Nightmare (1964)

Within the first 30 seconds, a realisation dawns that this is the work of those who love craftsmanship and cinema. The opening tracking shot, which dissolves in a gorgeous shimmering Black and White and is framed in a 70mm-like ratio but called “Hammer-Scope”, is intoxicating cinema. The camera settles into a very gothic building and what appears to be girls boarding school in the English Countryside, where young Janet wanders the halls while the rest of the world is fast asleep.

She is drawn to a particular door and explores within to discover less of a room and more of a jail or asylum cell with an inmate who turns to her, welcoming her with a maniacal cackle, “both mad, aren’t we?”. The inmate is her mother, locked up for brutally stabbing her husband on young and innocent Janet’s 11th birthday. The world had been told she was dead, but she keeps appearing in young Janet’s terrifying nightmares. Once again, her screams disturb the sleep of all the other long-suffering girls in her dorm. Janet is taken to a separate room as the girls have had enough!

Janet tries to find comfort in the arms of her childhood “security blanket”, a Gollywog and also attempts to drown her sorrows in some loud pop music on her transistor radio. However, a decision is made for her to leave her school (Mid Term!!) to return home as she cannot concentrate on her studies and her condition is a disturbance to the other students.

On the way home, Janet keeps inquiring about Mr. Baxter, her guardian, but he never seems to appear. John the Chauffeur and Mrs. Gibbs are senior house staff and appear to take Miss Janet with a pinch of salt, as though they realise she has a problem. Janet has a new roommate Grace Maddox, assigned to keep her company by Mr. Baxter. Everything appears to be just fine other than the frequent references to the elusive Mr. Baxter. Then Janet starts to have those terrible nightmares again, possessed and haunted by her fears that she could become like her mother; murderous and mad!

The nurses and staff appear to be extra helpful, yet the mysterious Mr. Baxter never materialises. Something seems a wee fishy as the nightmares and walkabouts return with growing frequency. There are new components to the nightmares; a scarred woman and a birthday cake.

The nightmares spiral, and the high strung Janet is forced to confront that she may have gone mad as her mother had before her. Yes, there is a smack of conspiracy in the air, and soon matters unravel engagingly. The film has been beautifully lit and shot by John Wilcox in what was named “Hammerscope”, which roughly translated to 70mm style scope. Hammer stalwarts Jimmy Sangster wrote and produced while Freddie Francis directed. Nightmare was to star Julie Christie as Janet, but she left the movie just days before the shoot by Jennie Linden, who performs adequately supported by a sterling cast and an excellent score by Don Banks.

Mr. Baxter finally does show up, seeking Doctor’s advice about Janet’s paranoia about inheriting her mother’s insanity. He also reveals a dangerous triangle. For Janet, the dreams worsen to the point that she cannot distinguish them from reality. Finally, she snaps, attacking those around her in a murderous rage just as her mother had on her birthday years ago. Janet is institutionalised, and then slowly, the dark truth emerges with one final and stunning twist in the tail that nobody had expected.

Nightmare was shot just a few years after Psycho and arrived in the shadow of Les Diaboliques with a similar black, and white monochrome palette employed. The shadows and shades are superbly captured by some deft cinematography and lighting and is one of the memorable aspects of this well-crafted, acted, and thoroughly engaging thriller from the House of Hammer. One cannot but regret that Julie Christie left the cast at the 11th hour on her way to becoming a Hollywood star, yet even without her, the film has enough quality to shine on its merit.