10 Documentaries More Terrifying Than Most Horror Films

Imagine waking up in your own bed and, no matter how hard you try, you cannot move. For many people around the world this nightmarish scenario is a very real part of their lives. It’s a phenomenon known as sleep paralysis, and it’s explored in aptly named documentary The Nightmare.

Helmed by Rodney Ascher (the filmmaker behind Room 237), this film spends its time with eight interviewees who all experience sleep paralysis. To them, going to bed at night is like stepping into an inescapable form of hell in which they experience frightening hallucinations in a semi-conscious state.

What makes these peoples’ tales that extra bit creepier, though, is that they all have the same waking dreams of what they call “Shadowmen”. Unlike Freddy Krueger, however, these visions are very real to these people.

The recreations of these dreams are incredibly chilling. Scenes of formless beings with glowing red eyes maliciously tormenting their victims would feel at home in any supernatural chiller. Ascher even has a way of making the talking head segments unsettling by effectively utilising negative space and sound design.

You’ll have a tough time falling asleep again after watching this fascinating and frightening documentary.