Nightmares

The insightful amongst you should already be familiar with the work of upcoming British filmmaker Darren Ward; writer, director of the much undervalued 'Sudden Fury'. Frustratingly, the British film scene being what it is upcoming filmmakers have little or no chance of getting funding to continue deliver their visions…and it is only now that the very talented Ward is able to once again bring his vision to the screen…though on this occasion it is only with a short (11 minute) feature entitled 'Nightmares'.

'Nightmares' is a brief sojourn into the damaged psyche of a serial killer as he unforgivingly explains to us the reasoning behind the murders he has committed, perhaps to try exorcise the ghostly apparitions of his victims who continually haunt his attempts at maintaining his sanity.

What impresses the most about 'Nightmares' is that within the tight restrains of its 11 minute running time it stills manages to capture the viewer and immerse you in the insane world of its lead killer as he wrestles with his conscience and sanity in his own mental prison. What also amazes is the fact that even in this alleged more liberal age at the British Board of Film Censors I'm sure that there would be concerns at some of the violent sexual imagery in this short shocker (but do my eyes deceive me and is that an 18 rating showing on the films poster?!) and perhaps outwith of rare festival screenings chances of seeing such engrossing work as this are inevitably going to be slim.

This of course is a terrible situation for someone as talented as director Darren Ward (and his similarly talented counterparts) obviously is. In an ideal world I would love to see someone like Michael Winner (one of the UK's last surviving genre filmmaking greats) get behind producing a feature by filmmakers like Ward (and damn I'd even be happy to see a screen adaptation of say Shaun Hutson's work) so that we can see some way forward with the long overdue rebirth of the great British genre movie…well I can dream I suppose…

But digressing aside, till the impossible happens your best option is to keep an eye out for festival screenings of Darren Ward's latest short shocker opus 'Nightmares' to see what all the fuss is about. Otherwise, we'll just have to remain content with our DVD copies of 'Sudden Fury' till the industry wakes up and gets behind the untapped talent that is Darren Ward (and maybe at last we'll get to see Ward's 'Three Tickets to Hell' too?)

For more info visit the films production website by clicking here.

Review by Alan Simpson