The Nightmare

The Nightmare

By Rodney Ascher

  • Genre: Horror
  • Release Date: 2015-06-05
  • Advisory Rating: Unrated
  • Runtime: 1h 30min
  • Director: Rodney Ascher
  • Production Company: Touchstone Pictures
  • Production Country: United States of America
  • iTunes Price: USD 6.99
  • iTunes Rent Price: USD 3.99
7.841/10
7.841
From 9,482 Ratings

Description

From Rodney Ascher, the director of ROOM 237, comes a documentary-horror film exploring the phenomenon of 'Sleep Paralysis' through the eyes of eight very different people. These people (and a surprisingly large number of others) often find themselves trapped between the sleeping and waking worlds, totally unable to move but aware of their surroundings while being subject to frequently disturbing sights and sounds. A strange element to these visions is that despite the fact that they know nothing of one another, (and had never heard of sleep paralysis before it happened to them), many see similar ghostly 'shadow men.' This is one of many reasons many people insist this is more than just a sleep disorder. THE NIGHTMARE digs deep into not only the particulars of these eight people's uncanny experiences (through elaborate, sometimes surreal dramatizations), but it also explores their search to understand what they've gone through and how it's changed their lives.

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Reviews

  • Finally something I can relate to when explaining what I see/feel

    5
    By OPHICERMANGO
    This movie is too real for me and I love how much it hits every detail of what it means to be a sufferer of sleep paralysis, and the things we see, believe, and live with. Nothing compares to the horror of living with these experiences and visions. 10/10
  • Truly Disturbing

    5
    By Patrickster
    As someone who has experienced much of what is described in this film, to say that watching this sent chills down my spine is an understatement. Before seeing this, I had no idea that what I had seen and felt had happened to so many other people. Truly a disturbing documentary.
  • terrifying

    4
    By Mike Rood
    I have experienced, to a less intense degree, what this ‘documentary’ is about. This is less of a documentary and more of just interviews and re-enactments of what they are describing. Now.. the re-enactments… they are just about the most genuinely terrifying sequences ever put on screen. Recommended viewing, but definitely not a scientific documentary by any means. May be the scariest movie/film/documentary you’ve ever seen
  • $.99? Was not too bad.

    3
    By Brainscanned fellow
    The ones who suffer from this should record themselves at night just to see how there body reacts when this happens, surely someone has tried this. If they are tossing and turning in the recording, then they are obviously not paralysed.
  • It’s real

    5
    By Jonnyjohjjon
    What these people describe is a real experience, and the fact that so man of us have the same terrifying manifestations must mean something. If you are one of those people who do not suffer from sleep paralysis . . . you are most blessed. As a teenager, when I was struggling the most with my faith as a Christian, I had a very different occurrence of SP; one which I would never forget. This particular night SP came upon me in the middle of the night, which was unusual (it almost always happened in the morning when I would normally be waking up). I rose through the layers of sleep to find myself paralyzed. As usual the SP was accompanied by the abominable ringing that grew steadily louder and more frightful the harder I strained to move. The high-pitched whine always carried with it the foreboding sense of a harbinger trumpeting the approach of something terrible. This time I decided to throw caution aside and push through it—what was the worst that could happen? I would soon find out. I focused on lifting my arm against the shrieking tone until it became unbearably loud and I broke through into . . . silence . . . but now my eyes were open and I could look around my room, though I still could not move a muscle. I found everything was just as it should be: I was lying in on the lower bunk of my bed, and in front of me was my window with the curtains drawn back so the moonlight dimly light the scene. Then I heard it: the evil laughter of a dozen or more voices as they moved down our hallway approaching my open door. To my utter horror they turned into my room and slowly surrounded me. Then I felt their hands push under my body from all sides and I was lifted off my bed. I began to float/be carried across my room toward my door. My terror was complete. I knew they were demons, and I didn’t want to be taken wherever they were going. I remembered a bible verse that states demons flee at the sound of Jesus’ name, so I sent up a quick prayer to Him asking for the ability to speak His name. With all my might I fought to open my mouth. It cracked open and in slow motion I barely croaked out “J-e-s-u-s.” As I said the word the laughter abruptly grew louder and then turned into screams . . . and then there was nothing, and I found myself alone in bed, able to move. That was the last time anything like that ever happened to me.
  • Recommend watching alone in the dark.

    5
    By npc1nik
    I don’t know what it was about this film but it scared the crap out of me! Maybe it was that as soon as you know it’s out there it begins to happen to you. I don’t know? I don’t know? I’m beside myself. I love horror movies. I’ve seen so many horror movies that nothing scares me anymore. I challenge movies to scare me. It’s been years and years sense anything really got to me like this did. Recommend watching alone in the dark.
  • Eh.

    3
    By ElTrotsky
    This is an interesting subject, but the production value was terrible and instead of building suspense it maintained this kind of dull “pre-scary” vibe through the whole film.
  • Avoid THE NIGHTMARE at All Costs!

    1
    By Rock Hound
    I've rented and bought over 400 movies from iTunes. I've never acquired anything this bad from iTunes before! The so-called documentary is geared to first-graders. It features, over and over and over again, people who have variations on the same nightmare--they're trapped & can't wake up. There are the standard pieces of artwork by Bosch and others depicting the demon who sits on dreamers' chests at night, causing them to have unpleasant dreams. Give me me an Imax documentary or a George A. Romero horror film, but don't give me this, please!
  • Not so much a "horror" movie

    3
    By S13gmund
    Really, just a run-of-the-mill "documentary" of the sort you would expect to see on SyFy or Discovery. It's a little sensationalized, but was interesting enough to hold my attention for the duration. If you're curious about sleep paralysis, rent (don't buy). If you've experienced sleep paralysis and are looking for answers, don't bother. It's very light on the actual neuroscience underlying the phenomenon, but I expect that's in order to maintain some of the mystique. I don't regret the rental, for whatever that's worth.
  • Yawn!!!

    1
    By CDawsonAR
    A series of 6 personal accounts about 5 minutes each stretched out to make a movie. This would have been much better suited to be a 30 minute TV episode; low quality production.

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