NIGHTMARE is an unimaginative telling of a generic story--faced with the law's indifference, a mother must seek justice against the man who attacked her daughter.
Teacher and single mother Linda Hemmings (Victoria Principal) faces a parent's worst nightmare when her daughter Dana (Danielle Harris) is kidnapped. Dana escapes and her assailant Edward Ryter (Jonathan Banks) is arrested. But the nightmare has just begun as Hemmings learns that Ryter won't stay
imprisoned long, and he threatens to kill Dana if she testifies. Certain that Ryter has killed before but never been caught, Hemmings teams up with police detective Jake Wilman (Paul Sorvino). They discover that Ryter can be linked circumstantially to other cases of missing girls. Hemmings breaks
into Ryter's home to search for evidence against him, and when he unexpectedly returns, she shoots him. She covers her tracks, but Wilman is suspicious. Eventually she confesses her action to Wilman and turns over proof of murders Ryter committed. Satisfied that justice has been done, Wilman rules
Ryter's death a suicide.
Produced in 1991 for broadcast in foreign television markets, and now released to video, NIGHTMARE is a movie ideally suited to the Lifetime Cable Network's programming, but even there it would be a subpar offering. The story is wholly unremarkable. The beautiful and willful mother, guided by the
determined and paternal cop, takes down the creepy-looking bad guy, while the straightforward plot plods unambiguously to its conclusion. The generic dramatics are made watchable by the cast, and the production values are good, but that's not much of a recommendation, unless you bring low
expectations to your rental choices. (Violence.)
