Film Review – The Nightmare

In 2012, director Rodney Ascher created “Room 237,” a loving ode to the mysteries of Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 effort, “The Shining.” Filled with paranoia, atmosphere, and insight, the documentary challenged everything there was to know about the movie, opening it up to a fresh round of cineaste dissection. Now intent on making his own Kubrickian picture, Ascher returns with “The Nightmare,” another voyage into psychological darkness, this time looking at the lasting effect of sleep paralysis, a phenomenon that locks the afflicted in a gray area of consciousness, typically summoning haunted visions and frightening dreamscape encounters. Ascher doesn’t have enough content to fill an entire feature, but “The Nightmare” is a fascinating study of fear and analysis, with eight subjects brave enough to share their stories with the viewer. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com