Nightmare

(1964) **1/2

When Janet was just a wee little lass, she walked into her parents bedroom to celebrate her mother's birthday. In addition to a cake, she found her mother standing over her father's dead body, holding a knife and sporting one of those insane smiles I've grown accustomed to this October. Though her mother was sent to an insane asylum, Janet's problems are just beginning. She is constantly plagued by nightmares and fears she may have inherited her mom's madness. There's a lot of support for this theory as she runs around hallucinating and screaming an awful lot in the first half. Doctors recommend she be committed but her guardian Henry and her "friend" Grace feel she'd be better off at home. Henry and Grace have some diabolical ulterior motives for this though, and Janet is pretty much screwed.

Nightmare is thematically similar to Paranoiac but it weakens about halfway through when the story focuses on Henry and Grace's dysfunctional relationship. Seen much worse, seen much better.