Excellent, a Must See

A Brilliant Conflict

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

Blistering performances.

Unlike many an anthology movie, Nightmares has no wraparound story to link each chapter, the film consisting of four unconnected supernatural tales ranging from the genuinely suspenseful to the rather routine.Tale number one, Terror in Topanga, is easily the most intense of the group. Based on a popular urban legend about an escaped inmate from a lunatic asylum and a housewife (Cristina Raines) who unwisely leaves her home to purchase cigarettes, you'll probably know how this one is going to end way before you get there, but with sharp direction, a great central performance, and even a little gore, the familiarity of the material matters not—it's a great way to kick off proceedings.Chapter two is The Battle of Bishop, the tamest of the four stories, which stars Emilio Estevez as teenager J.J. Cooney, who is obsessed with reaching level 13 of a particularly challenging arcade machine. Breaking into the arcade after closing time to play the game, he finally finds out what finishing The Battle of Bishop involves. Like an episode of Amazing Stories, this one isn't in the least bit scary but does deliver a likable turn from Estevez and some fairly decent computer graphics for the day.The penultimate story is The Benediction, which stars Lance Henriksen as father MacLeod, a priest who has lost his faith. Leaving his parish, McLeod drives into the desert where he is repeatedly attacked by a mysterious black truck with tinted windows. Like a cross between Spielberg's Duel and '70s film The Car, this one offers up some reasonably exciting scenes of vehicular action (including the impressive sight of the truck bursting out of the ground), and its always great to see Henriksen on screen.Last of the four tales is Night of the Rat, in which a family find themselves terrorised by a giant devil rat that invades their home. This one builds the tension nicely only to spoil it in the closing moments with some cheesy special effects using a real rat made to look oversized. Veronica Cartwright is great as the terrified mother, but she really deserves better than this.

"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 It was originally made for TV, but headed to theatres instead after NBC executives proved unwilling to pay for it.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.

Joseph Sargent directed this anthology film that was made after the cancellation of the brief "Darkroom" TV series, though host James Coburn is not in this.Four tales are: 'Terror In Topanga' - A woman motorist(played by Christina Raines) is stalked by an escaped mental patient and murderer. Nothing Special, but a jolt or two. 'Bishop Of Battle' - Emilio Estevez plays an obsessed arcade player who must beat a mysterious game. Best tale of the bunch is memorable. 'The Benediction' - Lance Henriksen plays a priest who must battle a demonic truck. Lance is good, story is thin. 'Night Of The Rat' - A giant mythical rat takes up residence in a suburban home. Weakest of the lot, with little point to it. Now available on Blu-ray from Scream Factory.

Joseph Sargent's "Nightmares" is a very dull, childish and forgettable 80's horror anthology, completely gore-free and not even bothering to connect the different tales through a wraparound story. There have been great horror omnibuses since the 1940's already ("Dead of Night", for example) and the concept reached its peak during the 60's (with Bava's "Black Sabbath") and especially in the early 70's, when the British Amicus Studios specialized in them ("The House that Dripped Blood", "Tales that witness Madness", "Asylum"…). Like it did with so many other things, the 80's decade pretty much ruined the "portmanteau" horror film and only mediocre efforts got released like "From a Whisper to a Scream", both the "Creepshow" films and "Deadtime Stories". This movie "Nightmares" is worse than just mediocre; it's lame and incomprehensibly mundane. The first segment is not even a real story. It's one giant cliché that features a woman as she goes out late at night to buy cigarettes while there's a maniac killer loose in the area. Gee, do you think the killer ends up in the backseat of her car??? This is just an ordinary urban legend that has been done a million times before... And much better. The second story is considered to be the best by many people, but it merely just gave me a headache. Emilio Estevez plays a rebellious teenager (apparently he did that often in the eighties…) obsessed with a stupid video game. He's destined to reach the legendary 13th level and breaks into the mall at night. When J.J. thinks he completed his mission, the evil game comes to life and intergalactic war breaks loose for real. How is that possible? Who knows! Because it was the 80's and scriptwriters could get away with all kind of crazy stuff? The third chapter opens promisingly but quickly goes downhill again. Lance Henriksen stars as a priest struggling with a crisis of faith. He flees from his parish but encounters a diabolical car in the desert. "The Benediction", as this story is called, is simply a shameless copy of Steven Spielberg's "Duel", padded with needless religious undertones. The fourth and final comes from a different writer than the first three, but sadly that doesn't bring any improvement. On the contrary, "Night of the Rat" is feels like Disney-horror for kids with an annoying middle-class family battling against a giant mythological rodent that lives in the walls of their house. "Nightmares" as a wholesome doesn't contain the slightest bit of suspense. I honestly don't understand why it was labeled as "too intense for TV", as this is exactly what it looks like: a tame and bloodless TV-production accessible to younger audiences. It's definitely NOT the stuff real nightmares are made of.