Rodney Ascher’s follow-up to “Room 237,” his collation of mad conspiracy theories about “The Shining,” doesn’t have the same crazy tingle, although “documentary-horror” is a genre dying to be confected and delved. Debuting at Sundance 2015, “The Nightmare” mixes testimony of subjects who share with the filmmaker a form of sleep paralysis that is often precipitated by very similar “shadow men.” The first several enactments suggest a creepiness that does not come to fruition and the on-camera recitations remain very much the same. The lighting of the interviews is richly imagined to no cumulative impact. Where’s the freakout? I could breathe, but I didn’t want to! 89m. (Ray Pride)
“The Nightmare” opens Friday, June 5 at the Music Box.
Ray Pride is Newcity’s Senior Editor and Film Critic. He is a contributing editor of Filmmaker magazine.
Ray’s history of Chicago Ghost Signs is planned for publication next year. Previews of the project are on Twitter and on Instagram. More photography on Instagram.
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