MOVIE REVIEW

The fright fest never strives for greatness, but it's still fun to watch Rolfe Kanefsky's quirky characters and plots.

By Mark Olsen, Special to The Times

If you are the kind of filmgoer for whom the names Rolfe Kanefsky, Tiffany Shepis and Blythe Metz ring a bell, you are already 83% likely to see and enjoy "Nightmare Man." For those not as informed regarding cheapie-horror auteurs and the actresses who get topless for them, the film may be a slightly harder sell.

This is not to say it wouldn't be worth the effort, as "Nightmare Man" is intermittently fun and occasionally witty, with just the right touch of self-awareness. At some point, however, it falls into a cracker barrel of overly self-conscious plot twists from which it never emerges. It's the kind of movie in which, within the opening minutes, a woman shows her fiancé an African mask that just arrived in the mail and then nonchalantly whips off her dress for a steamed-up shower scene.

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That mask, which is not the fertility one she ordered, possesses a demonic spirit that overtakes the young woman, driving her insane. (Or does it?, the film playfully asks.) While driving her to a mental facility their car breaks down in a secluded forest. As he searches for gas, she is attacked by the demon. (Or is she?) She finds refuge with two vacationing couples, interrupting their game of "erotic truth or dare." Soon the demon reappears, bodies start dropping, the fiancé comes back and things begin to reveal themselves.

Kanefsky is a filmmaker of middling skill, but he imbues things with a plucky enthusiasm that is at times infectious, making even a woman in lingerie wielding a crossbow semi-plausible. His winking references to his own oeuvre — a character wears a T-shirt for Kanefsky's first film, "There's Nothing Out There," before getting shot in the mouth — strike just the right balance between taking himself seriously and acknowledging that he's not exactly making an art film. This makes it all the more disappointing to feel the film sinking as it zips along, losing its buoyant verve as it flops from one surprise to another. By the end, "Nightmare Man" becomes lovable and charming schlock that simply outstays its welcome.

'Nightmare Man'

MPAA rating: Unrated

A Valkhn Films/Paradigm Films presentation. Writer-director Rolfe Kanefsky. Director of photography Paul Deng. Editors Victor Kanefsky, George Panos.

Running time: 1 hour, 34 minutes.

Exclusively at the Sunset 5, 8000 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, (323) 848-3500.