The defence The Arthouse Gremlin
“Its refusal to behave is the point.”
The strange choices create the kind of friction that follows you out of the theatre and into the argument.
Back to trending 
Nightmare Detective
Thriller · Horror · Crime · 2007
When a number of suicide victims slash themselves in their sleep, detective Keiko Kirishima is called to investigate.
Movie details
Nightmare Detective
“You die in the dream, you die for real.”
2007 Thriller · Horror · Crime 1h 45m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
6.1 / 10
Community rating
When a number of suicide victims slash themselves in their sleep, detective Keiko Kirishima is called to investigate.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over Nightmare Detective?
For the defence
The Arthouse Gremlin
“The stranger, the better.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Popcorn Loyalist
“Big screen, big feelings, no apologies.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
Guilty of Romance
Thriller · 2011
While police investigate a woman found dead in a derelict love hotel, a romance novelist's wife lives a life that seems simply a daily repetition without romance. To escape the loveless monotony, she follows her desires and becomes a nude model. Soon, she meets a mentor and begins selling her body to strangers, while at home, she hides behind the façade of the doting wife.
The Dogs
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After fleeing his psychotic father, a young teen and his mom seek refuge in a remote farmhouse, only to face a pack of ferocious dogs and the sinister spirits that haunt the property.
Dust Devil
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A woman on the run from her abusive husband encounters a mysterious hitch-hiker.
Lesson of the Evil
Thriller · 2012
Seiji Hasumi is a popular English teacher in a private high school. He is also a violent and sociopathic killer who concocts an extreme plan to deal with the rise of bullying and bad behavior among the student body.
Barbarian
Horror · 2022
In town for a job interview, a young woman arrives at her Airbnb late at night only to find that it has been mistakenly double-booked and a strange man is already staying there. Against her better judgement, she decides to stay the night anyway.
A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
Horror · 1987
A psychiatrist, familiar with the knife-wielding dream demon Freddy Krueger, helps teens at a mental hospital battle the killer who is invading their dreams.
Malignant
Horror · 2021
Madison is paralyzed by shocking visions of grisly murders, and her torment worsens as she discovers that these waking dreams are in fact terrifying realities with a mysterious tie to her past.
Psycho Killer
Crime · 2026
Following the brutal murder of her husband, a Kansas highway patrol officer sets out on a journey to track down the perpetrator. As the hunt progresses, she comes to realize the man responsible is a sadistic serial killer, and the depth of his mental depravity and his sinister agenda is more twisted than anyone could have imagined.
Doctor X
Horror · 1932
A wisecracking New York reporter intrudes on a research scientist's quest to unmask The Moon Killer.
The Believers
Horror · 1987
Mourning the accidental death of his wife and having just moved to New York with his young son, laconic police psychologist Cal Jamison is reluctantly drawn into a series of grisly, ritualistic murders involving the immolation of two youths.
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Shinya Tsukamoto
Written by
Shinya Tsukamoto · Hisakatsu Kuroki
Ryuhei Matsuda
Kyoichi Kagenuma
Hitomi
Keiko Kirishima
Masanobu Ando
Detective Wakamiya
Yoshio Harada
Taizo Oishi
Shinya Tsukamoto
'0'
Ren Osugi
Detective Sekiya
K
Kôji Tsukamoto
Detective
Court is in session
Put Nightmare Detective on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist
“Oddness is not depth.”
A film can break every rule and still leave nothing behind but the memory of how hard it tried to be singular.