Blood, boobs and childhood trauma
"The biggest strength of this Ozploitation slasher is its portrayal of mental health and its degrading effects on its victims when leaving childhood trauma untreated. In this case, on our central figure Jenny Neumann as Helen. With plenty of blood, boobs, attempts of misdirection and 80s acting this definitely isn’t the film for everyone. The standout performance for this film for me was John Michael-Howson as the theatre critic A fun film for the collection (especially those looking for plenty of nudity to their slashers), but perhaps not the most re-watchable"
— Nathan H. (4/5)
Aussie Giallo-esque Slasher
"Nightmares isn't great by any means, but this murder mystery soaked in almost more nudity than gore is a fun watch with a beautiful restoration by Umbrella. It plays like a hybrid of Stage Fright mixed with Halloween or original Friday the 13th and adds that Aussie flavor that hits just right. Come for the violence and stay for all the naked bodies littering the back lot. You'll enjoy it, I promise."
— Joshua K. (5/5)
Aussie slasher with blood and lots of nudity
"*spoilers ahead* In 1963 young Cathy walks in on her parents having sexual intercourse which, as we know, is fatal for the mental wellbeing of someone so young as here in the world of the giallo and slasher. A bit later her mother picks up her secret lover with Cathy sleeping on the backseat. When Cathy wakes up, mistaking the intimate happenings towards her mother as an attack, she interrupts her mother and thus causes a car crash. The mother flies through the windshield, her throat cut by the broken glass. Her father blames her for it, which puts Cathy in complete mental turmoil. A rainy night, excellent lighting, a setup not too dissimilar of that of the typical giallo, a mental disturbance instigated at a young age,. . . we're off to a good start. In the present day, we meet Helen, who is about to go to an audition for an experimental play. Now, I had seen this film many years ago on a Dutch DVD that, at the very least, had a widescreen transfer. Nowadays the way to go is with the Umbrella blu-ray, which is of excellent quality and especially excels at showing off all those bright colours. Unfortunately, the provided subtitles immediately reveal the name of the person that is heavily breathing every time there's a POV-shot of her stalking some unfortunate lovemaking people. For you see, the way that the movie is edited (with a LOT of fade-to-black transitions for scenes that sometimes only last a couple of seconds), mirroring Cathy's eyes with Helen's stare, it's not hard to immediately connect the dots and know that Helen is the same person as young Cathy and the subtitles quickly confirm that. Basically, you have a slasher that employs the tricks and techniques of hiding the identity of the killer while there really is no mystery as to who does all the killing. Every time Helen sees someone making love or resorting to some kind of sexual violence, she smashes a window, takes a piece of glass and has her way with it. All in all, it's quite stylish, more so than most American slashers and more akin to the gialli but basically every kill is the same. The amount of nudity is also quite a bit higher than the American counterparts, which means that the actors and actresses having to run around naked through the rain (!) musn't have had the most pleasant of times. It's a miracle then that the film still manages to provide some fun, mostly in the coinciding (blackly) comic look at the art of setting up a play. The director is a complete asshole, the film critic a bitter cynic who tries to get his sexual ways with Helen and Bruce, the latter himself trying to get in the pants of every female member of the production and the participants rank amateurs. I assume it was intentional of making the play a complete travesty (with the director literally admitting that the written dialogue is complete nonsense). At times, you almost think that Helen's violent outbursts are a side dish instead of the main course. A big problem is that the scenes in the film don't always have a flow to them, almost feeling like disconnected little moments stitched together. It's shameless in trying to imitate what came before it (John Lamond, the director of the film, was very upfront about all this), even throwing in a touch of Psycho with Terry, Helen's acting partner and first boyfriend, listening in on a so-called conversation between Helen and Cathy. The score by Brian May also channels Bernard Herrmann. You wonder how no one manages to see that Helen is clearly completely mad but then again they also don't realise that their comedy play isn't all that fun. A slasher with a lot of sexual content and a strange Aussie vibe at times, sleazy, bloody and violent. If you want to watch this film, this is the disc to get."
— Tim V. (4/5)
