A type of dream that I’m very compelled by, however disturbing, is a nightmare. I personally do have nightmares occasionally, and they vary in their scariness. Some of the lesser ones involve being late for work, which I do consider nightmares, but they’re kind of boring. Then there’s the similar anxiety based ones, that involve me preparing for my death in some way – one example being in a line of people kneeling down, waiting to be shot. These are some of the worst dreams I have(and they’re quite common), as I pretty much get to a point where I’ve accepted my death, despite being upset that I’ve barely even started my life. However, one great aspect of these dreams is when I do eventually wake up, and slowly realise: I’m alive! So in a way, I’d prefer these dreams to the ones where life’s going amazingly and I eventually wake up to my only pretty good life. Then there are the real crazy nightmares, which are far more rare, which tend to involve monsters and running from killers, and watching family members die. Those ones just kind of suck.
Naturally, I’m also very interested in nightmares in movies, whether it is a nightmare sequence, or just a dream-like horror movie. A good example comes not from a straight horror movie, but more of a drama, or maybe a psychological drama, Take Shelter(2011). This movie is about a man slowly battling with his own mind, and the possibility that he’s going through the same episodes of schizophrenia as his mother did. This battle is repeatedly explored through his dreams, as seen in the video below.
The parts of this scene that I really love, and that I think give the nightmare a real dreamlike feel, include the unsettling image of his daughter kneeling motionless on the couch looking out the window, as he and we both fear what is to come. Following him picking up his daughter in an aim to protect her, the surreal elements of the scene really come into play. From the lamps flicking off(daresay a Lynch homage), and the shaking and levitating furniture, the loosening grasp on reality really emphasises the instability of his mind and also makes it very scary. In the final moments of the dream, he begins attempting to scream, but can only manage a dry kind of breath, before he wakes up making the same noise. This is something very common in my own dreams, as I often struggle to scream or even talk in them. This is one thing that I would definitely like to include in my own exploration of nightmares.