After finding The Age of Shadows to be an excellent choice,I took a look at the list of other titles set for the main part of the ICM Film Fest. Expecting all the Horror flicks to be limited to the "Horror section" of the fest,I was intrigued to spot a German Horror in the main line-up,which led to me getting set for a restless nights sleep.

The plot:

Returning from a rave with mates,Tina begins hearing strange sounds. Along with the noises, Tina starts to see a strange creature appear in all her dreams/nightmares. Telling mum and dad,Tina's family begin treating her for mental illness. As she loses all support and begins to experience a mental breakdown, the creature breaks out of Tina's dreams,and turns her reality into a nightmare.

View on the film:

Sculpting the movie over 13 years,writer/director/co-editor Akiz awakens Tina's nightmare with the abrasive use of strobe lighting and Rave music that stylishly crosses the line between Tina's dreams and reality. Filmed completely with natural light,Akiz gives the monster (who comes to life with terrific SFX) an impressive level of flexibility, with close-ups of the creatures face bringing out a warmth kept under wraps in the eerie wide-shots. Shaving into Tina's fragile mental state, Akiz explores her breakdown with darting tracking shots that enter the black hole of depression Tina is trapped in,with no sign of any family or friends putting their hands out to help.

Joined by Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon giving a good performance as Lehrerin, Carolyn Genzkow gives a terrific performance as Tina,with Genzkow appearing really at ease and natural when working with the creature SFX,and also getting under the fractured skin of Tina,whose partying outlook Genzkow peels away,as the nightmare destroys Tina's life. Blending dark horror fantasy with raw psychological drama,the screenplay by Akiz makes the genres feel ill at ease sitting next to each other. Leaving no room for ambiguity over the existence of the creature, Akiz gets Tina to take sudden leaps in logic,from her never attempting to capture the creature on camera, (despite playing with her mobile whilst around it a number of times) to leaving her room to call her parents to see the creature,instead of just calling them whilst in the room itself,where Tina's nightmare begins.

THE NIGHTMARE is a hell of a trip. It's a creature feature based on the painting of the same name by the Swiss painter Henry Fuseli. This film is a nightmarish tale of a slow psychological disintegration of a teen who mysteriously gets attached to an ape-like creature after an inexplicable incident at a party. The film is a slow burn and is visually gorgeous. The strobing lights, disorienting camera angles, and pulsating beats, all create a mystifying and moody atmosphere. The bulk of the film is pretty straightforward, but it takes a hard left turn in its third act and enters into the surrealist realm and the ending is fairly ambiguous. It is a very solid and less-talked-about surrealist psychological horror cum creature feature with great production values and good acting about identity and individuality. Not to be missed!