THE NIGHTMARE Rating: NNNN
Where to watch: Netflix, iTunes
In the fascinating essay film Room 237, Rodney Ascher set footage from Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining to a running commentary by people who were convinced the film was a deeply coded key to all manner of conspiracies.
Ascher’s new project, The Nightmare, is another examination of the tricks our minds play on us. This time he’s exploring the phenomenon of sleep paralysis, that state of consciousness in which the mind “wakes up” before the body.
Half a dozen subjects describe terrifying hallucinations and out-of-body experiences, which Ascher gleefully recreates in stylized re-enactments (and some downright sadistic soundtrack activity).
The Nightmare knits its personal testimonies into a pattern of cultural examples stretching from Freddy Krueger and Whitley Strieber’s Communion all the way back to Middle Ages lore. It’s compelling viewing, as well as disturbing as hell. Honestly, who needs the spectres of Insidious: Chapter 3 when our own brains are capable of scaring us half to death.
The best part? The condition appears to be communicable: once you’ve heard about sleep paralysis, it might just happen to you. More suggestible audience members are advised to see something else instead. 91 minutes.
See Q&A with director Rodney Ascher.
