Marerittet

The Nightmare was far better than I expected it to be, and about a theme that is rarely used in movies, sleep paralysis.

The film is obviously inspired by Roman Polanski. More about this later on.

The couple Mona (Eili Harboe) and Robbie (Herman Tømmeraas), both 25, should have received a fly swatter as a gift when they had a housewarming party. The buzzing from insect wings is constant every time Mona goes to bed in the evening, in the apartment in Bergen she and her boyfriend have just bought at asking price. The home is a big renovation project, and was not even properly cleaned and washed after the previous occupant died under unclear circumstances.

They got it cheap, then it may rather be that the noise from neighbors arguing and children screaming is constant. It's not just sounds that ruin Mona's night's sleep. She also suffers from sleep paralysis and somnambulism. The distinction between what are nightmares and what are hallucinations in the waking state is unclear, for her and for us. Sometimes she hurts herself when she sleeps.

Robbie is rarely present when she goes to bed, he works hard and late, and he usually comes home very late in the evening.

It gradually dawns on us that, by all accounts, Mona's restless sleep is connected to a feeling of stress she feels when she is awake: The expectations of those around her that, with a husband and a house in place - well, it is probably time to get children too? Robbie fusses all the time. They even have enough space!

Mona's fears are fueled by the young, strangely gusty couple who live in the apartment opposite them (Gine Therese Grønner and Preben Hodneland), and also the creepy sleep specialist Aksel Brun (played brilliantly by Dennis Storhøi). He wants to help her, but seems to be more concerned with superstition than with modern medical science.

Writer/director Kjersti Helen Rasmussen's chills has made a sublime horror-thriller that maks me think of not just one, but three great psychological thrillers signed by Roman Polanski. First and foremost "Rosemary's Baby" (1968), then "Repulsion" (1965) and "The Tenant" (1976). And "The Nightmare" does not shame them.

This has become a film with a lot of nerve. However - as so often happens with this kind of elevated horror, it seems that the more the movie tries to explain itself, it loses the grip of being a masterpiece.

Still it is great, and don't listen to the other reviewers, they simply don't get the references. One of the top Norwegian horrors of all times.

Moving into a new flat together, a couple looking to start their lives together become troubled by her constant nightmares and sleepwalking issues which soon leads to the potential discovery of a deadly folklore being at the center of it all and tries to find a way to stop it from affecting her.

This was a generally dreadful and not all that worthwhile of a feature. Among the few likable factors for this one is the atmosphere of the first half featuring the couple moving into the new apartment which leads to the burgeoning appearance of the supernatural entity. Nicely exploring the concept of her being targeted by the being with the loneliness, the argumentative neighbors, and the constant crying noises she hears that soon develop into the sleep paralysis problems she suffers from, the way this comes together into a landing spot for the introduction of the spirit tormenting her. That leads into the second half where the dream revelations of her troubled state are a fun series of sexually-charged dreams centered on the demon manipulating everything, but that's all that works here. There are some really big issues here that hold this one back and make it as bad as it is. One of the biggest detriments to this one is an utterly unappealing pace that just drains any potential fun out of this from the very start. Conversations range from nothing particularly interesting about either member detailing his work career or her trying to clean up the apartment at a lethargic flow with no energy or enthusiasm. It makes what happens here have no impact or importance due to the lifeless atmosphere on display which causes the dull and flat appearance throughout the first half as the uninteresting material in its own right has no chance of being engaging due to the problematic presentation so there's no chance of anything starting off well. N top of this problematic factor, the film doesn't do itself any favors by keeping the creature off-screen for just about the entire running time. While it gets brought up as a potential cause early on, the immediate aftermath is to ignore everything about it in favor of asinine abortion regulations and an insomnia study that is completely uninteresting. None of these subplots are that enjoyable as it leads to nothing that impressive as we get either lifeless relationship troubles or dull experimentation scenes in the doctor's care trying to put his science to the test so the film comes off quite dull as there's nothing interesting happening at a pace that drains the life out of the film without a villain on-screen for much of it these lower the film significantly to the point of being unwatchable.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language and Violence.

No pun intended - this is quite the interesting horror movie. The suspense works from start to finish. Yes we do get quite a few cliche stuff ... but we do have a horror movie here, so that is to be expected. The actors are really good too ... it starts off with the usual shocker (horror movies have to do that, to keep us engaged I reckon) ... and it does have a nice build up.

I reckon you might have wanted to seek out better professional help ... and maybe not stay at a place that is as horrible ... but then again, we would not have a movie ... so suspense of disbelief is quite necessary. Good effects overall ... and well told ... it's not only Freddy (Kruger) who is able to give you nightmares ...

I think it was really cool to link sleep paralysis, and sleep disorders with the Norwegian myth of the Mare. Having Mona and her friend go to lecture on them was a great way to explain them to a none Norwegian audience. I liked the creature design.

I thought the way Mona slipped into sleep without always realising made it pretty creepy. And there were some nice creepy moments in the film, the problems with the neighbours was pretty cool as well. The story was decent enough.

The acting was pretty good, and the pacing wasn't perfect but it was a really good attempt. I found it really enjoyable, and I do really like supernatural horror.

... and dream of better horror films, perhaps?

Believe me, I honestly don't like writing harsh and negative things about a film like "Marerittet". I want to encourage ambitious and intelligent new horror stories, especially when they come from one of my favorite countries in the world, but unfortunately "Nightmare" is mostly dull, unremarkable, implausible, and featuring far too many phony jump-scares than tolerable.

The Brussels' Film Festival, where I saw the film, describes "Marerittet" as mixture between "Nightmare on Elm Street" and "Rosemary's Baby". That's fairly accurate plot-wise, but obviously not in terms of quality or impact. Terrible events from the lead girl's dreams manifest themselves when she wakes up, and there are demonic babies that desperately want to be born, but "Marerittet" undoubtedly won't ever be considered as genre classic like the other two. Notably the first full hour is too slow-paced and too clichéd. The final act touches upon some taboo subjects (like abortion and insights in the concept of lucid dreaming) and contains a handful of strong moments, but the overall result remains unsatisfying. The strong performance of Eili Harboe does make me want to seek out the acclaimed fantasy/thriller "Thelma", in which she plays the titular role.