NIGHTMARE CODE – The DVD Review

Review by Stephen Tronicek

Great horror movies stick with us because they have a great story and a chilling underlying fear sitting under the surface to stick with us. Subpar horror films have the story, but lack the underlying fear. Bad horror films lack both. NIGHTMARE CODE is a subpar horror film because it’s missing something. The same problem afflicted this year’s highly acclaimed IT FOLLOWS, but in reverse order. It had the deep seeded fear, but lacked the storytelling chops to actually do anything with them. NIGHTMARE CODE has the story, but lacks deep seeded fear.

NIGHTMARE CODE is the story of Brett Desmond (a surprisingly excellent Andrew J. West), a convicted ex-hacker who is brought in to finish a code with a team of experts. The code in question is thought to have caused the last lead coder to go on a massacre in the office before executing himself. The premise is intriguing enough, but never pays off. The film has such an interesting, and intense story line, but doesn’t back it up with anything that should really scare the audience. NIGHTMARE CODE doesn’t build too much tension outside of its middle climax, and final act and its mysterious nature demands more than that.

The reason for this lack of tension is quickly seen too. The film seems unfocused. At one moment it’s being comedic, and a little sexist, and the next a man shoots a couple of people in an office. The jarring tone shifts provide some interesting parallels between scenes, and does a ratchet up some tension, but that’s not enough to balance the sense that NIGHTMARE CODE is all over the place.

The filmmaking creates an excellent juxtaposition for this point too. The entire film is found footage, and mostly shot from an angle of a character facing a computer screen. Much of the runtime is represented on a frame with four cameras running at the same time. A four square isn’t exactly ideal for an intimate horror thriller. Throughout the entire film there’s a sense that if the filmmakers had used a more dynamic camera the film may have been much more exciting. It also all but cripples the relationship between the people working on the project not really allowing them to feel bonded as a team.

The performances offered here are actually pretty good though. Andrew J. West brings a nice everyman performance, and he keeps the film believable as the story becomes more and more preposterous. The other notable here is Googy Gress playing the villain of the piece Foster Cotton. Gress doesn’t actually fight the preposterous nature of the story, he dives in head first, and benefits from it. Many of the other actors fall on either side of this spectrum, and most are at least entertaining to watch.

NIGHTMARE CODE has an original, refreshing story, but lacks a sense of fear or tension because of the filmmaking choices made. It’s still an interesting debut for director Mark Netter, and there’s still promise in the enticing stories he could bring to the table.

NIGHTMARE CODE is available on Video on Demand and DVD. Details can be found HERE