Nightwish (1989)
- Cody Iden
- Oct 16, 2021
- 2 min read
Release Date - June 27, 1989
Synopsis:
A college professor and his graduate students travel to a remote house in the mountains to study paranormal activities there but things quickly go awry.
Directed by - Bruce R. Cook
Written by - Tucker Johnston and Don Simmons
Produced by - Keith Walley
Cinematography - Sean McLin
Music by - Phil Davies and Mark Ryder
Distribution Company - Wild Street Pictures and Vidmark Entertainment
Cast:
Clayton Rohner - Jack
Alisha Das - Kim
Jack Starrett - Professor
Robert Tessier - Stanley
Elizabeth Kaitan - Donna
Artur Cybulski - Bill
Tom Dugan - Wendall
and Brian Thompson - Dean
Run Time - 1 hr. 36 min. Rated - R
Budget - Unknown Gross - Unknown
Review:
The movie Nightwish attempts some interesting ideas but never really manages to pull any of them off all that well. An odd mixture of science-fiction and the paranormal with elements of the slasher genre thrown in for good measure, the movie struggles to balance the different elements. The film follows a group of graduate students who meet up with their professor at a remote house in the mountains to study paranormal events and soon they fall prey to various fake-outs, real paranormal events and even extraterrestrials. The cast is just okay, Clayton Rohner who also appeared in April Fool's Day (1989) and I, Madman (1989) is pretty enjoyable, Robert Tessier as the sadistic Stanley is very memorable as is Brian Thompson in the smaller role of Dean who helps to bookend the film. The rest of the cast, while not terrible, don't leave much of an impact. The special effects are surprisingly good for what was probably a very low-budget production. The green ghostly ectoplasm creature is particularly convincing. Had the film stuck to a more straightforward story we could have gotten a better film, but as it is we get a bit of a jumbled mess, but a mildly entertaining mess.
My Score: 66
Plot - 6 Cinematography - 7
Attraction - 6 Editing & Special Effects - 7
Theme - 7 Sound & Music - 7
Acting - 6 Directing - 7
Dialogue - 6 Enjoyability – 7
Trivia:
Much of the money for financing this film came from Japan.
Filmed in 1988 but unreleased until 1989, or even 1990 in some markets.
The special effects were done by the newly formed KNB EFX, who worked on many horror and sci-fi productions over the years. More recently they have workes on The Walking Dead (2010-2022). This was only the second film they worked on.
Availability:
Watched on October 13, 2021
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