Nightmare is a 1981 American psychological slasher film written and directed by Romano Scavolini, and starring Baird Stafford and Sharon Smith.

Its plot follows a deranged man who, after undergoing an experimental medical procedure, is released from a New York City psychiatric hospital and embarks on a road trip to Florida with the intent of murdering his ex-wife and child.

Scavolini, an Italian director who had previously worked making experimental films, developed the idea for Nightmare after reading newspaper articles about psychiatric patients who had been administered powerful drugs that altered their behavior.

[7] George Tatum has been incarcerated in a psychiatric institution in New York City for many years after sexually mutilating and murdering a family in Brooklyn.

Diagnosed with a variety of disorders, including schizophrenia, amnesia, and epilepsy, George undergoes an experimental procedure during his incarceration that "reprograms" his brain, reforming him into an upstanding citizen.

He leaves New York, heading south to the Florida home of his ex-wife, Susan Temper, their daughters Kim and Tammy, and their mischievous young son, C.J., who frequently plays twisted pranks that disturb her and babysitter Kathy.

During his dying moments, George has a full recollection of his childhood, including a memory of catching his father engaging in sadomasochistic sex acts with another woman, during which he brutally murdered them both with a felling axe.

Scavolini was inspired to write the screenplay for the film after reading articles in Time and Newsweek concerning psychiatric patients who had been administered powerful drugs that altered their behavior.

The massacre of the father and mother by the young Tatum is not the explosion of a mental disorder but flows from the inability of him to "understand" that his parents love to have sex through sadomasochistic practices...In my film there is no hope, because the real and final message is that we are all at the mercy of our demons.

[12] According to producer and actor William Milling, the primary shoot in Florida occurred over a twelve-day period, where the cast and crew worked for at least 12 hours per day.

[15] On set, however, Scavolini claims that Savini was present and oversaw the directing of all master special effects sequences, including the beheading scene of George's mother and father.

[3] Janet Maslin of The New York Times gave the film an unfavorable review, noting: "Though everything else about Nightmare is amateurish, and though its surprises are dependably unsurprising, the bloodshed has been rendered with a loving attention to detail.

"[1] Bill Carlton of the New York Daily News also lambasted the film, granting it a 0-star rating and criticizing its violence, declaring: "This is the most repulsive, offensive, degrading, gory, depraved and horrifying movie ever made.

"[22] Dale Schneck of The Morning Call praised the film for its performances and suspense, summarizing it as "gory, gut-wrenching, nihilistic filmmaking.

"[26] TV Guide was critical of the film, noting: "Given its earnest claims to Freudian psychological complexity, this pretentious gorefest (recipient of a self-imposed X rating) would be laughable if it weren't so repulsive.

[28] The government action brought against the film in the United Kingdom led to a black market for it in the mid-late 1980s, where the cost of video copies reached £100.

A clip from Nightmare was featured prominently in the 2021 British psychological horror film Censor, which is centered around the video nasty controversy in the United Kingdom.