User reviews

What starts as an intriguing horror with dark woods, abandoned castles and mysterious murders sadly becomes a mediocre thriller with too many loose ends. While the first half of "The Nightman" attracts us with establishing some gripping plot details, e.g. An old legend, problematic relationships in the protagonists family, odd suspicious neighbours, strange sleepwalking etc., the second half completely forgets about all of the above and goes with a bland and plain denouement of the whole story. It felt like Mélanie Delloye, the director, wanted to combine some classical horror tropes (like I said - dark forests, old castles etc.) but didn't know how to properly tie them together. As a result what appeared as a complex mystery in the beginning became just another below-average horror flick.

Once again, Shudder offers us an exclusive that no one asked for and few will remember. The Nightman is not a horror movie, and it barely qualifies as a thriller. It is a muddled mess of a drama that wants to be more and thinks it is a lot more clever than it is. It is long, slow, and in spite of its attempts at misdirection predictable. The characters- other than the female lead - are impossible to care about. They are either stereotypes or so poorly developed that we do not care who they even are. Offerings like this make it hard to justify paying for Shudder, but somehow I keep doing it. It HAS to improve, right?

No pun intended - the movie done by a director who got inspired by the Fantasy Filmfest ... and watched at that Festival! If that is not destiny, I ask you: what is? More of a rhetorical question I have to admit. And while we as viewers may be privy or more aware of character developments, than the main female character of this ... it doesn't make her weaker. It makes her more realistic.

This touches upon difficult subject matters (relationship wise, but also on a personal note, see summary line) ... not easy to toggle and play with. But the actors are really good and the direction is spot on too. If you like dramas to have a dark touch and go into the thriller territory (no pun intended here either) ... well you could do worse than this one ...