‘Nightmare’ (2023) Review – An Occasionally Malicious Horror Misfire

Norwegian horror film Nightmare, from established director Kjersti Helen Rasmussen, asks what it means to be awake. The film is a relatively unhindered exploration of the social culture surrounding pregnancy and how that affects everyone involved, twisting that problem through a pregnant woman suffering from sleep paralysis. Of course, it isn’t that simple.

Her pain is expectedly torched by demonic explanations; not necessarily a bad thing on the surface, but certainly an overdone tendency that doesn’t help the heartily grounded central topic. These two ideals clash heavily throughout the film; visually, it’s a sensible pairing, but beyond the eyes, there is very little success in the symbiosis. Serious conversations are situated between anticlimactic sequences of skewed tension. Again, the scare-oriented visuals as a stand-alone thought occasionally break through with some intrigue, but for the most part, this is run-of-the-mill.

In general, though, the film is a technical marvel. The cinematography is sound and it finds ways to spice up a few of the many conversations, the best example of which being a brilliant broken mirror shot. The synth score set behind the entire thing is serviceable, and the performances are all rock-solid, too. From a pure filmmaking perspective, ignoring what it owes to the genre, there isn’t much to fault it for.

It’s just missing a specific sort of flair that is becoming increasingly necessary in the genre as it essentially flattens out in the mainstream. When something hits these days, even if it doesn’t hit hard, it’s immediately remembered for it. Nightmare does well with sharp edits and unusual jumpscares, but never really comes close to landing a memorable strike. It insists on repeating visuals it seems to be sure of, without care that they’ve been done before, and done better at that. Does that mean they’re bad here? No, not necessarily, but it does often feel derivative in that way.

The plot really is the only thing that shines here as a contained, well-conceptualized narrative. It doubles back on itself an incessant number of times and over-explains everything beyond the basics. Yet, it’s hard to not find something compelling within it still. It’s a very human story, after all, and there is an aura of understanding for that here. Emotions are flying every which way, somehow managed within the packed as-is screenplay. Another point for Nightmare, then, one that will likely (and unfortunately) settle under the radar, as the film is often far too loud or way too slow to ask most to stick around.

The pace is a serious drag; drawing back to plot points that need not be covered again (but are anyway) absolutely stifles the rhythm. There is little actual development in the story until it absolutely must do so, when it then jolts forward, well past the necessary point and shaking the immersion that much further. The final nail in the coffin is the ending, where the film essentially guarantees confusion at the very least, and perhaps even disgust.

It’s just unsettling, and not in a way that it should be. The message is crystal clear, and the execution being bad is completely beside that. The scenes’ abruptness adds salt to the wound which is the jarring nature of the film as is; very little of it works.

Horror needs new things, and Nightmare earnestly tries a few. But aside from those moments, it appears to be totally fine with settling for exhausted ideas and muddled execution. Macabre on occasion, yet even then watered down. Nightmare fails to conjure up any special scares, and slots right in with a long line of similar claustrophobic horror misfires that never seem to learn from the last.

Nightmare is currently available to stream on Shudder. 

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvRn1lecTuE]