Truly Dreadful Film

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

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.

This presentation contains 4 chapters of shadowmantic horror. Immediately, we course through a darkened landscape cracking with magma, as if Hell is bursting up from beneath. We are met with two glowing red eyes staring deep into the soul. A splendid introduction. A well-to-do couple experience the toils of vermin infestation so saturated, that they know no peace. It eventually is revealed that this particular breed of rat is surnamed "The Devil Rat", and it takes the wise efforts of a seasoned kind-hearted occultist to alleviate the problem, but not without a tragic end.It's very obvious that it was made in the 80's. If you do not like or enjoy horror movies of that period you will not like this movie. It's just fun and there is moments that follow a formula which will forever be creepy and get you at moments. I love this for nostalgic reasons, which means that someone who views this more objectively may not love it. If you grew up in the 80's or are just fascinated with 80's arcade culture then pick this up.Overall rating: 7 out of 10.

Four tales with no wraparound story titled TERROR IN TOPANGA, BISHOP OF BATTLE, THE BENEDICTION, & NIGHT OF THE RAT inside a movie structure consecutively.The first is about a housewife who, despite her husband's warnings to stay in because of an escaped loony who murdered a police officer with a knife, goes out for a pack of cigarettes. Guess who she perhaps bumps into when she unfortunately runs out of gas? This one has a nice build-up, but goes absolutely nowhere which is a shame because it has lots of potential..it simply lacked inspiration by the writer.The second tale is about an obsessive arcade nerd who just can't rest until he reaches the prestigious Level 13 of a very difficult game called "The Bishop of Battle". When he does, he's thrusted into a new kind of game where the stakes are his very life. To be honest, this one was a bit hokey..the result when he reaches 13 I mean.My favorite of the anthology has a Priest(Lance Henriksen, with conviction), who has lost his faith because of the frequent human suffering he sees on a regular basis, being terrorized by a psychopathic trucker, whose face is never revealed thanks to darkened tinting on the windows. We do get an indication who the driver might be..an upside down crucifix is hanging from the rear-view mirror. And, the weapon the Priest uses against the trucker also is telling in perhaps who this evil driver is. Tense, well developed little episode with little spiritual elements which aren't too heavy-handed which is a plus.An unhappily married couple(Richard Masur and Veronica Cartwright)have a MAJOR rat problem. Their house cat finds that out first hand. It has been leaving a path of destruction throughout their house yet the husband wishes to fix the rat problem on his own without paying someone else. The wife, having had enough of her kitchen being demolished, calls a specialist(Albert Kague)and after studying comes to the conclusion that this big rat might be a Devil Rodent, the type from ancient German myth. He says they are indestructible. I know one thing, as presented here, when it lets out a roar it must measure on the Richter scale. The final scene where the couple come face to face with it might be a little too cheesy to fully scare, but I feel the episode overall works quite well.None of the stories can claim complete originality, but the last two, I believe, are thrilling & creepy enough to rise this anthology as a whole slightly above mediocrity.

The 80's is the decade famous for delivering many a camp horror movie, so going into this omnibus film, I was expecting a very camp time indeed. Suffice to say, this film didn't live up to my expectations and all it offers is four, very mundane, tales of 'horror'. As usual with omnibuses, the tales themselves are of varying quality; but the ones in this film are all low quality, and none of them really stand out enough to make the film memorable on the whole. The first one is the most dismal of them all, and simply follows a woman out late at night. There's a maniac on the loose...and I'm sure you'll be able to see what's coming. I couldn't believe how mundane it was. The second, and probably best, of the omnibus sees a kid obsessed by a video game. Emilo Estivez takes the lead role in the tale about obsession and actually does a fairly good job. You can believe that he would be addicted to an arcade game. The best thing about this tale for me wasn't the horror at all, however, it was the way it showed how rubbish electronics were in the eighties. Seeing the kid's personal tape player is almost surreal when compared to the mp3 players we have nowadays.The fourth tale stars Lance Henriksen and I thought it might be worth watching for that reason. It actually turned out to be a lot like the first tale, in that it's unbelievably shallow and the plot is overly simplistic. It's like Dual, with a supernatural twist. Not really horror though...more of a chase thriller. Not worth watching really. The fourth tale is about a giant rat, and I thought that it might add some much needed fun into the film. I was wrong again, as although it's not a bad little story, and easily better than tales number one and three; the way it's handled once again lets it down. It takes ages for anything to happen, and although the build up to seeing the giant rat at the end has some suspense; for a daft eighties horror, it has very little payoff. The giant rat is hilarious, though, and the way that the climax is handled is good in that it actually has a little bit of emotion! On the whole, even if you like omnibus horror films, I don't recommend this one. See Dead of Night, or Black Sabbath, or one of the Amicus omnibuses from the seventies...this film is worth missing.