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Nightmares (1983 film)
Encyclopedia
Nightmares is a 1983 film with four tales of horror
, starring Emilio Estevez
, Lance Henriksen
, Cristina Raines
, Veronica Cartwright
and Richard Masur
. 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
.
The DVD
was released by Anchor Bay Entertainment
in 1999 and has since gone out-of-print.
Although the movie was released in widescreen format (1.85:1 aspect ratio) in theaters; the DVD was issued in "Full Frame (1.33:1) Presentation".
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, who just happens to perfectly match the killer's (Lee Ving
) description on the radio. She gets increasingly alarmed as the attendant, who seems to be studying her car and its occupant, suddenly lunges at the car with a weapon. It turns out that he lunged at the rear window—to kill (and so protect her from) the real murderer, who was hiding in her back seat!
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. However, the game at the 13th Level comes alive with the enemies flying out. (Estevez went through a two-week gun training session with the NYPD to realistically perform his gun maneuvers for these scenes.) J.J. flees to the parking lot, but the Bishop of Battle appears drawing closer and closer to the terrified J.J. The scene cuts to the next morning, where his friends and family, see J.J.'s image on screen of the arcade machines for a few seconds before it turns into the player avatar and the short ends.
The computer game sequences in this segment were generated on an ACS1200 and cost so much that it nearly bankrupted production.
Out of nowhere he encounters a black Chevrolet
4x4
. At first, it just cuts him off and takes off. However, it keeps reappearing, forcing him off the road and knocking off his bumper. With nowhere left to run, the former priest has no choice but to face this seemingly unstoppable entity.
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.
wrote, "Nothing spoils a horror story faster than a stupid victim. And Nightmares, an anthology of four supposedly scary episodes, has plenty of those."
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
, starring Emilio Estevez
Emilio Estevez
Emilio Estevez is an American actor, film director, and writer. He started his career as an actor and is well-known for being a member of the acting Brat Pack of the 1980s, starring in The Breakfast Club and St. Elmo's Fire...
, Lance Henriksen
Lance Henriksen
Lance James Henriksen is an American actor and artist best known to film and television audiences for his roles in science fiction, action, and horror films such as the Alien film franchise, and on television shows such as Millennium....
, Cristina Raines
Cristina Raines
Cristina Raines is an American actress. She achieved her big break in the TV movie Sunshine, with Cliff De Young.-Biography:...
, Veronica Cartwright
Veronica Cartwright
Veronica A. Cartwright is an English-born American actress who has worked mainly in American film and television. She is best known for her role of Lambert in Alien, for which she won a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress....
and Richard Masur
Richard Masur
Richard Masur is an American actor who has appeared in more than 80 movies during his career. From 1995-1999, he served two terms as president of the Screen Actors Guild . Masur sits on the Corporate Board of the Motion Picture & Television Fund.-Biography:Masur was born in New York City to a...
. The film is directed by T.V. veteran Joseph Sargent
Joseph Sargent
Joseph Sargent is an American film director. He has directed many television movies, but his best known feature film works are probably White Lightning, MacArthur, Nightmares and Jaws: The Revenge, with his most popular film being The Taking of Pelham One Two Three. He has won four Emmy Awards...
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
Universal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...
.
The DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
was released by Anchor Bay Entertainment
Anchor Bay Entertainment
Anchor Bay Entertainment is a U.S. based home entertainment and production company and is a division of Starz Media, which is a unit of Starz, LLC. It was previously owned by IDT Entertainment until 2006 when IDT was purchased by Starz Media. Anchor Bay markets and sells feature films, series,...
in 1999 and has since gone out-of-print.
Although the movie was released in widescreen format (1.85:1 aspect ratio) in theaters; the DVD was issued in "Full Frame (1.33:1) Presentation".
"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 a local CaliforniaCalifornia
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
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, who just happens to perfectly match the killer's (Lee Ving
Lee Ving
Lee Ving Lee Ving Lee Ving (born Lee James Capellaro; April 10, 1946 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is an American musician, most famous for his role as lead singer and rhythm guitarist for Los Angeles-based punk rock band Fear, and actor. In the late 1960s Ving joined Sweet Stavin Chain Blues Band...
) description on the radio. She gets increasingly alarmed as the attendant, who seems to be studying her car and its occupant, suddenly lunges at the car with a weapon. It turns out that he lunged at the rear window—to kill (and so protect her from) the real murderer, who was hiding in her back seat!
"The Bishop of Battle"
Arcade game
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
hustler with help from his bespectacled friend Zock (Billy Jayne
Billy Jayne
Billy Jayne is an American actor, musician, and director. He has been in many films, and has sometimes been credited as Billy Jacoby. His siblings, Scott Jacoby, Robert Jayne, Susan Jayne and Laura Jacoby, are also actors.-Name:...
).
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
Video arcade
An amusement arcade or video arcade is a venue where people play arcade games such as video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, merchandisers , or coin-operated billiards or air hockey tables...
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. However, the game at the 13th Level comes alive with the enemies flying out. (Estevez went through a two-week gun training session with the NYPD to realistically perform his gun maneuvers for these scenes.) J.J. flees to the parking lot, but the Bishop of Battle appears drawing closer and closer to the terrified J.J. The scene cuts to the next morning, where his friends and family, see J.J.'s image on screen of the arcade machines for a few seconds before it turns into the player avatar and the short ends.
The computer game sequences in this segment were generated on an ACS1200 and cost so much that it nearly bankrupted production.
"The Benediction"
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 nowhere he encounters a black Chevrolet
Chevrolet
Chevrolet , also known as Chevy , is a brand of vehicle produced by General Motors Company . Founded by Louis Chevrolet and ousted GM founder William C. Durant on November 3, 1911, General Motors acquired Chevrolet in 1918...
4x4
Four-wheel drive
Four-wheel drive, 4WD, or 4×4 is a four-wheeled vehicle with a drivetrain that allows all four wheels to receive torque from the engine simultaneously...
. At first, it just cuts him off and takes off. However, it keeps reappearing, forcing him off the road and knocking off his bumper. With nowhere left to run, the former priest has no choice but to face this seemingly unstoppable entity.
"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
Albert Hague
Albert Hague was a German-born songwriter, composer, and actor.-Early life:Hague was born as Albert Marcuse to a Jewish family in Berlin, Germany. His father, Harry Marcuse, was a psychiatrist and a musical prodigy, and his mother, Mimi , a chess champion...
) 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 RainesCristina RainesCristina Raines is an American actress. She achieved her big break in the TV movie Sunshine, with Cliff De Young.-Biography:...
as Lisa, The Wife (segment "Terror in Topanga") - Anthony James as Store Clerk (segment "Terror in Topanga")
- Lee VingLee VingLee Ving Lee Ving Lee Ving (born Lee James Capellaro; April 10, 1946 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is an American musician, most famous for his role as lead singer and rhythm guitarist for Los Angeles-based punk rock band Fear, and actor. In the late 1960s Ving joined Sweet Stavin Chain Blues Band...
as William Henry Glazier (segment "Terror in Topanga") - Emilio EstevezEmilio EstevezEmilio Estevez is an American actor, film director, and writer. He started his career as an actor and is well-known for being a member of the acting Brat Pack of the 1980s, starring in The Breakfast Club and St. Elmo's Fire...
as J.J. Cooney (segment "The Bishop of Battle") - Louis GiambalvoLouis GiambalvoLouis Giambalvo is an American actor, frequently seen on television in guest roles.His television credits include: Barney Miller, Hart to Hart, St...
as Jerry Cooney (segment "The Bishop of Battle") - Mariclare CostelloMariclare CostelloMariclare Costello is a television, stage, and movie actress. Her most notable role was Rosemary Hunter Fordwick on the television series The Waltons from 1972 to 1977. In 1977, after her role on the Waltons, she played matriarch Maggie Fitzpatrick on the short lived drama show, The Fitzpatricks...
as Adele Cooney (segment "The Bishop of Battle") - Moon Unit ZappaMoon Unit ZappaMoon Unit Zappa is an American actress, musician and author. She goes by the name Moon Zappa; "Unit" is her middle name.-Personal life:...
as Pamela (segment "The Bishop of Battle") - Billy JayneBilly JayneBilly Jayne is an American actor, musician, and director. He has been in many films, and has sometimes been credited as Billy Jacoby. His siblings, Scott Jacoby, Robert Jayne, Susan Jayne and Laura Jacoby, are also actors.-Name:...
as Zock Maxwell (segment "The Bishop of Battle") - James TolkanJames TolkanJames S. Tolkan is an American actor, often cast as a strict, overbearing, bald-headed authority figure.-Personal life:He was born in Calumet, Michigan, the son of Ralph M. Tolkan, a cattle dealer, and attended the University of Iowa, Coe College, the Actors Studio and Eastern Arizona College...
as voice of The Bishop of Battle (segment "The Bishop of Battle") - Lance HenriksenLance HenriksenLance James Henriksen is an American actor and artist best known to film and television audiences for his roles in science fiction, action, and horror films such as the Alien film franchise, and on television shows such as Millennium....
as MacLeod (segment "The Benediction") - Tony PlanaTony PlanaTony Plana is a Cuban-American actor and director. He is well known for playing Betty Suarez's father, Ignacio Suarez, on the ABC show Ugly Betty.-Personal life:...
as Father Luis Del Amo (segment "The Benediction") - Richard MasurRichard MasurRichard Masur is an American actor who has appeared in more than 80 movies during his career. From 1995-1999, he served two terms as president of the Screen Actors Guild . Masur sits on the Corporate Board of the Motion Picture & Television Fund.-Biography:Masur was born in New York City to a...
as Steven Houston (segment "Night of the Rat") - Veronica CartwrightVeronica CartwrightVeronica A. Cartwright is an English-born American actress who has worked mainly in American film and television. She is best known for her role of Lambert in Alien, for which she won a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress....
as Clair Houston (segment "Night of the Rat") - Bridgette AndersenBridgette AndersenBridgette Andersen was an American child actress best known for her part in the title role of the 1982 comedy Savannah Smiles.-Early life and career:...
as Brooke Houston (segment "Night of the Rat") - William SandersonWilliam SandersonWilliam Sanderson is an American character actor.-Early life:Sanderson was born in Memphis, Tennessee, to an elementary school teacher mother and a landscape designer father...
as Gas station attendant (segment "Terror in Topanga")
Reaction
In her review for the New York Times, Janet MaslinJanet Maslin
Janet Maslin is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for The New York Times. She served as the Times film critic from 1977–1999.- Biography :...
wrote, "Nothing spoils a horror story faster than a stupid victim. And Nightmares, an anthology of four supposedly scary episodes, has plenty of those."