I imagine that many people would rather wait in a long line to pay a bill than have to sit through Day of the Nightmare. I make this assumption because I know that good taste does not come easy for some people. Day of the Nightmare is one of those amazingly overwrought, slow, hand-wringing melodramas that I live for. It has its share of long static shots of inanimate objects, lovingly composed close-ups and is teeming with actors pulled from the shallow end of the talent pool. So far so good! 
Within minutes I was convinced that DOTN was a Doris Wishman movie, directing under the pseudonym John Bushelman, but apparently Bushelman is a real person who's made a few other flicks...either way, it's like watching a lost Wishman movie, so view it as such for maximum appeal. But wait, it gets better!
I may have been wrong in thinking that this was a Doris Wishman movie, but I am convinced that Brian DePalma saw this gem at some point and was so inspired by it that fifteen years after it was made, he released his own version which he called Dressed To Kill.
I'm sure that it was supposed to come as a surprise that the female killer in Day of the Nightmare is a trannie, but I called it immediately and doubt many people would miss that detail if watching it today. Like DePalma's trannie killer, the one here spends a lot of time stalking her victims and is as strikingly fashionable, sporting dark glasses and a loud houndstooth coat in nearly all of her scenes. I just wish there was a 20 minute, dialogue-free museum sequence like DePalma treated us to in his film.
Day of the Nightmare is currently available as a streaming option on Netflix. Invite a few friends over and marvel at the distress, suffering and irrational behavior of everyone in it..and I guarantee a good time.
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