Colin Tilley (director)
(studio)
15 (certificate)
101 (length)
14 July 2025 (released)
12 July 2025
The scary bedtime folktale of The Sandman is a flexible myth. The entity being good and bad as the bringer of dreams or nightmares. It has been interpreted many times in many forms. The best known these days are probably The Sandman DC comic series now adapted by Netflix. But maybe closer to the essence of the tale is the grisly 1991 Oscar winning animation short. Night Terror presents an interesting interpretation of the tale.
Anna (Whitney Peak) goes to live with her blind grandmother May (S. Epatha Merkerson) in rural Florida from New York, after the death of her parents.
It’s something of a culture shock compounded when a happy go lucky couple she meets down by the river Shawn (Finn Bennett) and Julie (Laken Giles) turn out too be unpleasant bullies. They pick on the wrong the person when they go too far when Connor (Carson Minniear) breaks his arm. He’s the ward of Patti (Golda Roshevel) (also May’s sister) and she tells him of way to deal with bullies.
This and Connor’s decision to act on it open the film to the horror of The Sandman as well as dark family secrets that Anna unpacks as he realises that she may not be as innocent as she thought.
In Night Terror (in some territories Eye for an Eye) directed by Colin Tilley, from a script by Elisa Victoria and Michael Tully the legend is a conduit for revenge, though the severity is balanced by the entity.
They do a solid job of developing the story and the various strands within. That however can affect the pacing at times, and it can look a bit cluttered as matters start to unravel especially as the film get towards the end.
The Sandman is very creepy, and the effects are solid with some effective dream/nightmare sequences and jump scares. There isn’t however that much in the way of suspense or dread.
What’s more interesting here is that The Sandman is depicted as judge and jury with his version of the scales of justice. Therefore the punishments meted out aren’t uniform refining the pure revenge motive with the creature appearing slightly more pensive in its judgements, if still horrible.
Night Terror will be available on Digital Platforms from 14 July 2025. Distributed by Signature Entertainment.
