A hard truth that all of those who appreciate art must come to is that you will never experience everything. No matter how many hours you devote every day, you will never catch up with the amount of content out there that has been created during your life or preceded it. You will never see all of that film has to offer or listen to all of the music out there or read all of the books. That probably sounds a bit depressing, but it really isn’t. Life is an embarrassment of riches and so is art. If we could ever actually run out of things to experience, that would be the true depressing notion.
What does this have to do with Nightmares Film Festival? The answer is choices. Last year, the festival ran mostly on a single screen at Gateway Film Center, allowing all attendees the opportunity to experience everything being shown, if they chose to do so. Nightmares 2017, however, is a cruel mistress. The festival is running on two screens this year, often forcing attendees to make a choice. Will it be Door #1 or Door #2? It’s a hard decision each time out, but one where you are rewarded no matter which one you choose to open.
Thursday opened the fest with two franchise films and a shorts block. Friday skewed entirely towards independent cinema, gifting us with 10 features and 3 blocks of short films. Standouts, at least among what I viewed, included Midnighters, Gags, and Director’s Commentary: Terror of Frankenstein. Speaking with other attendees, Romeo’s Distress and She Was So Pretty 2: Be Good For Goodness Sake were also well worth everyone’s time.
The best part for me was that I didn’t dislike anything I watched. Every single film or short I experienced had something to offer, be it a cool concept, good performances, great laughs, or some combination of the three. As someone who tries to devour indie horror as much as, if not more than, studio horror each year, you always run the risk of seeing a lot of duds in any given year. We like to think that indie always does it better, but the truth of the matter is that it’s on a pretty even keel. Lucky for us, Nightmares Film Festival truly means it when they scream their #BetterHorror mantra from the cinematic bowels of hell.
Their curation this year is even better than last and if you aren’t going to make it her this weekend, you should at least start planning to attend next year. The festival is thriving this year and you’re not going to want to miss it as it continues to dominate going forward. Come October, it’s the place to be.
