With the rise of horror films in the early 1980s, a group of producers worked on a concept. They planned to make a series of R-rated films for roughly $500,00 each aimed at a specific audience. Their first film ended up being an American, British, and French co-production with inexperienced actors and a French crew. French filmmaker Henri Sala was hired to direct, though he mostly made softcore films and never made a horror film. Because of the different languages, two scripts were used, one in English and one in French, but there were problems. For one, the producers started to worry when they saw the dailies and it was mostly sex with little-to-no gore. They ordered reshoots to be done to add more gore in the hopes of trying to salvage the film. Though completed in 1984, Nightmare Weekend wasn’t released until 1986.
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Synopsis
Scientist Edward Brake (Wellington Meffert) has just developed a new computer system that can alter a person’s personality. He intends on using it to turn bad people good, but his assistant Julie (Debbie Laster) has other plans. Meanwhile, Edward’s daughter Jessica (Debra Hunter) confides to her puppet friend George about a guy she’s fallen for. Said guy is Ken (Dale Midkiff), who was in league with Julie before his friend was killed. Julie plans to use Edward’s computer, Apache, to turn people into mutated murderous psychopaths, so she gathers some would-be victims. She has three girls – Annie (Lori Lewis), Linda (Andrea Thompson), and Pamela (Kimberley Stahl) – brought to the house. While at the house, the girls end up hooking up with some guys, who they end up killing. Will Julie’s evil plan be stopped, will Jessica find love, and who will survive this nightmare weekend?
Review
Of all the films I’ve covered so far for Troma Tuesdays, Nightmare Weekend is truly one of the most baffling. From the title and box cover, you’d think this is going to be some fun, schlocky horror film. However, what you get is something bordering on softcore porn you’d see on Cinemax at 1:00 am on Saturday. Not only that but it’s filled with such laughably bad dialogue and obvious dubbing that it becomes unintentionally hilarious. Admittedly, the concept of using a machine to alter someone’s personality is certainly unique and could lead to something interesting. But then, you’ve got scenes of a young woman talking to a hand-puppet about the birds and the bees. It’d be one thing if the filmmakers were making something intentionally campy, but they wanted this to be taken seriously. Needless to say, they didn’t quite succeed.
It’s hard to judge the acting here since everyone is dubbed, though at least two actors have their original voices. Going by body language and facial expressions, it seems like a lot of them have no idea what they’re doing. There are some notable actors here: Dale Midkiff (Pet Sematary), Robert John Burke (Robocop 3), and Andrea Thompson (NYPD Blue). Given that many of the cast did not have an enjoyable experience, I’m guessing they’d rather people forget this movie. One positive I can say is that the gore effects, random as they are, are pretty good all things considered. Also, whereas most bad movies are easily forgotten over time, this is one that you’ll at least remember. Some have called this The Room if it were a horror film, and I think that’s a pretty apt comparison. Overall, Nightmare Weekend needs to be seen to be believed.
Buy Nightmare Weekend from Amazon: https://amzn.to/2TUakzO
