NIGHTMARES (1980)

Jenny Neumann and Gary Sweet

NIGHTMARES (aka Stage Fright/1980). Director: John D. Lamond. 

Helen Selleck (Jenny Neumann) has wrongly felt responsible for her mother's death in a car crash years ago when she was a child. She gets a part in a stage production of an avant garde comedy and it isn't long before people connected to the production are being sliced and diced by an unseen assailant wielding broken pieces of glass. Potential victims and suspects include soap opera actor and new boyfriend Terry (Gary Sweet), the bitchy director George (Max Phipps), the even bitchier critic Bennett Collingswood (John-Michael Howson), stage manager Angela (Briony Behets), ever-horny Bruce (Edmund Pegge), actress Judy (Nina Landis of Four of a Kind), and others. As opening night arrives, the body count grows ever higher ... 

Who's the bitchier? Max Phipps and John-Michael Howson

Nightmares is an oddball Australian slasher film that has some decent acting, lots of nudity and boobs, several bloody (if not too graphic) murder sequences, and a strange plot. Throughout the film there is a steady attempt to conceal the identity of the killer even while making it pretty clear who it is in all other ways. Therefore the suspense is minimized and there is absolutely no final twist. Brian May's music score tries very hard to drum up excitement in key moments, but ultimately the picture is somewhat slapdash and generally uninventive, although there are attempts to make it more cinematic. The critic Collingswood is called an "old queen" more than once, grabs Helen's breast at one point, and later on comes on to Bruce, who seems to briefly contemplate putting out for a good review. 

Verdict: Mediocre Aussie horror film with some zesty moments. **1/4. 

PHOBIA

Paul Michael Glaser

PHOBIA (1980). Director: John Huston.

Dr. Peter Ross (Paul Michael Glaser) is giving unconventional therapy to a group of patients on parole. He uses videos to expose his patients to their various phobias, everything from snakes to high heights. When a bomb goes off in his townhouse and one of those patients is killed, the police eventually figure that he was the target. Ross not only seems unconcerned with that, but with the fact that more of his patients are getting knocked off. Inspector Barnes (John Colicos) zeroes in on one of the patients with a violent history, but the killer could be anyone.

Glaser with Patricia Collins

Phobia is not badly done on some levels, but it is sadly forgettable. Even when one considers that Glaser is playing a self-absorbed, egotistical, and unlikable psychiatrist, his performance is still pretty awful. Other cast members make a better impression: Susan Hogan as Ross' gal pal Jenny; Patricia Collins as his associate Dr. Toland; and especially Robert O'Ree as patient Bubba King. Andre Gagnon's score is also helpful. This is the type of twisty psychological plot that would have worked much better as a Dario Argento-type giallo film, with more violence and more elan to the murder sequences. Huston is simply the wrong director for this type of movie.

Verdict: Watch out for those headshrinkers! **1/2.