Nightmare on the Street

"Nightmares" is a dire, tedious and dirty attempt at a slasher movie that can't even be bothered with a twist in the tail.

The only thing - absolutely the only thing - that you'll remember about this movie is the sex. It has more of that than probably any slasher movie I've seen, and it's quite graphic, including a close up shot of a man's hand mauling a woman's pudenda.

Aside from this nothing in the movie connects because it is so stupid and absurd. The 'action' is set around a play where people keep getting murdered. All of the killings happen from POV shots except for when the killer raises the murder weapon - a shard of glass - in the air. More than once they kill their victims two at a time, so why isn't there any attempt to fight back? They scream, recoil, and get slashed up. Blood goes everywhere, but the killings are not particularly graphic. The budget went on actors willing to get naked, it seems, and allowed no room for visible wounds, so all we end up with is fake blood smeared on naked bodies.

I could hardly wait for this movie to be over, so I contemplated things like how the play could continue while its cast of only five people is already missing two actors, at least one of which has been discovered murdered in the theatre itself. The effort to find the killer is so lax that detectives allow the other cast and director into the crime scene so that they can watch from the seats as they go about their job of questioning one of the actors, and then disappear from the movie permanently so that subsequent performances can happen, minus the actor who got killed. Presumably the public has heard about the murder. Why are they so keen to enter the theatre where someone was brutally murdered yesterday and no one knows who did it?

This is the kind of movie where people take a long time to die from POV shots so that we can see them scream, get slashed up, run away, get chased, continue to get slashed up... but then other characters die immediately from one stab if they happen to be in a crowded place so that no one around can tell they've been killed. It's as though the filmmakers realise no one who watches such a movie will care enough to notice such inconsistencies and unrealities. Or perhaps they think the audience isn't bright enough to get it.

The existence of such a movie, therefore, is an insult to anyone who has to sit through it, on top of everything else.

Young Cathy accidentally kills her mother,who is making out with a man in the passenger seat of a car.Believing the man is hurting her mother,Cathy starts hitting him and her mother crashes the car sending her through the windshield.When an orderly tries to molest her,Cathy slashes his face with a broken glass.Years later Helen(Jenny Neumann of "Hell Night" fame)is an aspiring American actress auditioning for a Victorian comic play about death made by sarcastic director George.Soon a black gloved sex-hating killer wielding shards of glass starts killing members of theatrical play.Sleazy Australian slasher with lots of POV shots and fairly brutal glass slashings.The identity of the killer is blatantly obvious and there is a bit of graphic nudity.If you are a fan of "Flesh and the Blood Show","Theatre of Blood","Deliria" and "Opera" you may give this one a look.6 out of 10.

Australia's answer to the slasher market… well kind of, as this weird, trashy psychodrama does contain numerous elements found it slashers. Not perfect by any stretch, but it especially does a good job constructing its stalk and slash sequences with stylish verve and a real mean streak to boot. Like other reviewers mentioned it has a striking resemblance to Michele Soavi's late 80s slasher "Stagefright" and there's a touch Giallo evident. The POV shots do at times strike a nerve; just listen to the heavy breathing. The suspense when it's on, is gripping and the attack scenes are brutal and bloody. Hearing the glass slice the skin really does come through in these scenes. Also it doesn't skimp on the sleaze and nudity either. However it's too bad that the editing throws up some random scenes that are poorly linked, or don't add much to the unfolding situations and the final twist is so easy to pick up on that it's no surprise when its revealed. When it's not focusing on the stage cast and crew being dispatched, it's somewhat textbook in its tired dramas. Surprisingly the opening sequences are very effective in setting up a scarred character.

There were some names attached to this Australian production that horror fans will recognise. Jenny Neumann playing the lead character, the aspiring actress with a troubled past would be known for her part in the Linda Blair's starring slasher "Hell Night" the following year. Also attached to the project was Colin Eggleston as writer, who brought us the eco-horror "Long Weekend" and would later churn out an even more stranger and ultra-slick slasher in "Cassandra" (1986). You could also throw in director John D. Lamond who was behind some Ozploitation films like "Felicity" and "Pacific Banana".

Lamond ups the atmospheric traits (good use of a theatre setting), keeps the drama thick with touch oddness and stays rather traditional in the set-up. No surprises, but just like our central character it can be a neurotic and twisted jumble. Although towards the closing stages it does feel fairly rushed and contrived. The performances are acceptable, if at times a little over-colourful and the dialogues did have that blunt nature to them. And that music score is far from subtle.

NIGHTMARES (aka: STAGE FRIGHT) opens with a little girl inadvertently causing a car accident in which her mother is killed. Years later, Helen (Julie Neuman) is a struggling actress, auditioning for a part in a play. Still haunted by her mum's death, Helen is very insecure and emotionally unstable.

Meanwhile, a randy, naked couple are murdered in an alley. Everything seems to point to the guilt of one person, though the killer is never shown.

While Helen is busy working on her first relationship with a man, more grisly murders occur, including the butchering of the world's most odious theater critic.

In the end, it all adds up to very little, providing no real surprises or twists. This movie is for those who simply want a blood-soaked experience with extra helpings of nudity.

TWO INTERESTING FACTS: #1- Glass always breaks in big, knife-shaped shards, suitable for murdering people! #2- Having sex can only lead to death by knife-shaped glass shards!...

I certainly didn't have very high expectations and I still was disappointed. Production wise pretty good, actors were not bad, the plot wasn't any worse than in any other movies of the kind, but.... no. It was tiresome to watch through, waiting for anything at all to redeem this movie, but ... no, nothing really. Only psycho sexual slasher thriller cliches used a million times already in the early 80's, following unoriginal plot to the uninteresting end. Even the nudity and sex was was boring, and though I had hoped Brian May score would've been interesting, even that was unfortunately generic and merely ok.