Written by Pollo Misterioso

Nightmare Detective plays like an intense dream; things happen that you are not really sure of, some things about it are vaguely familiar, and yet it stays with you after you wake up and you don’t really know why. It is scary, but not really frightening, just haunting.

Part of Dimension Films “Dimension Extreme” collection, the film is a thriller where writer/director Shinya Tsukamoto creates a world based in between dreams and reality, where killings occur within dreams and somehow the killer must be caught.

The film’s groundwork lies in suicide and the difference between killing yourself and having others kill you. If someone is to have thoughts about killing oneself, why not get someone to do it with you? If one wants to commit suicide, but not alone (which is really a contradiction in itself), they can dial “0” to contact a man so that he will die with you. For some reason, with every intention of killing himself as well, our killer (played by Tsukamoto) connects from across the phone in a way that gives him some sort of power as he kills his co-conspirator in their dreams.

What looks to be a suicide to the police is really a murder that occurs in the unconscious world. Our victims are shown being chased and killed, not by their own will, but by a creature, that is unseen, but heard.

One of the head detectives on the case, Keiko Kirishima (Hitomi), is transferred to the detective branch of the police force and this is her first job. She sees the first victim, mangled and sprawled out on her bed next to a pair of scissors. The last number that she had dialed on her phone, happens to be “0”—to later appear on all the victims phones.