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==References==
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Revision as of 08:35, 13 September 2007

1983 film
Nightmares
Promotional poster
Directed byJoseph Sargent
Written byJeffrey Bloom
Christopher Crowe
Produced byChristopher Crowe
StarringCristina Raines
Emilio Estevez
Lance Henriksen
Richard Masur
CinematographyMario DeLeo
Gerald Perry Kinnerman
Edited byMichael Brown
Rod Stephens
Music byCraig Safan
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release datesSeptember 9, 1983 (USA)
Running time99 minutes
Country United States
LanguageEnglish

Nightmares is a 1983 film with four tales of horror, starring Emilio Estevez and Lance Henriksen. The film is directed by T.V. veteran Joseph Sargent and began as a television project of four horror stories. The results were deemed too strong for the small screen. An opening scene was added and the project was instead shipped into theaters by Universal Pictures.

Taglines: Nightmares... is this year's sleeper.

You'll Never Be the Same

Each summer one film opens that you've never heard of... and that you'll never forget.

Four of your worst NIGHTMARES come true.

The DVD was released by Anchor Bay Entertainment in 1999 and has since gone out-of-print.

"Terror in Topanga"

Plot

File:Nightmaresraines.jpg
Christina Raines in "Terror in Topanga."

During a traffic stop at night, a cop is stabbed to death by someone leaping from the bushes. A killer is terrorizing this local California area and the TV and radio are reporting that the cop is his fifth victim.

After Lisa (Raines) puts her children to bed, she discovers that she's out of cigarettes. Her husband (Joe Lambie) forbids her to go to the store, but she sneaks out anyway and heads down the canyon.

Lisa gets the cigarettes and begins home only to realize that she's almost out of gas. All the gas stations appear to be closed. Finally, she stops at an out of the way station and out comes an attendant (Lee Ving), who just happens to pefectly match the killer's description on the radio.

"Bishop of Battle"

Plot

File:Bishopofbattle.jpg
Emilio Estevez in "Bishop of Battle."

Young J.J. Cooney (Estevez) is a video game wizard and arcade game hustler (with help from his bespectacled friend Zock (Billy Jayne).

After an argument about J.J.'s obsession with video games, they split up for the day, and J.J. goes into his local arcade to try again to beat The Bishop of Battle, a maddeningly difficult video game that features thirteen levels with everyone he knows having died on the twelfth. He repeatedly tries and fails to make it to the thirteenth level until the owner kicks him out at closing time.

J.J.'s parents, concerned about his grades in school, ground him until his courses improve. That night, he sneaks out and breaks into the arcade to finally finish the game.

"The Benediction"

Plot

Lance Henriksen plays a priest serving at a small parish and is facing a crisis of faith brought on by the violent death of a young boy. He explains to his bishop (Plana) that he's lost his belief in the concepts of good and evil. He finally leaves the ministry and takes off across the desert in his car.

Out in no where he encounters a black 4x4 truck. At first, it just cuts him off and takes off. However, it keeps reappearing, forcing him off the road and knocking off his bumper, forcing him to face this seemingly unstoppable vehicle.

"Night of the Rat"

Plot

File:Nightoftherat.jpg
Richard Masur in "Night of the Rat."

Claire (Cartwright) can hear the rats moving in the walls of her home but her husband Steven (Masur) ignores it.

Even though Steven assures Claire that he'll take care of the problem with a couple of rat traps in the attic, the disturbances get worse: things start falling off shelves, and the family cat disappears. Claire calls an exterminator (Albert Hague) who discovers that this rat has gnawed huge holes behind various cabinets and has also chewed on the power cables. Steven comes home, criticizes his wife, and tells the exterminator to leave.

Claire keeps consulting the exterminator and inevitably she and her family are forced into a showdown with a giant rat.

Cast

Trivia

  • Originally made for network television, but deemed "too intense." Extra footage was added and it was released theatrically.
  • The computer game sequences in this part of the film were generated on an ACS1200 and cost so much that it nearly bankrupted production.
  • Emilio Estevez went through a two week training course with the NYPD on gun use to train for his battle scenes when the computer-generated enemies entered the real world.
  • Lee Ving, lead singer of punk band Fear, appears in the segment, "Terror in Topanga." The song playing during the beginning of "Bishop of Battle" is "I Don't Care About You" by Fear.
  • The video game that Estevez plays appears to be of Pac-Man/Robotron: 2084 inspiration, with the graphics being inspired by Tempest and other Vector arcade games

Reaction

In her review for the New York Times, Janet Maslin wrote, "Nothing spoils a horror story faster than a stupid victim. And Nightmares, an anthology of four supposedly scary episodes, has plenty of those."

References

  1. Maslin, Janet (September 3, 1983). "Nightmares Opens: Collection of 4 Horror Tales". New York Times. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)

External links

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