AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

Dorathen Better Late Then Never

Console best movie i've ever seen.

Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Michael_Elliott Nightmares (1983) ** 1/2 (out of 4) 'Terror in Topanga' has a crazy killer escaping prison but housewife Lisa (Cristina Raines) needs cigarettes so she decides to go out. Of course, you know what happens. In 'The Bishop of Battle' a teenager (Emilio Estevez) obsessed with getting to the thirteenth level of a video games gets more than he bargained for. 'The Benediction' has a Priest (Lance Henriksen) walking away from his faith and on a journey through the desert he runs into a mysterious black truck. 'Night of the Rat' has parents (Richard Masur, Veronica Cartwright) trying to protect their daughter and home from a giant rat.As with any anthology film, NIGHTMARES is a mixed bag but overall it's worth watching if you're a fan of this type of film. With that said, there's no question that the best film is the first one. It's based off a fairly popular urban legend and I must admit that I found it to be quite creepy at times. Director Joseph Sargent really does a great job on this number and we've got a terrific performance from Raines that helps sell it. The entire sequence is the shortest of the lot but it really hammers home the tension and the twist is quite effective as well.The following three stories aren't nearly as good and all of them are rather disappointing in their own way. I'd argue that the third one was the next best as Henriksen at least delivers a nice performance but the religious overtones never really work and what we're left with is a cheap copy of DUEL. The second story with the teenager playing video games probably belonged in a different movie. It's not creepy enough to fit with the rest of the film and I'd argue it would have been better in something else. It's just too bright and the special effects just don't ring a horror film.The fourth and final story is without question the weakest and it's too bad because both Masur and Cartwright give very good performances. This type of story had already been done in several other films including stuff like THE FOOD OF THE GODS. The story runs way too long and I'd argue that the ending is more silly than anything else. In fact, I'd argue that stories two through four all ran way too long and none of them could compare to the first so that made them even more of a letdown.

deathadder-13878 Nifty little anthology horror flick that was under seen at the time, though in my opinion it's a better ride than the similar but more campy Creepshow (1982), which suffered from pacing problems and actors camping it up to varying degrees.The first story is about an average couple, one of whom needs her smokes. She learns of an escaped mental patient, but ignores this and her concerned husband because she's dying for a cigarette which leads her to venture out, at night, to the store. Not a whole lot here, but there's nice direction and photography as she encounters various individuals lurking in the middle-American evening gloom. The actors are naturalistic; this is an earnest movie that aims to build suspense and give you a few jolts. It's not the type of cheap movie that makes you cheer against annoying caricatures. No lulls or missteps in this one.The second story, the one that some people seem to remember and talk about, deals with Emilio Estevez as an arcade ruling video game expert who becomes obsessed with beating a very difficult game. This being the 80's, arcades are shown to be a popular hangout for unruly teenagers. We get a bit more depth and interaction with the characters in this one, and the acting is pretty good given the mostly young cast. Estevez, as the story progresses, gets more unhinged in his mania to beat the game at any cost. Breaking into his favorite arcade, he manages, through the sweaty palms and eye strain, to get to the last level.....Some people might laugh at the old video games and how they're merged with the real world, but frankly, I think the F/X people did a good job of making things aesthetically interesting. I'm not sure how much of this was done with actual CG (which would've been difficult and expensive in 1983) vs old-fashioned animation, but I think it still works pretty well and old-school video game fans should really like this one.The third story has a neurotic priest, Lance Henriksen, leave his desert parish out of frustration and self-doubt, only to have a malevolent black truck with an unseen driver challenge him. It plays out in a naturalistic fashion, like the first story, before elements of fantasy and surrealism suddenly appear at the very end. Henriksen, and the other actors, give this story a somber and obscure tone. This story is less about the pure thrills, and more about putting you in Henriksen's shoes as he first battles his personal demons before fighting a real demon.The fourth, and weakest, story is about an upper middle class family fending off a giant rat. The actors here are more plainly unlikable compared to the other stories. The initial suggestions of the rat's presence are creepy and gross enough, but the moment the rat is revealed you will be shocked by how lame the F/X are. It looks like they took footage of a real rat, blew the photo resolution up, and then superimposed it on the set. If the F/X weren't bad enough, the story resolution is a bummer, too: the other stories didn't tell you any more than you needed to know, but in the rat one we're told that the rat was out for revenge! That weakens the impact even more than the effects. The ending really is like a bad mid-Century sci-fi/horror flick. Generic characters, nerdy plot, and bad F/X that look even worse in 1980's color film than they would in 1950's black & white.Supposedly, the stories were put in order of how well test audiences like them, with the best reviewed being put first. But the rat story is by far the worst of the bunch; I guess every anthology has a dud, as though it's tough to ask filmmakers to develop and execute every story well. I think the filmmakers knew how bad the rat story was, and put more money and time into the first three. The first three stories, though, are on par with anything comparable released back then or since. Let's be grateful when movie makers and actors take this kind of material sincerely, and put in a good effort.

Scott LeBrun "Nightmares" is an acceptable horror anthology with 'Twilight Zone' aspirations. It was originally made for TV, but headed to theatres instead after NBC executives proved unwilling to pay for it. With the first three segments written by producer Christopher Crowe, and the fourth written by Jeffrey Bloom, it might therefore strike some hardcore horror fans as a little "safe". Still, it has an excellent cast of many familiar faces, and is paced more than adequately, with capable direction by Joseph Sargent ("Colossus: The Forbin Project", "The Taking of Pelham One Two Three"). The music score by Craig Safan is also noteworthy.There is no wrapround story or connecting thread, so I'll move right along to assessing the individual stories:"Terror in Topanga". A young wife (Cristina Raines) with a hopeless cigarette addiction heads out late at night for her fix. The fact that a knife wielding psycho is on the loose does little to dissuade her. Worth it for the twist ending that hearkens back to an old urban legend."The Bishop of Battle". J.J. Cooney (Emilio Estevez) is a kid hellbent on making it to the 13th level of the title video arcade game. Again, it's the ending that makes the story. The visual effects are pretty good for a movie made approximately 33 years ago."The Benediction". Lance Henriksen plays MacLeod, a priest who's suffered a crisis of faith, and leaves the church. While driving through the desert, he is menaced over and over by a mysterious character driving a black pick up truck. Overall, too reminiscent of "Duel" and "The Car", but there's one brilliant moment at about the one hour mark."Night of the Rat". Richard Masur, Veronica Cartwright, and Bridgette Andersen are the Houstons, a suburban family menaced by a monster rat. It may be tough going for a while since Masurs' character is so unlikable and stupidly stubborn. The special effects leave something to be desired.At its best, "Nightmares" is creepy and atmospheric, even if the stories aren't all that great. It's "The Bishop of Battle" that stands out, since it's the most unpredictable of the bunch, and due to its cool punk soundtrack.Anthony James, (an uncredited) William Sanderson, Lee Ving, Mariclare Costello, Louis Giambalvo, Moon Unit Zappa, Billy Jayne, James Tolkan (voice only), Tony Plana, Timothy Scott, Robin Gammell, and Albert Hague are also among those stopping by.Definitely worth a look for 80s horror enthusiasts and lovers of the anthology format.Seven out of 10.

GL84 Four stories are told in a regular, unlinked anthology series as chapters in the film.The Good Stor(ies): The Benediction-Suffering a crisis of faith, a priest decides to leave his church and take a trip across the desert. While traveling, he repeatedly comes across a large black truck that tries to run him off the road. When he comes to believe that the truck might be linked to his change of believe, he tries to stay alive against the demonic truck. While it's true that this one has zero suspense and a given unsurprising-surprise ending, this is still a lot of fun. Seeing a bunch of vehicular slaughter is never a bad thing, and the chasing adds some dimensions of suspense to the proceedings. The truck isn't that creepy but has a nice aura of menace, and the shot of it tunneling underground and bursting through is a spectacular surprise. While hard to really understand, it's quite enjoyable.Night of the Rat-After a succession of creepy noises haunt the household, a couple believe they have rats in the house, and after killing one, he says that the problem is solved. As the noises continue, only more destructive, they are forced to believe that this isn't a normal rat. Easily the best one of the stories, this one is pretty creepy. As the noises grow more and more obnoxious, the idea of what's behind it all is really creepy. The destruction it causes allows for plenty of nice chills, and there's even an encounter underneath the house that is really quite spooky. There's even the obligatory conflict in the darkened house that provides some great moments in there as well, and overall, this is a pretty creepy segment. The rat is never believable, but it's on-screen so shortly it doesn't really matter.The Bad Stor(ies): Terror in Topanga-After a serial killer escapes from custody, a woman decides to go out for some cigarettes. After meeting several people she thinks is the killer, she stops off at a gas station. Aware the killer is there, she fights to stay alive against the maniac. This here is just mainly plagued by how short it is. It's barely twenty minutes long and the final confrontation is quite short. Everything else is fine, it just really needed to stretch out and breathe. It is the goriest entry, with a couple of murders spread in that result in a brutal stabbing in the hand, a knife thrust repeatedly into the chest, and a gory gunshot wound, and the initial encounter is pretty creepy when the killer emerges suddenly with a loud shriek. This just needed more time.Bishop of Battle-Desperately wanting to beat a video game, a teen spends all of his time playing the game. When it gets the better of him, he sneaks back and tries it again, only for the game to sport a new twist he wasn't expecting. Easily the weakest one of the stories, this one suffers mainly from two main flaws. The main one is that this is simply isn't scary. There's nothing in here that generates any suspense or chills at all, and with it being based so steeply in a certain sub- culture, unless you're well-versed in that culture it will simply blow over and not offer any scares. The other flaw is that the segment is so predictable and easy-to-predict that anything that might generate suspense gets washed away when knowing how it will end. It does have a decent firefight in a video game room, but it's not enough to save it.Rated R: Graphic Language and Graphic Violence.