Nightmare In A Damaged Brain

Its a nightmare alright

Nightmare In A Damaged Brain (1981) was another movie I picked up for on my travels for just £1. It was directed by Romano Scavolini and while im not aware of his other work, I can say that this slab of horror was pretty dire. It was banned in Britain not long after release and a distributor who refused to edit a particularly grisly scene was thrown in jail for 18 months. Personally I would have left it banned because for all the blood it may have, its not really very good.
Quick synopsis then; George Tatum is mentally ill and plagued by terrible nightmares. He escapes from the psychiatric hospital and ends up wandering the streets. And seeing as he's pretty much a homocidal maniac, you'd want to be giving Georgie a wide berth indeed.
Tatum has been fed experimental drugs (aren't all drugs in these movies 'experimental'?) which seem to cure him of the violent hallucinations he suffers from. Alas these tablets stir up a psychopathic storm that engulfs him and so he begins murdering his way across the USA as he makes his way home to Florida to snuff out a family member.
Interesting to discover the film was made in 1981 because when I watched it a few weeks ago, I thought it looked like something that was knocked up in the early 1970s. Indeed it looked quite ropey in places and this is coming from someone who loves retro stuff!
Nightmare In A Damaged Brain (or Blood Splash as its known in some countries) might have a reputation for being one of the goriest slasher flicks ever committed to celuloid but quite frankly this means nothing when one of the words I could use to describe it is 'boring'. I relished seeing the end credits appear almost as much as I relish opening a fresh bottle of Jagermeister.
Anyone can make a film bloody, buckets of fake blood are not hard to get hold of afterall. Decent stories and scripts however are much harder to find and this film suffers because it lacks both. As I said, boring.

Gutterbox Rating