Jenny Neumann stars in John Lamond’s Australian thriller NIGHTMARES.
death via auto accident (empha- sis on a broken windshield) in a traumatic prologue. Cut to the present, where Cathy (Jenny Neumann, who had then just made her feature debut for Larry Buchanan in MISTRESS OF THE APES), now going by the name of “Helen Selleck”, lands a role in a particularly black-humored theatrical production (“A Comedy of Death”) under the tyrannical direction of one George D’alberg (Max Phipps, the Toadie from MAD MAX 2/THE ROAD WAR- RIOR). But scarcely have re- hearsals commenced than a black-gloved, sex-triggered ma- niac with a fetish for broken glass starts carving up various and sundry cast members. Pointless, token attempts to cast suspicion elsewhere are oc- casionally made, but the movie itself leaves no room for doubt, as moderating documentarian Mark Hartley (NOT QUITE HOL- LYWOOD) observes at the very beginning of his feature com- mentary with producer/director John Lamond (far better known for straight up sex films such as FELICITY). Per Hartley, this isn’t a “whodunit,” nor is it even a “when’s she going to do it”— NIGHTMARES is best described
as a “what-the-hell-is-happening- dunit!” And it’s a shame, as the theater setting is fully exploited for both its superstitions (I knew the one about whistling back- stage but wasn’t aware of the one about wearing green to rehears- als) and its undeniably colorful characters; in this case, the show frequently threatens to be stolen by John-Michael Howson as a sadistic, queenly critic who de- lights in tormenting director D’alberg but who would appar- ently make an exception to his own rule for Helen alone. There’s a terrific melodrama brewing here, but the film itself leaves the viewer wondering exactly why it became necessary to hack the players to bits over its course. But if graphic sex and vio-
lence are, indeed, the draw, then NIGHTMARES (co-produced by Colin Eggleston of LONG WEEK- END) undeniably delivers on all the unkept promises of the heavily-cut STAGE FRIGHT edit, released on VHS by VidAmerica back in 1987. In fact, the restored “insert” footage in the first mur- der sequence alone is strong enough in both departments to score an NC-17 rating on these shores even today; and it goes without saying that the 2.35:1
widescreen transfer is infinitely preferable to the cropped version regardless of content. In addition to the Hartley/Lamond commen- tary, we’re given trailers for this and Lamond’s better-known sex films (along with spots for unre- lated Severin releases), as well as “A Brief History of Slasher Films,” a featurette hosted by Adam Rockoff which is adequate to the task of its “Slasher 101” goals but undone by a distracting, deliber- ately fuzzy, staticky overlay (ap- parently the better to relive the ’80s via VHS).
NOTHING BUT THE NIGHT
aka THE RESURRECTION SYNDICATE
1972, Scorpion Entertainment, 90m 20s, $14.95, DVD By Kim Newman
In the 1970s, Christopher Lee briefly showed film ambitions be- yond being a jobbing actor. With producer Anthony Nelson Keys, a fellow veteran of Hammer Films (THE DEVIL RIDES OUT, RASPUTIN THE MAD MONK), Lee formed Charlemagne Produc- tions and announced a slate of genre films. In the event, the box office failure of this, their first
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