Nightwish

A scientific look at dreams, spooky haunted house tale or sci-fi encounter with aliens?

A professor (Jack Starrett) and a few graduate students (Elizabeth Kaitan, Clayton Rohner and Alisha Das) travel to a dilapidated mining house on top of a mountain north of Los Angeles to conduct paranormal research. When weird, threatening things start happening, will they make it back alive? Brian Thompson is on hand as a macho guy.

“Nightwish” (1989) combines the cabin-in-the-woods plot with haunted house flicks and the ‘look’ of “Re-Animator” (1985), which is understandable since art director Robert A. Burns worked on both films, as well as “Tourist Trap” (1979) and the revered “The Howling” (1981).

Elizabeth Kaitan is easy on the eyes in the female department. You might remember her from "Necromancer" and "Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood," both released the previous year.

With the exploration of subconscious dreaming, the creepy ghost angle and the possibility of mysterious extraterrestrials, this movie is all over the place. Yet it has some surprisingly well-done bits and is entertaining enough if you like any of the flicks noted. “Pumpkinhead” (1988) is another reference point as far as milieu and tone are concerned.

The film runs 1 hour, 32 minutes, and was shot at Zorthian Ranch in the hills north of Pasadena while the interiors were shot on sets built in a warehouse in Los Angeles.

GRADE: B-