Nightmare (2007 TV Movie) User Reviews

Sweet dreams, baby

[sol1218 · 5/10 · 18 April 2007]

(There are spoilers) Hard to follow made for TV flick with you not really knowing if what your seeing is either real or a dream. The movie has to do with this 1,000 years-old Hag, or Evil Spirit, that's been haunting sweet and lovely Molly Duggan's, Haylie Duff, ancestors since it had been kicked out of heaven and made to stay in a state of purgatory ever since. It's not really made clear what exactly Molly's relatives had to do with all this but they, at least the female side of them, had been dying in their sleep ever since and now Molly is in danger of doing the same thing.

The movie really starts to get weird when this Rasputin-like wacko Silas, Bruce Ramsey, unshaven and with piercing blue eyes shows up on the scene who happened to be in the same study group "Dream Central" at the collage that Molly is now a member of. Silas who during his travels in the Orient, trying to find himself, had been under the tutelage of a Turkish holy man for three years. Silas instinctively sees in Molly the powers of ancient wisdom that can defeat the the terror that's threatening her and her friends with death when ever they as much as go to sleep.

Silas who spent the last three years in a mental hospital after having had a complete nervous breakdown in his attempt to understand what's been going on all around him is now out on the streets and free to make a nuisance of himself. Silas does that by stalking and hounding poor Molly with his off-the-wall theories and his admiration of her mystical and God-given powers to combat the forces of evil in the world.

Eventually Molly get's the message when Silas invades her dreams and in a strange way keeps Molly from dying because of them. That in affect makes her a true believer in his powers of perception, of the worlds and dimensions beyond human reality, and drives Molly into having the same kind of breakdown that he suffered some three years ago. It turns out that Silas was right in contacting Molly and giving her the push that she needed in taking on this Evil Spirit and forcing it back into the Netherworld where it came from.

Exorcist-like ending with everything going haywire as Molly, now free of fear, takes on the Hag or Evil Spirit single-handedly and at the same time, by kicking it's butt, saves the now comatose and near-death Silas. Somewhat confusing but still interesting film with the pretty Haylie Duff, as the courageous Molly Duggan, battling both insomnia as well as the Evil Spirit from generations past to save whatever is still left to save in the movie "Nightmare".

Creepy

[hilhayls · 9/10 · 22 April 2007]

Having seen Haylie perform in a drama on the small screen prior to this offering,I was looking forward to seeing her tackle different subject matter. Oh and for the person who posted that they didn't see the opening 10 minutes,all you missed was how they set the story for what was to follow.

The movie was scary,not in the "blood and guts and gore" way though. It was more like the kind which drew you in with the scenario,then refused to let you go,until you saw what pushed people to attempt to figure out just what the HECK IS GOING ON,and why is it happening to me? Oh yeah,and one more thing..for the other person who left a comment. The hag used the "little girl" disguise,only when she appeared to Molly,since that was when said hag first started trying to gain her revenge on Molly's mother. Don't remember seeing them offer an explanation,far as the hag assuming other forms,keyed specifically to other victims.

Haylie was very convincing in her role,as were the others who she costarred with. All in all,I would say that its worth watching,if they ever repeat the movie. I watched it 2 times all the way through.

Wow .. didn't know it was made for TV

[jessex_xy · 7/10 · 28 February 2008]

I thought this was a decent sized budget movie. Well acted, great SFX, sound and presentation. I'll have to check who wrote, directed and edited this but I doubt these were anything but vets. Suppose it's the best TV movie I've seen.

That aside, I had two movies that deal with Sleep Paralysis on my list of want to watch movies but I suffer from it quite severe and it's a chronic problem so I waited until now to watch this one, the first for me. Admit it freaked me out a bit. Had my heart hammering away with the pulsing .. well, none of that, I'll not spoil anything. You can watch it yourself. Lately I haven't been catching breaks on movie quality but I can recommend this one as well worth the watch. Worth the time spent watching which seems rare these last few months. If I never post a comment here again (28FEB08, 1619) I shouldn't have watched it. Otherwise, until next time, enjoy.

Great!

[MikeyKup · 10/10 · 31 July 2021]

I'm not sure why I only just heard about this movie, but I'm glad I gave it a watch. Sleep Paralysis, the mind-body disconnect, and a clearly troubled girl who has yet to move on from her childhood trauma... it makes for a really compelling story, with a creative and clever plot at that. For me, it's one of those movies that's hard for me to review in-depth because it was more about how the movie made you feel, and I related to the character on some level, and the horror was a great element to the story. I enjoyed it and would definitely recommend it!

Nightmare

[Kod_martin · 10/10 · 25 June 2010]

A mind-body disconnect — that's what causes sleep paralysis, a terrifyingly real experience in which someone awakes momentarily made of stone. Molly Duggan is determined to discover a treatment, because in rare cases, it can kill: Her mother was one of its victims. But what science can't explain is why Molly suddenly starts experiencing episodes herself and during them, feels a sinister presence surrounding her. So she turns to legends, and that's when her real nightmare begins.I was quite impressed, very impressed. I thought that the plot was very clever. This movie was probably thought to be just a come back from the dead and kick ass movie. But it wasn't, it actually had a very clever plot. The graphics were sweet, and the acting was cool.

Better than it should be

[slayrrr666 · 8/10 · 4 December 2008]

"Nightmare" is much better than expected, if a little flawed overall.

**SPOILERS**

Returning to her hometown, Molly Duggan, (Haylie Duff) immediately enrolls in Dr. Edmonds, (Gwynyth Walsh) college coarse on studying sleep disorders. Assigned to study several candidates, she begins to realize that they're complaining about the same series of symptoms, which are soon reported in friends Gavin, (Jesse Hutch) and Carla, (Meghan Ory) as well as increasing frequency with her. When Silas Troid, (Bruce Ramsay) confronts her with the possibility that the symptoms described, about a demon able to open a doorway into another dimension, allowing it to feed on them in their dreams as punishment for a centuries-old curse, she realizes she's the key to stop the whole thing and races to understand the cause of it all and stop it once and for all.

The Good News: This was a lot better than expected. One of the better ones is the fact that the film has a really nice amount of dreams that showcase the destructive wrath of the ghost in fun detail. There's a lot of really fun dream encounters, as there's some pretty fun encounters in here. The incident on the bicycle, where the speeding car slams into a pedestrian on a bicycle and causes them to crash through the window, sending the driver into a cackling frenzy at the whole display as they realize what's happening. The dreams from her in the beginning are great, especially the one where the flashback to the accident, the film's only attempt at doing anything with graphic violence, coupled with the intensity of the moment and a rather creepy feeling make for some good times. The best stuff occurs at the end, though, as the film decides to unveil the ghost's look for the first time, add in a couple of dramatic confrontations within the world, both inside a bedroom that is quite a bit more entertaining than it should be, thanks to the different tactics used to battle both sides of the fight make for some great thrills. The second one, where the two fight it out in the woods beside the flaming car, it gets exciting and interesting, providing a lot of great visuals amongst it all, with the whole situation being engulfed in flames and a battle going on amongst it all. These are all built up amongst it by the film's rather fun and enjoyable back-story, which is not only a creepy story that comes out from an impressive amount of evidence thrown out amongst the whole beginning with the dreams, and as well the fact that there's a rather enjoyable tension used in here as to it all when the film's going to get it out, allows for some good scenes. These here are the film's good parts.

The Bad News: There wasn't a whole lot wrong with this one, but the few flaws on display do meld together into one big flaw. The fact of the matter is that the film doesn't have very many scenes of the ghost in action due to the way the plot dictates the film. It has to appear to be a drama for most of the time since it has to build up the different amount of stories that corner the film's back-story, allowing it to focus on the story more than giving out some ghost action along the way, making it a cameo star in the film about the dangers of it going around killing people. That was the whole point of the film, the dangers about the ghost coming after them in their dreams, and instead it spent most of the time dealing with the drama in her life, and it doesn't lead a lot of time to the good parts, going so far as to only knock off less than half a dozen because of it. That's the most telling aspect of the film, as this one really could've used more time away to really deliver. Otherwise, there isn't a whole lot of flaws with it.

The Final Verdict: Not a whole lot of flaws keep this one down, as the good points more than make up for whatever shortcomings are here. Highly recommended if you're into the horror-drama angle, find it intriguing or are interested in the style, otherwise this is a good one to heed caution with.

Rated R: Violence, some Language and a shadowy Sex Scene