a decent amount of sex & nudity. There are also the expected chase scenes, and the killer does a lot of heavy breathing. Eggleston & Lamond also make this VERY off-kilter right from the start, what with the camera angles and the close-ups and the surrealism of early scenes. They don't even TRY to make their thin story a mystery, as the resolution is painfully obvious from the get-go. That said, it's sufficiently amusing for aficionados of slashers and Ozploitation, if NOTHING I would exactly call "good". Even the score by the usually reliable Brian May is rather over the top and not particularly effective.
Punctuated by some hilariously awful theater performances, "Nightmares" is watchable enough, and fairly fast-paced, wrapping up in a trim 80 minutes.
Eggleston based his script on an "idea" by Lamond and co-star John-Michael Howson ("Second Time Lucky"), who plays the role of the critic to perfection.
Six out of 10.
"Nightmares" was written by Colin Eggleston ("Long Weekend") and directed by John D. Lamond ("Felicity"), who do understand the requirements of the sub-genre, so they make it especially violent and include a decent amount of sex & nudity. There are also the expected chase scenes, and the killer does a lot of heavy breathing. Eggleston & Lamond also make this VERY off-kilter right from the start, what with the camera angles and the close-ups and the surrealism of early scenes. They don't even TRY to make their thin story a mystery, as the resolution is painfully obvious from the get-go. That said, it's sufficiently amusing for aficionados of slashers and Ozploitation, if NOTHING I would exactly call "good". Even the score by the usually reliable Brian May is rather over the top and not particularly effective.
Punctuated by some hilariously awful theater performances, "Nightmares" is watchable enough, and fairly fast-paced, wrapping up in a trim 80 minutes.
Eggleston based his script on an "idea" by Lamond and co-star John-Michael Howson ("Second Time Lucky"), who plays the role of the critic to perfection.
Six out of 10.