NIGHTMARES COME AT NIGHT
Jess Franco, 1970, 84mins

In 1970 Franco made an amazing eight films - not unique for him, but pretty unusual for any director back then (or even now, with the exception of Takashi Miike). Of these, six are well known but the remaining two have never been released on video… until now. NIGHTMARES COME AT NIGHT and SEX CHARADE were both Eurocine titles that, like EUGENIE – THE STORY OF HER JOURNEY INTO PERVERSION (1969), were until recently considered lost, but have now been ‘found’ and are being released on DVD to the delight of Francophiles (SEX CHARADE is still forthcoming). When I first read the title, I thought that it must be some sort of naff re-titling by the distributors, as it’s one of the worst titles I’ve seen in some time, and doesn’t sound at all like a Franco film from 1970. However, it does seem to be a faithful translation of the original French title ‘Les Cauchemars Naissent la Nuit’. I must admit NIGHTMARES is a Franco film I was almost completely unaware of previously, so I was particularly intrigued to see it and compare it to the other great films he was making at around this time in his career.

Anna (Diana Lorys) lives with Cincia (Colette Giacobine) in a large house. She is having nightmares, which involve her being undressed and fondled by a man, before apparently killing him. Her doctor, Paul (Paul Muller) visits her regularly and confesses to Cincia that it may be necessary to place her in a psychiatric hospital. It becomes apparent that Anna is being watched by a couple in a house nearby, though it isn’t clear who they are, or why they’re interested in her (though they do have “Life is all SHIT” written on the wall over their bed!). Anna’s back story gradually unfolds, much of it in voiceover; she was formerly a stripper at a sleazy club in Zargreb. Whilst working there, she became aware of a woman who was present at each of her performances: Cincia. Eventually Cincia came to see her backstage and told her that she wanted to make her a star. Anna wasn’t convinced but Cincia developed a strange power over her, and she eventually agreed to live with her for a while. Once living together, the two started a relationship, but Cincia was dominant and often abused Anna (“I had to be tamed” she confesses). Eventually, the reasons behind Anna’s dreams are made clear, and events reach a violent head in the last act of the film…

To be fair, I would have to describe NIGHTMARES as a fairly minor entry in Franco’s oeuvre; it’s very slow-moving and lacking in narrative drive, even for Franco, and has dated much worse than some of his other work from the same period. The Bruno Nicolai score is uninvolving and the frequent (long!) lesbian and stripping scenes are fairly tame and uninventive, and often seem to have little or no relevance to the rest of the film. There are some good things about it – Franco’s direction is competent and fairly interesting, Diana Lorys and Soledad Miranda (in a very small role as one half of the couple spying on Anna, unfortunately) both look great, and there are a few nice exterior shots, but compared to the other lost Franco film that has so far made it to DVD (the aforementioned EUGENIE), it’s much, much less of a find.

NIGHTMARES is available on DVD in both the US and the UK, with Shriek Show responsible for the US release and Screen Entertainment for the UK. The DVD I have is the UK release and there are important differences between the two. Both discs present the film in fullscreen, utilising a reasonably clean, though washed-out looking print. Both also feature a new 25-or-so minute interview with Franco, which is interesting though Franco is (as usual) very difficult to understand, and subtitles would have been worthwhile. The UK disc additionally features the Channel 4 Eurotika! documentary about Eurocine, a very worthwhile addition, as well as trailers for many other DVD’s. However, there is one big difference between the two releases – the US release features the original French audio track with optional English subtitles in addition to a newly created English audio track. The UK disc only features this English track, and what a great shame that turns out to be. This is truly one of the worst dubbing efforts I have ever encountered. It’s not so much the voices themselves, or the synchronisation between the words and the actors’ mouths, but the completely ‘wrong’ sound that it has. I wasn’t aware before watching the film that this was a modern dub, but within a couple of minutes I realised that it must be. The actors sound like something from a daytime US soap opera, and the track has a nasty harsh tone to it that really sounds very different to the soft-sounding dubbing jobs from the early 70’s that we’re all familiar with. The most ridiculous thing I noticed was when someone is described as looking “like Robert De Nero”, which is completely ridiculous given that De Nero wouldn’t be at all well known in America in 1970, never mind in Europe (MEAN STREETS was released in 1973, and it’s most unlikely that most people in Europe or even America would have known who he was before that film), but there are various other moments when modern phases are used that really sound so out of place. I don’t understand why Shriek Show (who commissioned the new track) thought that the sort of people who would buy a release like this would want anything other than the French track with subtitles, but at least on the US disc the viewer is given that choice. If you’re thinking about getting this film, I would strongly recommend going for the US disc, unless you especially want the Eurotika! documentary.

So, in conclusion an interesting but ultimately lesser Franco film gets a DVD release that has to be applauded, given the film’s previously unobtainable status. This is in no way a good place for those new to Franco to start, and it’s also not the film to use to try to convince sceptics of Franco’s brilliance. Fans of Franco’s ‘golden period’ will want to see it and decide for themselves, and it is definitely worth seeing once. I’m just not sure that even the hardcore Francophiles will want to view it more than that…

(Originally posted at MHVF)