Kattiera Nana I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

Contentar Best movie of this year hands down!

Bereamic Awesome Movie

BloodTheTelepathicDog Now that screenplay format has to be a certain way--which ruins the film going experience--I highly doubt a film like this would be produced today. Studios would probably scoff at the change in direction this movie gives its viewer. The first half of the film focuses on one character, who we feel is the film's central figure, but then it changes gears and the script gives viewers a new main character halfway through the film. This leads the average film-goer to confusion and this device of changing main characters midway through the film would never fly today.The film starts with teenage Janet (Jennie Linden) who is sent home from her school. Janet, when she was eleven, witnessed her mother commit murder. Deemed insane, her mother was shipped to an asylum and the emotional Janet fears she is following in her mother's steps. Things don't go well at home as Janet has visions of a woman murdered in her family house. Although she has a strong support group around her, nurse Grace (Moira Redmond), her guardian Harry (David Knight), housemaid Mrs. Gibbs (Irene Richmond) and chauffeur John (George Cooper) she looses her marbles and gets sent to the sanitarium at the film's midpoint.Then the film focuses on Grace who feels someone in the house is trying to drive her mad. She too begins to see visions of a woman stalking the house. But who is trying to drive her mad? The same person that drove Janet mad? Grace feels that she knows who the culprit is but someone could be playing a cat and mouse game with her.STORY: $$$$ (The story is quite strong. The script will have you second guessing because it strays so far from convention. The problem with the shift in focal characters is that you, as a viewer, develop a relationship with the lead actor but then have that relationship squashed. Then you have to invest in a new relationship with a different character. This is the only real flaw to the film, but something can be said for breaking free of the by-the-numbers script that everything in Hollywood has become nowadays).ACTING: $$$$ (The acting is quite extraordinary. Jennie Linden gives the best performance as the tortured Janet which, given her exceptional work, hinders the film when she loses her status as the lead. She effectively captures the audience and just when you feel the utmost emotion for her Janet, the rug is pulled out from under the viewer and her character is lost. David Knight is chillingly self-absorbed as Henry and Moira Redmond is quite strong as the quick-tempered Grace. Both Irene Richmond and George Cooper give sensitive performances in their minor roles, as does Brenda Bruce who plays Janet's sympathetic school teacher).

Steamcarrot After Psycho proved a hit, Hammer were only too happy to jump on the bandwagon and do their own psycho-thrillers which, to be honest, all had similar story lines involving, insanity, driving people to insanity, impostors, family solicitors, pots of cash waiting to be inherited etc etc etc and as many twists and turns that could possibly be put into the story. Nightmare is one of the, if not the, best of this Hammer sub-genre. A young girl witnesses her mother stab her father to death on her birthday and, not surprisingly, this leads to a breakdown and to nightmares, with the girl believing that she is going the same way as her mother i.e. buying the one-way ticket to the asylum. But is she? As always, nothing is as it seems. Admittedly you can usually spot the twists coming but it doesn't matter here. The look of the film is fantastic. A clean, crisp black and white that director Freddie Francis makes full use of and at times his visuals alone set your spine tingling. The opening scene of the film as the young girl walks down the darkened corridors looking for the voice that is calling her is one of Hammer's most haunting set pieces and a great start to the film. Where this film differs from the others is at the half-way point the focus switches from the young girl to two of the other up-to-now minor characters and the young girl doesn't appear too much afterwards. This doesn't jar as much as you might expect, as Francis paves the way by dropping hints and enticing the viewers with possible plots before this happens. The end of the film, although not totally unexpected is certainly satisfying. Yet another minor Hammer classic that's guaranteed to get your bumps goosed!

The_Void I've been a fan of Hammer horror for a while, and have only recently discovered this whole new side of theirs. Hammer have become synonymous with fun horror films, but their serious little black and white flicks show that they're certainly not limited to doing just what we know they're good at! Like Freddie Francis' Paranoiac a year earlier, Freddie Francis' Nightmare works through it's thick macabre atmosphere, tight plotting and great acting performances. The film is also very paranoid, which helps you to get under the skin of the plot and into the heads of the characters. The film starts off following young Janet. Janet's mother stabbed her father to death on her birthday many years ago and has spent her life in an insane asylum ever since. Janet is now having horrible dreams of her mother, and fears that she may go the same way...but after being sent home, her problems really start. The plot for this film is odd because once we reach the half-way point, it makes a full turnaround and we begin following two of the smaller characters from the first part of the film.The second half of the story is definitely more interesting than the first, so the switch is a good thing as far as I'm concerned. This film appears to have been an obvious influence on Pete Walker's exploitation flick 'Frightmare', as the two follow pretty much the same theme. Hammer's version of the story is far better, though. The ensemble cast here are excellent, with everyone giving a terrific performance. Jennie Linden is convincing as the young girl being terrified by her dreams and more than does justice to the role. The greatness of the plot can be summed up by the fact that I often find myself giving low ratings to Hammer's black and white films, simply because I love to see the colours that Hammer do so well. This film is so professionally handled, however, that the lack of colour doesn't harm the film at all - and actually helps it. The atmosphere would never be the same in colour, and the colours are made up for anyway by the wonderful use of lighting. On the whole, this isn't one of Hammer's most important films - but it is a very good one, and I highly recommend it! Just one thing to note...it's not recommended that you watch this film with a headache - there's a lot of screaming!

bensonmum2 I recently wrote a review of Hammer's Paranoiac and, for the most part, I feel like I could change the name and delete references to Oliver Reed and post it as an original review for Nightmare. Oh, sure, there are differences between the two when you start talking about specific plot points, but the general theme is the same. Like Paranoiac, Nightmare is the story of a young woman who is either going insane or being driven insane as part of a fiendish plot. The girl has visions of a woman roaming the halls of her house. When she follows the woman, she inevitably finds her lying on a bed with a knife stuck in her chest.If Nightmare excels at anything it's acting and atmosphere. The cast of non-Hammer regulars is wonderful. I've read that Jennie Linden was a last minute replacement to fill the role of the insane young woman. She's wonderfully believable in one of her first roles. I doubt that someone with considerable experience could have pulled it off so convincingly. As for atmosphere, I've always been of the belief that solid atmosphere is essential for an effective horror/thriller. And director Freddie Francis creates some very effective atmosphere. Everything from the sets to the cinematography to character reactions appears to have been designed to wring every last drop of atmosphere out of the script.I couldn't be happier with the recently released eight-movie Hammer Horror Series. While most fans will surely purchase the set for the better known Frankenstein, Dracula, and Werewolf movies, I hope that most are as pleasantly surprised by the lesser known B&W Hammer films as I am.