Nightmare Man – Ronin Flix (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: USA, 2006|
Director: Rolfe Kanefsky
Writer: Rolfe Kanefsky
Cast: Blythe Metz, Luciano Szafir, Aaron Sherry, Jack Sway, Tiffany Shepis, Johanna Putnam, James Ferris, Victor Kanefsky, Alice Glenn, Richard Moll, Gwen Davis, Robert Donavan

Release Date: January 24th, 2023
Approximate Running Time: 89 Minutes 47 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVCC
Rating: R
Sound: DTS-HD 5.1 English
Subtitles: English SDH
Region Coding: Region A
Retail Price: $29.95

"After receiving a demonic African mask in the mail, Ellen Morris (Blythe Metz) is attacked in her dreams by an evil being she calls 'Nightmare Man' and is labeled a paranoid schizophrenic by both her Doctor and her husband. Unsure if the demon is real or not, Ellen flees for her life the next she is brutally attacked and is taken in by a group of friends staying at a remote cabin in the woods." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 3.25/5

Nightmare Man comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 41.3 GB

Feature: 24.4 GB

Shot on digital, the source looks clean and is in good shape. Colors and flesh tones look correct; the image generally looks crisp, black levels fare well, and outside of a few minor moments, compression looks good.

Audio: 4.5/5

This release comes with one audio option, a DTS-HD 5.1 mix in English with removable English SDH subtitles. The audio sounds clean, clear, and balanced. Range-wise, ambient sounds are well-represented, and the score sounds robust.

Extras:

Extras for this release include a stills gallery, a promo reel (4 minutes 32 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), a film score audio-only track (61 minutes 10 seconds, 40 tracks), a gag reel (7 minutes 6 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), a featurette titled Tiffany's Behind-the-Scenes (17 minutes 53 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), five extended scenes (16 minutes 19 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), a featurette titled Creating a Nightmare: The Making of Nightmare Man (22 minutes 4 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), a featurette titled There’s Something Out There: The Making of Nightmare Man (25 minutes 33 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), and an audio commentary with director Rolfe Kanefsky, producer Esther Goodstein, and actress Tiffany Shepis.

Summary:

Nightmare Man was directed by Rolfe Kanefsky, who is most remembered for There’s Nothing Out There. Nightmare Man is a film inspired by 1980s slasher films. And though Nightmare Man has many of the elements that one would expect from a slasher film, the result is a mixed bag of elements that often clash.

The narrative can be broken into two distinctive parts that eventually merge. One half revolves around an unstable woman who is on the way to a mental hospital with her husband when their car runs out of gas in the middle of nowhere. The other half revolves around flour friends having a good time in a remote home in the middle of nowhere.

The tones of these two could not be more different. The moments with the unstable woman are darker and more in line with what one expects from a slasher film. While the initial moments with the four friends are laced with humor that is sometimes laced with sexual innuendos, fortunately, once all these characters are together, all the humor is thrown to the wayside.

From a production standpoint, when it comes to the technical side, there is not an area where Nightmare Man comes up short. The visuals do a fantastic job of setting and reinforcing the mood. There are plenty of well-timed jump scares, despite the limited carnage; the kill scenes are sufficiently gory, and a twist ending provides a satisfying conclusion. Ultimately, Nightmare Man is a film that divides its audience: either you enjoy it or you loathe it. I only recommended it for slasher completists.

Nightmare Man gets a solid release from Ronin Flix that comes with a strong audio/video presentation and an abundance of extras.

Written by Michael Den Boer