After receiving a mysterious demonic African mask in the mail, Ellen Morris is attacked by a "being" she refers to as the Nightmare Man. Her doctors and husband William believe Ellen is a paranoid schizophrenic and needs to spend some quality time at a mental facility for further examination.  

On the way to the hospital, their car runs out of gas. William walks to the nearest gas station as Ellen waits in the car. Alone once again, Ellen is attacked by the mysterious Nightmare Man. She manages to flee into the nearby woods... but is this man/demon real or is it all in Ellen's mind?

Director Rolfe Kanefsky brings to you Nightmare Man , a B-horror slasher that was shot on location up in the Big Bear Mountains in Southern California . I was quite pleased to finally get my hands on this because there just haven't been many decent slashers lately, and I enjoyed Rolfe's previous work with The Hazing . Let's not forget that Rolfe cast the “Scream Queen” herself, Tiffany Shepis, to take on the leading role.  

Now we all know how the typical setup of a slasher goes right? You begin with a decent sized group of people, and then they get 86'd one by one. What's different in Nightmare Man is that you never know who will die next or when, for that matter. The sequence of murders is quite random and refreshing. In order to appreciate the gore, though, you must get through a really rough beginning, which is primarily due to the actors. Blythe Metz (Ellen), and Luciano Szafir (William), Ellen's husband in the film, have not a single ounce of chemistry. My aunt & uncle (who are in their seventies) have more chemistry playing bingo together on a Tuesday night! I blame the lack of chemistry directly on Luciano; when Blythe acts in scenes without him, she puts on her game face and delivers. For instance when Blythe becomes possessed, it's quite stellar to watch as she portrays her possession through her sinister laugh, suitable facial expressions, and body contortions. It really looked like Blythe was possessed, and not merely trying to look possessed. Nevertheless, Blythe still struggled at times with dialogue that came off forced and downright unnatural. An adequate example of this is when she's swaying back and forth on the couch in the cabin needlessly screaming and grunting, as she's demanding her pills. All the while, her facial expressions did not match all the movement and unnecessary commotion. Her face was expression-less and unbelievable.  

The opening of the film was rushed as well. I was left craving more character development early on rather than having the film dish out 5 minutes of an opening and jump directly into the thick of it. I wanted to know when Ellen began having the nightmares, and when William started to realize that his wife might need some psychiatric care.

The vast majority of the film centers around a cabin that Mia (Tiffany Shepis) owns and brings her friends over for a peaceful weekend escape. Ellen stumbles upon this cabin during a suspenseful chase, while running away from what she believes to be the nightmare man. This is where the movie really becomes interesting to watch. The flaws of the film dissipate, thanks to the breakout performance of Tiffany Shepis. In her young and promising career, it is the most impressive performance that she's delivered thus far. Her character, Mia, is a definite wild child. She comes off quite bitchy and erotic, and with her smart-ass attitude is pretty hilarious at times. And for all you pervy freaks out there, let's just say that Tiff will give you something to howl at!

I wish Rolfe would've cast a few more characters for Nightmare Man, just so the body count would have been higher! Why the desire for the higher body count, you ask? I yearned for more killings because they were just that gratifying. The deaths were random, original, gory, and will definitely satisfy your Friday night's horror demand. What this feature would have also benefited from was more shots of the cabin while panning deep into the woods. When that occurred, I was stricken with an eerie feeling that I was looking in on the prey from the eyes of the killer. Finally, while approaching the second-half of the film, the plot takes a surprising twist that adds nice complexity to a slasher movie, which is really not seen too often.

You should check out Kanefsky's latest flick Nightmare Man . Don't let the rating push you away from viewing this title. It could've easily been a 7 or 7.5 if some of the acting was more genuine & believable. However, the bitchin' gore, superb job from Miss Shepis, and the final twist in the plot substantially make up for most of the film's shortcomings

The film delivers some decent gore. You'll get to witness an arrow through a mouth, a blade through the bottom of a skull, and a heart being ripped out of a chest… just to name a few! The death scenes were well-crafted and believable.

The audio scores during the fast-paced scenes suited the film well. The rest is your typical "out in the woods at night and praying for my life" ambiance. Nothing over the top or fantastic here.