'Nightmare Cinema' (2018)

I've got a real soft spot for 'horror anthology' films. I don't care what it is, if I come across one then I'm watching it right through to the end and that's that. And that's why I watched 'Nightmare Cinema' last night... I was idly looking for giant crab horror movies on Youtube (because why the hell not?) and came across a clip from what turned out to be 'Nightmare Cinema'. That was it, as soon as I found out what the name of the movie was, and found out it was a 'horror anthology', I was off to Amazon Prime to give it a go. And I did. It wasn't bad but I'm not going to lie, I was left wanting two hours of my life back...

The thing about these kind of movies is that you're never going to get a perfect run of stories; some will hit the mark while others will be way off target. That's the way it goes, we all like different stuff so not everyone will like everything (I kind of envy those lucky people who do but that's another story). 'Nightmare Cinema' struck out though with more than one story as well as the narrative linking them all together. I liked the idea of watching your own death play out on the big screen (and if I saw my name in lights, of course I'd go in and watch) but Mickey Rourke's 'Projectionist' needed a little more in terms of why he was there, doing what he was doing. What we got instead was a lot of posturing which was alright but felt a little too lightweight to hold the rest of the stories together. And talking of those stories.

I actually really liked 'The Thing in the Woods' for the way it gets you thinking that you're watching something familiar, only to turn it upside down (at just the right moment) and have you watching something else entirely. It's a shame that after all of that, the story decided to go with an overly familiar ending and end on a slightly flat note because of it. On the strength of this opening though, I did have high hopes for the rest of the story.

Those high hopes lasted until the end of the next story, 'Mirari', where a woman agrees to undergo plastic surgery (for her fiancee), only to find out... Well, I'm not sure what she found out to be honest. While I don't mind a bit of plastic surgery style body horror, there has to be some kind of motive for it, otherwise it's just doing nasty stuff to someone in order to get a few cheap gasps out of the viewer. And that was 'Mirari'... No rhyme or reason, just some plastic surgery so we can gasp at what becomes of the victim. Pretty pointless then although Richard Chamberlain was really creepy as a surgeon who clearly enjoys his work a little too much.

With 'Mirari' out the way, I moved onto 'Mashit', a tale of demonic possession at a Catholic school which I stuck with for about half the story and then played on my phone until it was done. I won't say too much about this film then (doesn't really seem fair) other than that there didn't seem to be a 'hook' to get me into this story. If people aren't really that bothered by a kid falling off the school roof then I'm sorry but I won't be either.

'This Way To Egress' though... This story of a woman's altering perception of reality was just superb. Out of all the stories in 'Nightmare Cinema', this was the one that had me questioning everything about it, not least what had lead Elizabeth Reaser's Helen to this situation in the first place. Is Helen having a breakdown or is something else happening to her? 'This Way To Egress' is beautifully shot and heartbreakingly told, all at the same time.

And then it was time for 'Dead', a 'Sixth Sense' style tale where most of the dead people you see act like zombies... Except for our hero's dead Mum who wants him to die and be with her forever. 'Dead' is an odd tale as you're meant to follow the story of the boy being chased by his parent's killer but you can't help but wonder what his dead Mum is prepared to do to have him in the afterlife with her. It's a story that doesn't quite know what it wants to be and loses a little of its impact as a result. Not a great note to end on then.

I'm really glad that I got to watch 'This Way To Egress' but the rest of 'Nightmare Cinema' felt like a lot of potential that wasn't quite reached, for me anyway. Oh well, onto the next horror anthology movie, whatever that ends up being...