5.7 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.0 | |
Overall | 2.0 |
After receiving an African fertility mask as a gift Ellen tells her husband William that she's been attacked by masked phantom called 'the Nightmare Man'. As Ellen's paranoia increases, William takes Ellen for a road trip to a clinic, only to have their car break down, and when William goes off, Ellen is attacked for real by the Nightmare Man. Fleeing through the dense woods, Ellen seeks shelter in the remote cabin home of Mia, with her friends Jack, Ed, and Trinity, who give her shelter, but are soon besieges in their home by Nightmare Man. But the real horror comes when Ellen slowly reveals to harbor a MORE evil and deadly thing within her which could spell death for everyone involved.
Starring: Blythe Metz, Aaron Sherry, Tiffany Shepis, Victor KanefskyHorror | 100% |
Thriller | 21% |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Music: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 2.0 | |
Video | 2.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.5 | |
Overall | 2.0 |
Note: Nightmare Man is as of the writing of this review a Ronin Flix website exclusive, but will go into "wider release" on January
23.
Perhaps if more of what writer and director Rolfe Kanefsky states was his intention with regard to Nightmare Man actually made it to the
screen, the film might have
arguably benefited as a result. Kanefsky has some rather interesting things to say in some supplements included on this disc about how he wanted to
craft a horror film that kind of traversed how the genre changed over the course of several decades, with everything from slasher style "antics" to
supernatural phenomena unfolding as the story progressed. That structural artifice may still have a bit of subliminal allure for some fans, but the
story itself is pretty rote.
Nightmare Man is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Ronin Flix with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. The IMDb offers only a fairly unhelpful "digital" under Negative Format on its Technical Specs page for the film, and the closing credits roll don't disclose anything either. Whatever was used to capture this imagery either couldn't handle the surplus of low light conditions, or something went seriously awry during the encode, because as can probably be seen (using that term figuratively) in some of the screenshots I've uploaded to accompany this review this is a generally very rough, fuzzy and undetailed presentation. Some of the darkest moments offer virtually no really visible fine detail (see screenshot 5 for one example). Many, maybe even most, of the dark sequences are littered with noise. adding to deficits in detail levels. In the few brightly lit moments, things pop adequately if never amazingly well, but detail levels definitely improve.
Things are considerably better with regard to this disc's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. A rather nice score by Christopher Farrell resides comfortably in the side and rear channels, and several of the outdoor sequences offer some good placement of ambient environmental sounds. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.
Nightmare Man is a prime example of ultra low budget indie filmmaking, and as such it may appeal to fans of that particular "guerrilla" approach to shooting a movie. There are some interesting ideas here, but some arguably not ready for prime time performances and presentational aspects may keep this from delivering more chills. Technical merits range from definitely improvable (video) to rather good (audio), and the supplements are quite appealing, for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.
(Still not reliable for this title)
Unrated Director's Cut
2006
Haunted
2014
1981
Unrated Theatrical and Rated Versions
2013
2014
Collector's Edition
2003
2014
2018
2018
2006
2016
The Ordeal / Slipcover in Original Pressing
2004
2003
2012
1981
2016
2006
2014
2019
2010