Singing the praises of Scavolini’s NIGHTMARE
By Michelle Alexander
1981, USA/ITALY. Dir: Romano Scavolini
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| Newsday October 23rd Ad |
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| Never underestimate a child with an axe to grind! |
Now, I think that I can safely assume that most people reading this have either seen Nightmare, but for the benefit of those who haven’t (GO AND SEE IT NOW), here is a synopsis…
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| George amasses a collection of dead bodies on his way to see family in Florida! |
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| George shows his love in unusual ways! Heads off! |
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| Don't try slamming the door in George's face, he doesn't take "no" for an answer... |
So, what exactly is it about Nightmare that, in my opinion, makes it stand head and shoulders above all other slasher films of the era? First and foremost, its sheer ugliness. No doubts about it, Nightmare is an ugly film, and unapologetically so. Gianni Fiore’s dark, oppressive cinematography, seedy locales such as Manhattan’s 42nd Street in its sex cinema heyday, unrestrained crimson-soaked, messy gore – head stumps spray blood post-decapitation, hammers bash bodies into pulp, throats gashed in unflinching close-up. The movie also doesn’t shy away from the typically taboo depiction of children as both murderers and murder victims. Instead of the typical slasher film cast of attractive, vivacious young adults, in Nightmare there are very few likable characters. The clinic staff are corrupt and inhumane. Susan, who is clearly, and understandably, in need of therapy after George’s abandonment of herself and the children, has little time or patience for her neglected offspring. When Susan isn’t losing her temper (ironically, her surname is none other than Temper) at C.J., Kim and Tammy and putting them down, she’s dumping them with Kathy, a local babysitter, as often as possible to spend time with her boyfriend Bob. Kathy is also left with the responsibilities of cooking for and helping the kids with their homework. Often C.J. is written off by reviewers as being an annoying psychotic brat, which he is not. Annoying, yes, but not a “psychotic brat”. C.J. has clearly exhausted all methods in trying to gain Susan’s love and attention, and resorts to pranks in a creative, albeit misguided, attempt to drive Kathy away and get his mother to spend more time at home with him. C.J. is a product of the chaotic home life he has been raised in. Even the contemptuous manner in which C.J. is questioned by a local cop after the murder of his best friend Tony is jaw-droppingly insensitive. The only adult who offers the boy any sort of positive reinforcement and encouragement is Bob. Little wonder he’s playing up. Susan Smith has also been all-too-often criticised for “poor acting”, when in fact her – often improvised – performance is a natural and realistic portrayal of a sole parent struggling to cope and most likely on the edge of a nervous breakdown. The subplot of dysfunctional families adds another layer of gritty realism to Nightmare.
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| Baird Stafford gives the performance of his career as the psychotic yet sympathetic George Tatum. |
And of course, Baird Stafford’s astonishing no-holds-barred performance as George. This meek, unassuming-looking man’s veering from committing ferocious murders to breaking down into a sobbing, guilt-written wreck after each killing is incredibly disturbing, as is his desire for love and sex being distorted by the relentless childhood flashbacks and mind altering drugs prescribed by the clinic. Stafford clearly put 110% into this complex role, and it shows – his acting is neither understated nor over-the-top and, is quite simply, faultless. The device of introducing each day in the narrative with a title announcing “The First Day”, “The Second Day”…up until “The Final Day” adds to the tension in how it creates a kind of “countdown” until the inevitable. And it’s highly doubtful that many viewers would be expecting for this inevitable to be the Temper family and Bob strolling happily off into the sunset. Finally, special mention should be given to Jack Eric Williams’ subtle yet haunting, melancholy score, of which an official soundtrack release would be very much welcomed.
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| George Tatum getting head the hard way! |
All too often unfairly derided in the 1980s and 90s, Nightmare is a brilliant, courageous, devastating, raw masterpiece of independent filmmaking, which in more recent years has had its reputation boosted by old and new fans voicing the many strengths of the film and its importance in the history of the slasher (and indeed, horror) genre. Here’s hoping Romano Scavolini’s announced sequel Nightmare: The Wandering Soul will one day come into fruition.
References:
“Dark Games.” 19 December 1980, Florida Today, p.21.
Edwards, Matthew. Twisted Visions: Interviews with Cult Horror Filmmakers. McFarland, 2017.
Jones, A. (1982 August). Nightmares in a Damaged Brain. Starburst, p.10.
“Nightmare.” Refused-Classification.com. https://www.refused-classification.com/censorship/films/n-3.html#nightmare.
“’Nighmare’ hits new lows for fright.” 8 January 1982, The News Journal, p.41.
Palmerini, Luca M. and Mistretta, Luca. Spaghetti Nightmares. Fantasma Books, 1996.
“What’s a good synonym for ‘Yechhh’?” 19 January 1982, The Baltimore Sun, p.26.
Some Nightmares Aren’t meant to go Away!
Seeing Nightmare Theatrically
By Keith J. Crocker
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| Newsday October 24th ad, the night I went to see the film. |
Between the years of 1979 through to 1985, when I tell people I “lived in the movie theaters,” I mean just that. Just about every weekend and in some cases weekdays, I spent my time watching movies in the local theaters. I was (and still am) a horror film maniac. Late 70’s through the mid 80’s were a horror film fan’s greatest years. Films of that nature were released in proliferation. I ate them up as if they were nourishment. And in many ways, they were.
In October of 1981, I was six months into a relationship with my “first” girlfriend. I was 16 years old. In order to initiate this girl into my life, she had to withstand the test of the repeated horror films. Horror films were considered date films, they were meant for teenage boys and girls to see in each other’s company. Come September of any given year during this six-year endowment of horror film proliferation, the scare flicks came fast and furious, and just in time for Halloween.
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| The RKO Lawrence Theater, now a Duane Reade drugstore. |
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| One of the nastiest decaptations ever commited to celluloid. |
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| George getting ready to off another victim. |
I’d be lying if I said both my girlfriend and myself didn’t feel the same way. Unlike the usual adrenaline rush you’d feel coming out of a horror film, this felt far more like a really bad therapy session. It seemed like the trauma experienced by the psycho, which was then perpetrated onto the rest of the characters in the film, became our trauma as well. For the first and perhaps only time in my life, I actually felt like apologizing to this girl for having taken her to this film. I felt like I actually did wrong by her. I didn’t end up apologizing, but I did walk around with an odd feeling of guilt for quite some time. Of interest, this was around the same time that Caligula (1980) had reached the local cinemas in an “R” rated version. I do remember taking her to see that film and being scolded by the ticket clerk for doing just that. They refused to sell me a ticket. It was years later before Caligula finally came to video and I saw it then. Odd, how I remember little about Caligula, but I can recall Nightmare like I had just seen it yesterday.
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| Weird coincidence! George Tatum happens to pass a theater showing Caligula. I was not so politely asked to leave a theater for trying to take my girlfriend to see Caligula. |
Flashing forward through the ensuing years, Nightmare had the distinction of being released on the big box video labels Planet Video Inc. (in 1982), and a short time later Continental Video. The Planet Video box featured the original poster art. The Continental featured the psycho slitting the throat of woman on the phone. Both boxes were ugly and eye catching. Oddly enough, I never rented the film; it was still too well etched in my mind. In the late 1990’s, a video store on the North Shore of Long Island was going out of business. I was lucky enough to get a big box Planet Video copy of Nightmare for under $10.00. The video is still with me.
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| The Continental Video box cover in all it's glory! |
On April 14th of 2012, the 92Y Tribeca, a theater that I had dealings with regarding archival showings, had a screening of Nightmare. It was part of a series called “over due.” The guys who hosted it were awful as far as being hosts for the screening. They said just about nothing regarding the film, almost like they knew there was a reason for showing it, but they couldn’t remember what that reason was. I was actually thinking of taking the stage and doing the talking for them, but decided to let them simmer in their own stew. After a god-awful introduction, the film unspooled. The scratchy, worn print, which was also faded, was very welcome to me. And while I damn well knew I could never relieve the very first time I had seen that film, I honestly have to say that it welled up so many memories for me that I was actually flabbergasted when it was over. A good, strong movie is supposed to do that. Nightmare did that.
George Tatum speaks: An interview with Baird Stafford
When did you decide, and what made you decide that you wanted to become an actor?
It was an accident, I swear! I had just moved to Florida to live with my parents after dropping out of college and breaking up with my first lover, and was bored. I saw the casting call in the local newspaper and thought to myself, thought I, “What the hell. Why not give it a go?” The play was Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes and, to my complete astonishment, I was offered the part of Leo. I accepted - and loved the applause at curtain call so much that I tried out again, and again, and again for successive plays (and was cast often enough not to discourage me).
Baird Stafford in a theatrical revival of Little Foxes.
I understand you began performing in community theatre in 1970, starting off as part of The Indian River Players, then joining the Surfside Players in 1971 where you also subsequently began writing and directing many productions. What were your standout favourite productions out of those you acted in and/or directed?
As an actor, I played Mordred in Camelot and Atahuallpa in The Royal Hunt of the Sun as well, of course, as John Dickinson in 1776. The play I directed that stands out furthest in my memory was a production of The Belle of Amherst, about the poet Emily Dickinson.
Had you considered auditioning for film or TV roles at all prior to Romano Scavolini casting you for NIGHTMARE?
No. In point of fact, I had no clue about who that man who kept staring at me with such intensity might be, nor what he could possibly want.
What were your initial thoughts upon reading the script for NIGHTMARE (or indeed as it was known then, DARK GAMES)?
My first thought was how very European it was. That changed in production, unfortunately (from my point of view, although the producer et. al. were much happier with the revised script). By the time filming was finished, Nightmare had become, in mind, another splatter movie. But it was still a movie, the first movie I had ever done, and I was determined to give it my best. When the movie wrapped I was satisfied I had done so even without having seen so much as the rushes.
Your portrayal of George’s unbalanced mental state and his varying emotions of despair, rage, guilt, fear and anguish was incredibly powerful and convincing. A few of my personal favourite examples: during the murder of the woman from the bar and he veers between ecstasy and sobbing, then later when burying her at the beach screams in utter despair; when George is desperately trying to hold on to the moments of conscience he has – such as when he calls the psychiatrist saying the nightmares are stronger than the pills, then urges C.J. to leave the house before being overwhelmed by the killing urges again; and the harrowing conclusion when a barely alive George stammers “C.J., you don’t understand”. Also, your interpretation of George’s nervous mannerisms and expressions (for example, at his session with the psychiatrist and his visit to Show World) are all spot on. Did you partake in any sort of research in preparation for portraying such a character?
Although I realize my answer will likely disappoint many, no, I did no research as such. Since George’s “madness” was based on having been a lab rat, as it were, for an experimental drug like unto LSD, I pulled from my memory all I recalled of having dealt with people who did actually drop acid. I did not try the stuff myself since I had been turned off by some of the more gruesome trips I knew of such as the kid in Denver, Colorado, who killed his girlfriend because he thought she had turned to a horrible monster of some kind.
You actually saw the drug, by the way. It was the pills George dropped as he hid behind a door while CJ hunted through the house.
Baird Stafford in a theatrical revival of Don't Drink the Water.
When George is stalking his family, it is C.J. whom he is fixated on, (a particular scene I found very effectively unsettling is when C.J. takes out the garbage and George is standing right across the street from the house, just staring at him), and no attention is paid to his sisters. Was it ever clarified to you if C.J.’s sisters are Tatum’s biological children?
The question of the sisters was never mentioned. In point of fact,
neither was CJ’s relationship to George – most of that was filmed before the
change in endings was set in stone.
Did the often negative – and sometimes outright angry - critical reaction upon the theatrical release of NIGHTMARE promote or hold back your acting career in any way?
Neither, as far as I know. I thought at the time that Nightmare
was likely to be a one-off, as it were, especially since by the end of it I was
quite, quite dead.
Were you interested in continuing to act in movies post NIGHTMARE, or preferred to stay involved in community theatre?
I stayed involved in community theatre until Romano called with the offer of a part in Dog Tags.
How did you find the experience of working on DOG TAGS? Do you have any specific on-set anecdotes that you’d like to share?
Well, now, let’s see. I have a couple of those, I think. The first is this: cast and crew were originally housed in a resort some distance from Manila, the bath water and swimming pool of which were heated by natural hot springs. The summer before that, I had gone swimming in a private pool here in Florida and caught (yet another) ear infection - I had suffered frequently from those as a child. I did not, therefore, swim in the pool at the resort. For some reason, my explanation that “I don’t swim” was interpreted by those around me as, “I can’t swim.” The escape across the lake was interrupted by an incident that for some reason was cut from the film: our outrigger was swamped by the wake of the camera boat and dumped everyone into the water. Of all of us, I was the only one who managed not only to stay with the outrigger but to retain his M16 - the other firearms sank to the bottom of the lake. There was great astonishment all around, that the actor who “couldn’t swim” was able to keep both himself and his weapon if not dry, at least easily recovered.
The second occasion was right after Roy was caught by the punji stick - enough
years have passed that I don’t recall precisely who played whom, though.
In any case, I had a bit of a monologue during which I called Clive’s character,
“Roy.” I kept on with the scene instead of stopping it because it felt so
right and I hoped that my error could be cut and a correct reading
interpolated. When the scene was done, I apologized and said that I’d have to
request another take because I had done so. Of everyone on the set, only the (Aussie) sound man had caught it.
Baird as George in Nightmare.
Likewise in regards to character research, did you conduct any for getting into “Roy mode?”
None at all. I didn’t have to. I spent my childhood being “Roy” - the
last one chosen for teams, the first eliminated, the one who walked home
alone…. I already knew “Roy mode” entirely too well.
Are you aware of the proposed sequel to NIGHTMARE, titled NIGHTMARE: THE WANDERING SOUL, which has an entry on IMDB (however, this entry has not been updated since early 2017).
Yes, and I wondered when it was first pointed out to me how Romano would
overcome the little snag of George having been very, very dead at the end of Nightmare.
George wasn’t a superhero, after all - those people are expected to
resurrect every so often. I feel neither jealous nor threatened by the
notion of a sequel, though – if Romano can do it, more power to him!
Having retired from community theatre, what keeps you busy these days?
My other half is a network security expert, and we formed a company together nearly 30 years ago, soon after we decided we are a family. He did the tech work, I did the office work. I’ve retired even from that, now, although he is still working as a contractor.
