A young man calls his professor, gleefully excited about an ancient book he's located. But when he starts to look through the tome, some bog standard "spooky" stuff happens and he vanishes.
Three years later, the professor is still putting up "have you seen me?" posters at the university. I admire her tenacity, though not her technique. I'm not alone in this, since her obsessive behaviour is causing some issues for her professionally and personally. Though at least she is a lesbian so we don't have to sit through the tired old professor/student romance (or suspicion thereof) storyline.
Of course this status quo wouldn't make for much of a movie, so soon enough a mysterious package turns up for the Professor, seemingly offering the first hint of finding her missing friend. Sadly, this also won't make for much of a movie.
Because alas, The Nightmare Gallery really hasn't got much of anything new or interesting to offer in its roughly 100 minutes of running time. Our professor (played by Buffy alumnus Amber Benson) is soon experiencing a muddled collection of the same kind of bog standard "spooky" stuff as her missing protege, though whatever occult force is at work is much less eager to grab her than it did the kid. I admit there is a decent reason for this reticence, as well as a decent reason for why she would care so much about her former assistant. Still, for all I can give a nod of appreciation for such details, they do little to offset the fact that the lion's share of the film is just a bunch of tired old horror movie tropes inelegantly stitched together.
Oh, and there's a post credits scene which makes the whole movie even less interesting than it was to begin with, so if you do find yourself watching it, maybe bail out before you get to that.
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