Nightworld Review: A man mourning the death of his wife gets more than he bargained for when he takes a security job shrouded in secrecy.
Nightworld Review
Ghost stories are an incredibly mixed bag at the best of times. The infamous sub-genre has seemingly been the first port of call for every low budget horror film since the 1970’s. On one hand this makes ghostly thrillers difficult to get enthusiastic about. But on the other hand, it gives them a relatively large amount of flexibility with storytelling. Now, fresh-faced film maker Patricio Valladares has crafted his own supernatural thriller, starring none other than Robert Englund (A Nightmare on Elm Street).
Nightworld tells the story of a former LAPD officer, named Brett Irlam, who starts a new job as the head of security in a mysterious apartment building in Sofia. As Brett continues to experience horrific nightmares of his late wife, he further investigates the bizarre history of the building to discover the terrifying truth within. While this appears to be a typically cliched plot, the film actually manages to build tension and suspense masterfully. The overall mystery surrounding the building, and what Brett is guarding, raises many questions that easily maintain interest in the narrative. Although that being said, the answers to these questions overall are far less interesting.
Jason London (Dazed and Confused) is a solid enough lead. His character spends the majority of the film walking the audience through his own curiosity and confusion, which inevitably results in large amounts of exposition. But in a supernatural thriller, exposition is always going to come with the territory. London’s charming and likeable demeanour is brilliantly contrasted with Robert Englund’s strange and mysterious Jacob. Englund, ironically an actor most well known for portraying an undead, psychopathic murderer, gives a reserved low key performance here. The classically trained actor also works well with some overly ham-fisted dialogue, even with an impressively well maintained Bulgarian accent.
Nightworld Review
Despite the evidently minimal budget of Nightworld, Valladares displays some impressive visuals which excellently contribute to the disturbing atmosphere of the film. It’s painfully clear that the lions share of the budget has been saved for the narratives conclusion however. In a typical ghost story fashion, viewers shouldn’t expect to see much in the way of answers until the eleventh hour. But the conclusion does manage to deliver some legitimate scares, even if it does begin to resemble a cross between The Exorcist and an episode of Goosebumps.
Overall, Nightworld is far from perfect. The script could have easily benefited from a re-write, and its ending left a lot to be desired. But the film is just as suspenseful as it is frustrating, which should easily justify an hour and a half behind the sofa. The cliffhanger ending does leave things wide open for a much more expansive sequel, but this might be best left at one.
Nightworld review by Ben Read, August 2017.
Nightworld is currently playing as part of the Horror Channel Frighfest 2017 programme.
