Review of The Nightmare Have you ever woken up but been unable to move your body? Have you felt as if your mind were awake, but your body was not? If you have, you are not alone. This phenomenon is called sleep paralysis and is the premise of the film The Nightmare. The Nightmare is a documentary covering the stories of eight people’s experiences with sleep paralysis. The topic of this documentary is interesting to me because sleep paralysis is something I enjoy hearing and learning about, being a sufferer of the living nightmare myself. The overall film itself plus its delivery was great because of the way the stories are illustrated. The Nightmare documents the stories of eight individuals who, at some point in their lives, experienced …show more content…
This is the only semi-downfall of The Nightmare. I label the acting this way because it’s not necessarily Oscar worthy, but its not the worst I’ve seen. The narrators got their point across in their acting, the point being to show their fearful reactions to their nightmares. Seeing the terrified facial expressions of the narrator while also seeing what entity is causing the terror along with the narration of how they felt in that moment perfectly captures their …show more content…
A lot of people experience sleep paralysis, but the ordeal differs from person to person. The people featured in the movie all have very different stories of their paralysis. For instance, one man saw a large spider and heard the voice of a creepy old man talking to him; a woman heard and felt the embrace of her deceased mother during a paralysis, and another man saw alien like creatures that tickled him in his crib as a child. The purpose of sharing different people’s stories about something terrifying that most people deal with is to show that it is not uncommon and that it can occur in many ways. This works because people who will watch this movie are people most likely interested in sleep paralysis and, like myself, have suffered from it and want to know more or hear others’ experiences.
The Nightmare does an exceptional job at depicting sleep paralysis and making people’s nightmares become real enough for viewers to experience themselves. Overall, I enjoyed The Nightmare and would recommend it to others, especially people who are interested in sleep paralysis. This film would benefit them because it could give them more insight on their restless condition and normalize it. I believe The Nightmare’s style of illustrating real peoples’ stories is very beneficial in engaging the audience attention and proves to be a good method of storytelling, making this a great