In addition to their more familiar vampire/monster movies, Hammer Studios also produced a series of psychological thrillers which took inspiration from such cinematic successes as Psycho (1960) and Les Diaboliques (1955). It is the latter French chiller that Nightmare seeks to emulate most closely, the plot revolving around a devious couple who conspire to send a young woman insane and drive her to murder.
Poor teenager Janet (Jennie Linden) is already a tad flaky, having witnessed the murder of her father at the hands of her deranged mother. Frightened that she will also lose her marbles and be locked away like her mum, Janet suffers from nightmares that disturb the other girls at her boarding school. As a result, Janet is sent to stay at her family home of High Towers, under the supervision of her guardian, lawyer Henry Baxter (David Knight), and nurse/companion Grace Maddox (Moira Redmond). It is Baxter and Maddox who plan to tip the already delicate Janet over the edge in the hope that she will kill Baxter's wealthy wife whilst in a confused state. An unlikely plan that somehow actually works!
Job done, the scheming couple get married and move into High Towers, but soon after, Grace starts to hear strange sounds and sees glimpses of a figure in the corridors; she also becomes suspicious of Henry, thinking that he has been seeing another woman. Becoming increasingly paranoid, Grace's sanity starts to slip, especially when she hears that Janet has escaped from the asylum and is still considered extremely dangerous.
Director Freddie Francis does what he can with the hackneyed and rather preposterous script, as do the cast, but in the end the film suffers from a 'seen it all before' storyline that offers few surprises. Francis manages to establish an eerie atmosphere with his stark B&W cinematography, the scene set for absolute terror, but, thanks to the predictability of proceedings, genuine scares are in short supply, the most frightening thing about the whole film being that ugly doll that Janet carries around with her: it's no wonder she has nightmares with that thing in the same room.
5/10. The studio's two psychological thrillers from the previous year -- The Maniac and Paranoiac -- are much better.
Poor teenager Janet (Jennie Linden) is already a tad flaky, having witnessed the murder of her father at the hands of her deranged mother. Frightened that she will also lose her marbles and be locked away like her mum, Janet suffers from nightmares that disturb the other girls at her boarding school. As a result, Janet is sent to stay at her family home of High Towers, under the supervision of her guardian, lawyer Henry Baxter (David Knight), and nurse/companion Grace Maddox (Moira Redmond). It is Baxter and Maddox who plan to tip the already delicate Janet over the edge in the hope that she will kill Baxter's wealthy wife whilst in a confused state. An unlikely plan that somehow actually works!
Job done, the scheming couple get married and move into High Towers, but soon after, Grace starts to hear strange sounds and sees glimpses of a figure in the corridors; she also becomes suspicious of Henry, thinking that he has been seeing another woman. Becoming increasingly paranoid, Grace's sanity starts to slip, especially when she hears that Janet has escaped from the asylum and is still considered extremely dangerous.
Director Freddie Francis does what he can with the hackneyed and rather preposterous script, as do the cast, but in the end the film suffers from a 'seen it all before' storyline that offers few surprises. Francis manages to establish an eerie atmosphere with his stark B&W cinematography, the scene set for absolute terror, but, thanks to the predictability of proceedings, genuine scares are in short supply, the most frightening thing about the whole film being that ugly doll that Janet carries around with her: it's no wonder she has nightmares with that thing in the same room.
5/10. The studio's two psychological thrillers from the previous year -- The Maniac and Paranoiac -- are much better.