The Nightmare is undeniably entertaining, but it's just empty calories.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jan 30, 2020

The Nightmare is momentarily diverting... But it feels over-long, it doesn't have much to say in spite of the admittedly interesting subject matter, and it's unlikely non-horror fans are going to find it particularly scary.

| Original Score: 4/10 | Oct 2, 2019

The Nightmare obviously wants to scare people, and even though Ascher can be hit or miss on the recreations, he does have a good share of unnerving moments courtesy of his subjects.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Jun 3, 2019

Spooky enough, but other people's dreams are rather like other people's holiday snaps, and once you've heard one version of the tale, you have pretty much heard them all.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Aug 23, 2018

The Nightmare is a tremendously successful film on many levels.

| Aug 7, 2017

The Nightmare squanders [its] subject in a shallow, messy and frustrating documentary that tends towards the pseudo-intellectual and paranoid.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jan 17, 2017

Few non-fiction films pack the affective punch of The Nightmare, which seeks to turn viewers into mirror images of its terror-stricken subjects.

| Feb 29, 2016

An intriguing feature, but one that ends up dulling your senses with repetitive talking heads and recreated scenarios.

| Original Score: C+ | Feb 24, 2016

The Nightmare is a completely singular work of documentary, unseen before to this degree of craftsmanship.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 2, 2016

Both the re-creations and the interviews themselves are filmed for maximum spookiness.

| Dec 31, 2015

It's compelling viewing, as well as disturbing as hell. Honestly, who needs the spectres of Insidious: Chapter 3 when our own brains are capable of scaring us half to death.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 18, 2015

Alongside the personal struggles recounted here is that wider shift of perspective that every documentary maker longs to achieve.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 12, 2015

Watching this overegged hybrid docu-horror investigation of sleep paralysis, I found myself fighting the urge to snooze.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Oct 11, 2015

Ascher should be making actual horror movies.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 8, 2015

While Ascher brings the experiences to life in a way that could conceivably induce nightmares in casual viewers, the potency of these scenes is ultimately diminished by repetition.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 8, 2015

An interesting if ethically dubious documentary.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Oct 8, 2015

Ascher makes a persuasive case that it is the physiological phenomenon of sleep paralysis that has created the nightmare tropes now commonplace in art and literature: they are recognisable, diagnosable symptoms.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 8, 2015

The experiences and stories - which have all been gathered from the US and UK - are extremely similar and, while initially frightening, the effect is quickly eroded by repetition.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 5, 2015

While there is a well-maintained sense of lurking discomfort, the gotcha scenes feel a little cheap.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 5, 2015

Part talking head film, part Crimewatch dramatisation, The Nightmare is certainly effective.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Sep 10, 2015