Nightmare Man
Some typical thrills and chills, but otherwise Nightmare Man is a scary dream easy to forget.
Story
Ellen (Blythe Metz) receives a demon mask with a horned face in the mail, an object she's been seeing in her nightmares lately. The nightmares are so bad, in fact, her husband Bill (Luciano Szafir) has decided to take her to a mental institution. Along the way to the asylum, they run out of gas (natch), so Bill leaves Ellen alone as he heads to the nearest gas station. The vision she's been having, the actual Nightmare Man (Aaron Sherry), materializes and attacks her, as she runs to a nearby cabin where some friends are having a weekend of playing Truth or Dare. Strong-willed Mia (Tiffany Shepis) opens the door to the paranoid Ellen, who is screaming about the maniac chasing her, much to the distress of her friends. They're afraid that either the woman is simply nuts, or that she's right--and the Nightmare Man isn't far behind.
Acting
Shepis is a fairly realistic in her growing panic, as well as battling with the demon in black lacey underwear, which is how the Nightmare Man finds her and her friends. All of the main actresses have topless scenes, and there's no hint the actors are trying any harder than what is required of a campy B horror movie. Metz, as Ellen, is the only other notable performance, and they're both becoming a regular thanks to director Rolfe Kanefsky, who's written and directed a few movies for both of them already. Metz plays crazy and sexy admirably well.
Direction
Director Kanefsky creates a creepy feel, along with the first-person intimate camera shots, throwing in some surprising plot twists and trying to fool the audience with some now-expected jump-at-you shock moments. Some of them work, some don't. And practically before the credits are done at the beginning of the film, the husband is scurrying his loony wife off to the nut house before we even can begin to care. As for the supernatural murders, they pay homage to the old Troma films, but there's not much set-up before it becomes a slasher film in which the victims get picked off one by one. Nightmare Man is not the greatest of efforts.
Bottom Line
Hollywood.com rated this film 1 1/2 stars.