Nightmare has an regrettably generic title , but it ’s the word in its most literal utilization , name to the “ Mare”—a creature fromfolklorethought to torment sleeper . InNorwegianwriter - theatre director Kjersti Helen Raasmussen ’s newfangled film , coming toShudderthis week , it takes the mannikin of a particularly nasty dream monster .
Nightmare has sealed elements in common withRosemary ’s Babyand A Nightmare on Elm Street ( especially part five , The Dream Child ) , but it ’s also its own murky fauna . It begins as Mona ( Thelma ’s Eili Harboe ) and Robby ( Herman Tømmeraas ) move into a spacious but dilapidatedapartmentthey’re only able to open because of Robby ’s new line of work … and the unavoidable fact that the last tenant ( “ a fraught adult female ” is all we learn about her ) go bad on the premises . The moving picture open with text explaining what “ sleep paralysis ” is , so it ’s no surprisal when Mona starts have got dreams so vividly awful she ’s afraid to conclude her eyes at nighttime . It does n’t help oneself that the Modern apartment , which she ’s reanimate alone due to Robby ’s hectic schedule , envelop her in a uncongenial environment , all over with unsettling sound both inside ( lots of buzzing flies ) and outside ( neighbors who are arguing whenever their baby is n’t screaming ) .
Also , Mona herself is moderately emotionally aimless ; she ’s 25 and the fact that she has n’t figured out a calling yet is starting to bother her , specially since Robby is becoming a workaholic . She and Robby are n’t married or even plight , and he ’s start expend hints about wanting to start a family . Her night terrors , which postulate erratic bouts of sleepwalking , get bad — and star a material body that looks like Robby but with perceptible threat transude out of every stomate .
Image: Shudder
When Mona regain out she ’s pregnant , Nightmare adds another bed of ickiness to its story ; while we ’ve watch many tales of evil creatures that aim expectant mothers and/or newborns , it ’s less coarse to watch a woman who does n’t want to be pregnant and take ( after some invasive pushback from her Dr. ) to get an abortion instead . There are complications , since a babe is very much a part of the Mare ’s plan for Mona , so she seeks helper from a different aesculapian arena : a rest specialist named Aksel ( Dennis Storhøi ) who not only understands what she ’s going through , but also has experimental engineering that just might allow Mona to slip out of the Mare ’s reach .
The pieces are in position for a compelling and disturbing tale told very much from a woman ’s head of view , and Harboe makes right on the promise she show in Thelma with another emotionally wrenching performance . Unfortunately , Nightmare is n’t quite able to execute its ideas in a substantial way . A lot of the flick takes topographic point in Mona ’s surreal dream existence , and the story drag at times even when she ’s not sleeping ; being confined to the disconsolate flat building does n’t help keep things exciting . There ’s an element of intrigue that comes with Mona ’s neighbors , and there are hints there ’s more to the story than just Mona ’s experience . But for all its chapeau - crest to Rosemary ’s Baby , Nightmare never explores much of a cabal slant , or digs into why Mona and Robby ’s flat building has such sinister bones , or even flesh out Aksel in any interesting way . Perhaps that ’s designed , to keep Mona ’s taradiddle more informal . But the truth is there ’s nothing as appal in Mona ’s dreams as the elbow room she ’s plow by her OB / GYN when she ’s wide awake .
Nightmare arrives on Shudder September 29 .
Image: Shudder
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