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Revision as of 03:20, 27 April 2008 by 92.13.211.29 (talk) (→Plot)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) 1983 film| Nightmares | |
|---|---|
 Promotional poster | |
| Directed by | Joseph Sargent |
| Written by | Jeffrey Bloom Christopher Crowe |
| Produced by | Christopher Crowe |
| Starring | Cristina Raines Emilio Estevez Lance Henriksen Richard Masur |
| Cinematography | Mario DeLeo Gerald Perry Kinnerman |
| Edited by | Michael Brown Rod Stephens |
| Music by | Craig Safan |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
| Release dates | September 9, 1983 (USA) |
| Running time | 99 minutes |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
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
During a traffic stop at night, a cop is stabbed to death by someone leaping from the bushes. A killer is terrorizing a 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
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 of no where he encounters a black 4x4 truck. At first, it just cuts him up and takes off. However, it keeps reappearing, forcing him off the road and knocking off his bumper. This is no ordinary truck. With nowhere left to run the priest has no choice but to face this seemingly unstoppable entity.
"Night of the Rat"
Plot
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
- Cristina Raines ... Lisa, The Wife (segment "Terror in Topanga")
- Anthony James ... Store Clerk (segment "Terror in Topanga")
- Lee Ving ... William Henry Glazier (segment "Terror in Topanga")
- Emilio Estevez ... J.J. Cooney (segment "Bishop of Battle")
- Louis Giambalvo ... Jerry Cooney (segment "Bishop of Battle")
- Moon Unit Zappa ... Pamela (segment "Bishop of Battle")
- Billy Jayne ... Zock Maxwell (segment "Bishop of Battle")
- James Tolkan ... voice of The Bishop of Battle (segment "Bishop of Battle")
- Lance Henriksen ... MacLeod (segment "The Benediction")
- Tony Plana ... Father Luis Del Amo (segment "The Benediction")
- Richard Masur ... Steven Houston (segment "Night of the Rat")
- Veronica Cartwright ... Clair Houston (segment "Night of the Rat")
- Bridgette Andersen ... Brooke Houston (segment "Night of the Rat")
- William Sanderson
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
- Maslin, Janet (September 3, 1983). "Nightmares Opens: Collection of 4 Horror Tales". New York Times.
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External links
- Nightmares at IMDb
- I-Mockery on The Bishop of Battle segment
- a project to make an actual version The Bishop of Battle video game