"The Nightmare Series" also known as "Nightmare Era" is a series of two singles and four mini albums released by Dreamcatcher.
The series begins on January 13, 2017 with the release of "Nightmare", continued with "Fall Asleep in the Mirror" on April 5, 2017, "Prequel" on July 27, 2017, "Nightmare - Escape the ERA" on May 10, 2018, "Alone in the City" on September 20, 2018 and ended with "The End of Nightmare" on February 13, 2019.
Although there is nothing official, many theories about the MV lore and chronology and how "The Beginning of the End" is also connected to the series.
Lore[]
This a guide or theory made by user "Kyralitate" on Reddit and should be taken as such. [1] [2] [3] [4]
This is not official.
Fly High[]
Butterflies begin the storyline, seen round JiU, showing her life, her vitality, and most importantly the lack of a curse, the lack of evil. We begin the story at a mansion, where the girls go, perhaps on a holiday. JiU sees a spider outside the mansion, and traps it in a jar and brings it in, which brings the curse into the lives of the girls. Gahyun is seen first to be taken by the curse, in a horrific event while she sleeps, surrounded by vines and foliage. We see a short clip of a version of JiU playing the piano (this will become more important later).
Then we see Siyeon, in her real self (holding the teddy bear) being taken away by SuA, who can be seen as the facilitator of the curse in the storyline. When they come back out of the woods, Siyeon is still her real self holding the teddy bear, but like a “Hansel and Gretel” story, she is lovingly coaxed by SuA into something dark and mysterious that she doesn’t know yet- the curse of the spider.
The shot at the dinner table is very important. It shows the Good side and the Bad side, indicated by the salt shakers and the books. Dami, Siyeon and JiU are still not cursed or thrown into the nightmare. However, Gahyun, Handong and Yoohyeon have been (more on how Yoohyeon gets cursed later). SuA sits in the middle, as she is the one who is watching and even causing the girls to be cursed, one at a time. The curse of Handong is seen in the shot where the witch moves across the rooms in the mansion and immediately after Handong throws a black paper airplane out of the same room where the witch was seen, perhaps a sort of last second SOS, leading to the scene she has later, lifeless in the bathtub.
Dami is seen reading books, perhaps she is informing herself on the things that happen in the curse, so that she can protect herself. This can be somewhat confirmed by the fact that in Good Night, in the nightmare, Dami is still sleeping. She has found a way to protect herself initially, however this is broken when Dami, out of her own will, breaks out of the glass box she has created around herself (in her rap in You and I) to help the other girls.
Possibly the most important is the curse of Yoohyeon, who burns the spider, and it is held on the account of JiU making the mistake of bringing the spider in. There is a flashback in the MV to the moment where Yoohyeon pulls Jiu away from the spider, which I think is very significant as it shows how Yoohyeon perhaps has a hint that it is dangerous but doesn’t want anything bad to happen to JiU. Shortly afterwards, and still in a flashback, Yoohyeon herself lets her curiosity take over her, burning the spider with a lens, which starts the cascade of curses in the mansion, beginning at Gahyun. Yoohyeon is then seen in front of a mirror, a way for her to try to look for herself, which is often seen in the whole trilogy as a way for communication to happen across nightmares, but black tar consumes the mirror, which shows she has been disconnected by the curse, and also trapped in the nightmare.
Remember when we mentioned that JiU was playing the piano? I think this is the nightmare version of JiU. As JiU is exploring the mansion, she finds the other version of herself, and realizes what she has done in bringing the curse of the spider into the mansion. So she immediately tries to shut the gate and prevent any more of the evil from coming in. But the butterflies that were flying around JiU have died. SuA has already mislead Siyeon while Yoohyeon, Gahyun and Handong are already trapped. Yoohyeon, bearing the start of the curse of the spider, is already free and outside the gate that JiU tried to contain her in. The final scene of SuA stabbing the iconic “nightmare photograph” of the girls further confirms to me that SuA is some sort of “storyline facilitator” or “narrator”, and that she has played the key role in causing the girls to be cursed.
Chase me[]
The next part of this storyline is when the Nightmare Hunter is sent to find out what happened to the girls in the mansion. This is confirmed by what Yoohyeon said in a vlive. In the image where the Nightmare Hunter is seen circling Gahyun on the nightmare picture, the pencil breaks. The Nightmare Hunter is trying to find the cause, perhaps trying to find out about SuA’s involvement, but isn’t any closer by circling Gahyun, signified by the breaking of the pencil. In a short still, we see SuA holding Siyeon’s hand, which links back directly to their scene in Fly High. This shows that SuA has indeed captured Siyeon.
In an important scene, Dami is seen to be lying down in the middle of all the girls, SuA notably in the middle of the ring they form around Dami. This relates to how Dami defended herself by reading about the curse in Fly High. Perhaps this scene is them (especially SuA) calling to Dami to be with them, to partake in being nightmarish with them. And it succeeds to some extent, as Dami joins the circle, and raps the lines “seven little presents every day,” however she is still further apart from this curse than the rest.
Each of the girls act as their own nightmare to the Nightmare Hunter. They toy with him, and torment him. SuA is seen with a pendulum. Handong is a ghostly figure on a table underneath a moving light. JiU is seen as a ghost thrown across a pillow in the corridor. Siyeon torments his door and locks him in. Gahyun throws books across the floor. Yoohyeon is seen tormenting the corridor and adding to the mystery of room 808. However, the Nightmare Hunter has evidence. And he analyses it, and as is his profession, he finds out the origin, that being room 808. And he knows he needs to get in to trap them, because he realizes in here is how they do their work. This is the photo room of the chase me mansion. This is the room where the girls are seen in the final part of the MV having fun with “pillows,” having fun with sleep, having fun creating nightmares. And the Hunter has found the source - the nightmare photograph that SuA herself left a mark on in Fly High.
Good Night[]
Here we get introduced to the “nightmare book,” the book where the timeline and evidence is held for how the girls were cursed. The Nightmare Hunter finds it, and with a lot of other evidence, he begins to trap the girls in the nightmare together, so that he can finish what he came there to do - stop the girls from invading people’s dreams. The first that he is seen to trap is Gahyun - as soon as he opens the book she is seen falling. Later we see him wrapping SuA in the vines, and Yoohyeon and Siyeon in the forest.
JiU, however, sees that he has trapped Gahyun and is a powerful force to be reckoned with, so she prepares with Handong and Dami to not be trapped themselves and to free the others who he has trapped. Dami is seen with Handong in a library, collecting perhaps knowledge on how to do this. With this knowledge that the three of them now have, they begin once again to torment and mock the Hunter, perhaps implying messages like “ha! You think you’ve won” and “we’re still out here - you’re not done yet!”
And so the three of them take the book, through the mirror (which is now becoming a strong symbol for the communication between nightmares and real life). They burn the pages of the book, starting at SuA’s entrapment, setting fire to the vines that have entrapped her and setting her free that way. The wallpaper of room 808 is seen to burn, showing that the Nightmare Hunter’s work is being reversed. The room he’s in has papers flying around him, and so, finally, he is seen, trapped in the mirror; trapped where he aimed to trap all the 7 girls. But through teamwork in the nightmare, they saved each other.
The final scene shows the girls leaving the nightmare hotel, leaving the Nightmare Hunter trapped with no hope of escaping. Every time he falls asleep, he will be tormented by nightmares, whatever he does. This is the last we’ll hear of him.
The girls move through the forest that they were chased through, looking for the next place for them to stay and torment people, which will be at the You and I mansion, and on the way they drop the book. This book has in it perhaps more than was shown in Good Night, and by dropping this book, the girls lose part of what they can use to combat their own nightmare world, and they lose perhaps the missing link to what is needed to save Yoohyeon in You and I.
You and I[]
The girls themselves mentioned that You and I is a sequel to Chase me and Good Night. So, the story continues that they go to this mansion and they trap and lure people to play with their dreams and nightmares, using the flash of a camera and the photos that they take. It is first important to note that Siyeon repeatedly appears standing in a dark room, where the development of photographic film used to take place. Siyeon is SuA’s minion, and she acts accordingly with the imagery of fire to carry out SuA’s “manual” work in working with the photographs. SuA is seen in the actual photography suite, and she is the only member to be seen in the photographic suite where Yoohyeon is seen to get cursed, once again backing the motif that the storyline is facilitated and woven together by her.
In the dark room, we also see the first to be captured by the curse, Handong and Gahyun, who now work together with Siyeon to cause people's nightmares, through photographs. While this MV primarily describes the girls in their devilish nightmare selves, who plague others’ dreams, scenes like when Handong is trapped among the webs and JiU’s constant frightened running through the mansion show that the real version of these girls is still tormented by a curse of nightmares.
In this MV, we distinctly see two versions of JiU, one being JiU with short hair, and one being JiU with long hair. It is safe to assume, that when we see JiU with long hair, it is her nightmare self that aims to take hold of Yoohyeon and put her in the nightmare that she can’t escape, as this is what we see at the end of the choreography, with JiU holding her hands around Yoohyeon’s neck. However, short haired JiU is the real life JiU, who is still running away from the truth and the curse, and who wants to figure it all out. Perhaps the spirit of the curse disguised itself as JiU’s real life form, with short hair, to capture the spirit of Yoohyeon in the important scene where JiU is being cursed, in the room that SuA set up for Yoohyeon’s curse of the spider, that comes through JiU.
JiU, when running around the mansion in fear and in trying to figure out what has happened, is confronted by the shadow of one form that the curse takes- that being a ghostly blue smoke, and after that realizes what has happened. So, she gathers up the girls in real life, as we see Yoohyeon being overcome by the curse in the dream world. The girls perform a certain ritual that releases the blue smoke for a moment, but weakly, and it is not enough for Yoohyeon to escape. Dami’s scene may also be relevant, as Dami, as seen in Fly High has somehow protected herself from fully succumbing to the nightmares, but in taking part in the ritual breaks out of the protective bubble she has created around herself in order to help Yoohyeon.
At the end of the MV, Yoohyeon wakes up, but in the nightmare world. Alone. And the MV immediately cuts to the reason for it- the curse has come upon her through JiU, just like in Fly High.
What[]
This entire MV in my opinion, as well as the MV for Piri, are calls to “save me.” All of the girls are trapped within nightmares from Fly High, and none of them know a way out, and they have no idea how to get out. Remember the book of nightmares from Good Night? And how it is perhaps part of the missing link to saving the girls from the nightmare? Just before the bridge we see the book of nightmares, now preserved in a glass case with a blue flower. This same flower becomes hugely important in the MV Deja Vu, wielded by SuA, symbolizing SuA’s involvement and actions. The curse from SuA has successfully trapped them in a lucid dream. The whole song speaks about the “Two of Us” waking up from this nightmare. I think this points to Yoohyeon and JiU.
In the bridge, JiU is questioning the nature of the nightmare, and what happened to Yoohyeon. “this could not be a nightmare, even if the black clouds (Yoohyeon’s curse smoke) covers me up, you’re the one I keep seeing.” SuA seems to have underestimated the power of JiU’s care and love for Yoohyeon. “Why can’t I catch you” however, shows clearly that JiU has no idea how to save Yoohyeon, therefore how to save them all. This scene shows, also, Yoohyeon standing on a roof with a huge moon behind her, which is perhaps a link that is developed too in the MV Deja vu, a glimpse into the Kingdom Yoohyeon has built up. However JiU looks up, wishing, hoping she could do something to save her but doesn’t know how, at least for now.
Piri[]
Piri is the beginning of the end of the nightmare. It introduces and explains the characters from a new viewpoint. There are real life characters cursed with nightmares, trying to save each other, as seen in What. And here I think we see the subdued nightmare selves, the consciences of the members who are waiting, longing to be saved from the nightmare. They are dressed in white, in white rooms. Their conscience is innocent, but their torment is black and cruel as night.
Once again, we have a JiU running scene. In this scene, I think JiU sees in the television her encounter with her nightmare self, and realizes what the curse of the spider has done to her and the other members. Each of the members is cursed to their own nightmares and their own fears: Handong’s nightmares involve the clocks around her and their curse. Siyeon is lost in a never ending maze that always leads back to the beginning. SuA’s nightmare involves dolls that come to life. Gahyun is tormented by what is being said to her over telephones. JiU is tormented by the actions of her past. Dami is trapped in a dark passageway that leads to a cupboard that grabs her in. And Yoohyeon? Yoohyeon is looking hard for herself in the mirror, waiting for someone to save her.
In perhaps the most momentous scene in the MV, Yoohyeon stands in front of a mirror, like in Fly High. And now, when she reaches out to the mirror, the mirror doesn't consume her hands with black tar. It, however, wobbles. Yoohyeon has willpower to be saved, she has hope that she needs to be saved, she has hope that she may someday be saved. “She will wait until the day you come out” to save her as she says. Who is this “you”? It will be discussed in Breaking Out.
At the end of the MV, the girls are seen as their white pure tormented nightmare selves holding hands. Their wills are aligned, but they, physically, are nowhere even close. The lights go out on them. Perhaps they are hiding the fact that they are holding onto hope. Perhaps this hope is so faint that it rests in darkness. However it is there.
Breaking Out[]
This is their beautiful Japanese single, a simple music video that shows similar principles to Piri- the girls stuck in a white room, where they are separate from each other, but end up holding each other’s hands. The lyrics to this song are very interesting. This is the alternative ending to the Nightmare Series compared to Piri.
Here is what I make of it:
Yoohyeon: When I close my eyes, silent night, silent night. The dark night visits, run away, run away JiU: It will take everything away I have… Yoohyeon: No way no way, I just wander, lost: Look, someone is coming up, Coming to me. Oh, no matter how far I go, Alone, I cannot get out- Already inside a dream. JiU: Oh oh, the place to get awake from the darkness- I will find out. Yoohyeon: So breaking out of the dark night. Take me up from here, now. Believe this heart screaming “ I can overcome”.
Then: JiU: Baby, I throw everything away, even the past, And I’m seeking for the light. Even if someone tries to stop me, You can’t stop my heart. Breaking out of this nightmare. Bye bye to the nightmare. Those are the final lyrics, and they finish the song. Throughout this exchange we see the girls getting closer and closer together. JiU is realizing what she needs to do.
JiU, to undo the curse that she brought upon all the girls, needs to confront the fact that it was through her that Yoohyeon was cursed, both in the You and I MV and in the Fly High MV. And JiU needs to give everything, and this is her most sincere will, as nothing can stop her heart now. The consciences of the girls get closer and closer as JiU’s conscience figures this out, and Yoohyeon is ready and willing. Or so it seems.
Content[]
List of content released in this series.
| Title | Type | Released |
|---|---|---|
| 'Chase Me' Trailer #1 | Comeback Trailer | January 1, 2017 |
| 'Chase Me' Trailer #2 | January 2, 2017 | |
| 'Nightmare' | Single Album | January 13, 2017 |
| 'Chase Me' MV | Music Video | |
| 'Emotion' Special Clip | February 20, 2017 | |
| 'Good Night' Trailer #1 | Comeback Trailer | March 30, 2017 |
| 'Good Night' Trailer #2 | April 2, 2017 | |
| 'Fall Asleep in the Mirror' | SIngle Album | April 5, 2017 |
| 'Good Night' MV | Music Video | |
| 'Lullaby' Special Clip | July 3, 2017 | |
| 'Fly High' Trailer #1 | Comeback Trailer | July 19, 2017 |
| 'Fly High' Trailer #2 | July 20, 2017 | |
| 'Prequel' | Mini Album | July 27, 2017 |
| 'Fly High' MV | Music Video | |
| 'Sleep Walking' Special Clip | September 1, 2017 | |
| 'Trust Me' Special Clip | October 6, 2017 | |
| 'You and I' Trailer A | Comeback Trailer | May 2, 2018 |
| 'You and I' Trailer B | May 7, 2018 | |
| 'Nightmare - Escape the ERA' | Mini Album | May 10, 2018 |
| 'You and I' MV | Music Video | |
| 'Mayday' Special Clip | August 1, 2018 | |
| 'What' Trailer A | Comeback Trailer | September 12, 2018 |
| 'What' Trailer B | September 15, 2018 | |
| 'Alone in the City' | Mini Album | September 20, 2018 |
| 'What' MV | Music Video | |
| 'Wonderland' Special Clip | November 2, 2018 | |
| 'What (Japanese Ver.)' MV | November 14, 2018 | |
| 'What (Japanese Ver.)' | Japanese Single Album | November 21, 2018 |
| 'July 7th' Special Clip | Music Video | January 10, 2019 |
| 'PIRI' Trailer | Comeback Trailer | February 8, 2019 |
| 'The End of Nightmare' | Mini Album | February 13, 2019 |
| 'PIRI' MV | Music Video | |
| 'And There Was No One Left' Special Clip | March 5, 2019 | |
| 'PIRI (Japanese Ver.)' MV | March 11, 2019 | |
| 'PIRI ~ Fue wo Fuke ~' | Japanese Single Album | March 13, 2019 |
| 'You and I (Japanese Ver.)' | Japanese Digital Single | August 22, 2019 |
| 'Breaking Out' MV | Music Video | September 9, 2019 |
| 'The Beginning of the End' | Japanese Studio Album | September 11, 2019 |
Events[]
List of events promoting the releases from this era.
Tours[]
- Dreamcatcher 1st Tour "Fly High" (September 30, 2017 – February 25, 2018)
- Welcome to the Dream World (March 10, 2018 – July 27, 2018)
- Invitation from Nightmare City (March 20, 2019 – December 15, 2019)
Fanmeetings[]
- Welcome to the Dream World First Fanmeeting (July 30, 2017)
- Dream of Us in LA (August 10, 2018)
Videos[]
