‘Nightmares In A Damaged Brain’ 4K UHD Review
Stars: Baird Stafford, Sharon Smith, C.J. Cooke, Mik Cribben, Danny Ronan, John L. Watkins, Bill Milling, Scott Praetorius, Tammy Patterson, Kim Patterson, Kathleen Ferguson, William Paul | Written and Directed by Romano Scavolini
I think I need to brush up on my eighties horror knowledge and film watching because I realised when I had the chance to watch Nightmares In A Damaged Brain that I had barely even heard about it and had no idea what the movie was actually about. In fact, outside of the big hitters I haven’t watched as many as I should have, and the ‘video nasties’ are a good place to start.
For those that somehow don’t know the video nasty era in Britain was a period of time when films were banned, often copies destroyed and occasionally people who sold or released the films were imprisoned (it was a crazy time and the documentaries on the subject are worth checking out). Nightmares In A Damaged Brain was not only banned, it was the only one of the 72 video nasties to receive prosecution for obscenity. And, two of the executives of the film’s British distribution company, were imprisoned for releasing an unauthorised cut of the movie!
You’d expect something pretty controversial after that but as with almost all of the movies of that time, it’s not really that bad. Although don’t get me wrong, there’s blood, gore and some great kills, Nightmares In A Damaged Brain does not hold back with any of that. It’s maybe more surprising that it’s a very good movie that still holds up well in 2024.
There’s just so much to enjoy with Nightmare (the title it still goes by in many places). Sure, at times it does feel a little eighties horror clichéd – unnecessary female nudity and sex, a masked killer (although this is a seemingly regular bearded man mask) but because of the quality it hardly matters. The music might not be as iconic as movies like Friday the 13th or Halloween but it still sets the tone nicely. The story is engaging right from the opening gory and intriguing opening and the performances are much better than you’ll be expecting. Eighties video nasties don’t get much better than this and this 4K UHD release looks fantastic too. Plus this set includes interviews, commentaries, deleted scenes and an in-depth feature on British obscenity.
This is an eighties horror, so I have to talk more about the gore and the death scenes. There’s also a bit of a story to this too. Tom Savini was originally advertised as doing the make-up and special effects, and he’s in the credits for Nightmares In A Damaged Brain but he denies otherwise. Photos from the set show that he was there so I’m not sure exactly what happened. The decapitations, spurting blood, axes to the head, and much much more all look fantastic though so it is easy to believe that Savini played a part in it all but credit also needs to go to the other special effects artists: Daryll Ferrrucci, Ed French, Johane Hansen and Robin Stevens.
The movie does have a slightly slow pace at times but don’t let that put you off. There’s one scene towards the end of the movie where a policeman berates a child about something that happened that is shot almost in a found-footage style and it makes it feel very real and a little bit terrifying.
Nightmares In A Damaged Brain is either a great introduction to eighties horror and the video nasty or a perfect addition to the collection of someone who has already seen them all. Hopefully the movie will pick up a bigger following with this release because it’s a forgotten gem of the era.
Special Features:
Disc 1: UHD
- Audio Commentary With Star Baird Stafford and Special Effects Assistant Cleve Hall Moderated By Lee Christian and David DeCoteau
- Audio Commentary With Producer William Paul
- Trailers
Disc 2: Blu-ray
- Damaged: The Very British Obscenity of David Hamilton-Grant
- Audio Commentary With Star Baird Stafford and Special Effects Assistant Cleve Hall Moderated By Lee Christian and David DeCoteau
- Audio Commentary With Producer William Paul
- Kill Thy Father And Thy Mother – Interview With Director Romano Scavolini (71 mins)
- Dreaming Up A Nightmare – Featuring Former President Of 21st Century Distribution Arthur Schweitzer, Actor/Unit Production Manager Mik Cribben, Production Supervisor Simon Nuchtern, Florida Producer/Special Effects Artist William Milling, Uncredited Editor Jim Markovic and
- Archival Interviews With Actor Baird Stafford and Special Effects Artists Edward French and Cleve Hall
- The Nightmare Of NIGHTMARE – Interview With Erroneously Credited Special Effects Director Tom Savini
- Deleted Scenes
- Still Gallery
- Trailers
Nightmares In A Damaged Brain is out now on 4K UHD from Severin Films.