This is a film that will leave you with nightmares if you watch this just before you go to bed. From the moment its young hero (DeForrest Kelley, far from his days as "Dr. McCoy" of "Star Trek") wakes up sweating after a night of terror dreaming of murder in a closet with mirrors, waking up to find a strange key and blood on his wrist, as well as other clues that make his nightmare seem so real, you are gripped. He confides everything to his police lieutenant brother-in-law (Paul Kelly), but all Kelly can suggest is that he's been working too hard. A day out for a picnic brings him more clues as he recognizes the neighborhood they are in, and when, just by chance, they end up in a mysterious abandoned house, he discovers more than he bargained for.
This Pine/Thomas production (an independent producer company released through Paramount) is up there with "Detour", "Decoy" and half a dozen other sleeper film noirs that were made on the cheap and have become classics of the genre. The young Kelley is far from the ideal leading man, but as an "everyman", he is perfect for this role. Kelly, an underrated stage actor who played both heavies and good guys on the screen, is excellent, his frustration building into anger here as he discovers his brother-in-law's claims may not be so far fetched after all, and when he accuses him of making the whole dream up, the jig seems to be up. Then comes along Robert Emmett Keane as a truly creepy neighbor of Kelley's, and everything begins to tie together.
This a film noir you want to watch for every clue dropped and every piece of the puzzle to see how it fits together. It was re-made on a higher budget as "Nightmare" with Edward G. Robinson, but this is a much better version.
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