I've started to take a liking to horror anthology flicks after seeing and enjoying Creepshow quite a bit. So after perusing IMDB for a little bit, I came across a little known movie called Nightmares. It came out in 1983 and stars Lance Henriksen and Emilio Estevez. Anyways, I guess there are four stories in the movie: "Terror in Topanga", "Bishop of Battle", "The Benediction", and "Night of the Rat". From all of the reviews, the movie sounds really cool, especially regarding the story "Bishop of Battle", which deals with a deadly arcade game. So has anyone seen this? Is it worth seeking out on DVD?
Nick
It ran on AMC or TNT or TBS several times over the past few years. It's okay, but nothing that's going to knock your socks off. The arcade game in "Bishop of Battle" involves some cheesy animated "Battle Zone"-style graphics coming to life and trashing an arcade; "Night of the Rat" gives a variation of the "Gorgo" story, and the other two I've long forgotten. I think "Terror In Topanga" is the old "he-wasn't-trying-to-hurt-her-he-was-trying-to-WARN-her" gag, but can't be sure.
That's the key problem with the stories: they're ALL old gags. Predictible "shock" endings based on stories you've already heard, not a lot of gore, cheap effects ("Rat" resembles "Night of the Lepus" for a moment), and the occasional incredibly-stupid moment. Catch it on TV if you can, rent it if you must, buy it only if you have to--and don't say I didn't warn you.
Check the "external reviews" in the IMDB listing. Nathan Shumate gives a detailed review at Cold Fusion; Video Graveyard keeps it short and to the point.
Also: the "Trivia" page of the IMDB listing notes that "Nightmares" was originally intended to be a TV movie or pilot. That explains a LOT of what I remember seeing...
I thought it was decently fun times, well for a made for TV movie that is. The story with the priest in the desert being chased by the giant truck was pretty cool, as was the rat story.
Was originally made for TV in '83 but was deemed too violent for television. So, they decided to market it on video. As I said it's a pretty good time movie. Great little rental if you want to get drunk on a saturday night while watching some purely mindless entertainment. Go pick it up, like it, buy it.
Okay, thanks for the help guys. And for pointing out the external reviews, they were great. I'll try to rent this one. Thanks again.
Nick
I remember them all except for Terror in Topanga. The Benediction was sort of cool, like an occult themed DUEL.
The Bishop of Battle segment has some classic 80s punk rock on the soundtrack.
They used to play this on the movie channels all the time in the early 80s.
I don't know about what extras Anchor Bay scooped up (if any), but Nightmares was a planned TV pilot directed by Joseph (The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3, Jaws The Revenge) Sargent. The studio was overly impressed and decided to market the pilot as a feature film, a gruesome knife murder shot and inserted into the opening segment to garner the movie an R rating.
NIGHTMARES is terrible. I saw it in the movies when it first came out and I couldn't wait for it to end.
I kind of like Nightmares, but then I'm fairly easy to please when it comes to horror movies. When this movie first turned up on cable, my friends and I used to get a big laugh out of Emilio spending all his time trying to "beat the bishop".