Nightmares (1983)

User Rating:

5.2/10   

Director:

Joseph Sargent

Writers:

Jeffrey Bloom (writer)
Christopher Crowe (writer)

Release Date:

9 September 1983 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Nightmares... is this year's sleeper.

Plot:

Four horror tales with a supernatural twist based on urban ledgends.

Plot Keywords:

Priest | Truck | Faith | Urban Legend | Giant Rat

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Cristina Raines	...	Lisa the Wife (segment "Terror in Topanga")
Joe Lambie	...	Phil the Husband (segment "Terror in Topanga")
Anthony James	...	Store Clerk (segment "Terror in Topanga")
Clare Nono	...	Mori the Newswoman (segment "Terror in Topanga")
Raleigh Bond	...	Norman, a Neighbor (segment "Terror in Topanga")
Robert Phelps	...	Newsman (segment "Terror in Topanga")
Dixie Lynn Royce	...	Little Girl (segment "Terror in Topanga")
Lee Ving	...	William Henry Glazier (segment "Terror in Topanga") (as Lee James Jude)
Emilio Estevez	...	J.J. Cooney (segment "Bishop of Battle")
Mariclare Costello	...	Adele Cooney (segment "Bishop of Battle")
Louis Giambalvo	...	Jerry Cooney (segment "Bishop of Battle")
Moon Unit Zappa	...	Pamela (segment "Bishop of Battle") (as Moon Zappa)
Billy Jayne	...	Zock Maxwell (segment "Bishop of Battle") (as Billy Jacoby)
Joshua Grenrock	...	Willie (segment "Bishop of Battle")
Gary Cervantes	...	Mazenza (segment "Bishop of Battle")

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | France:-12 | Norway:15 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

These stories were originally written and filmed for the anthology series "Darkroom" (1981). They were deemed too intense by Universal and thus culled into an anthology film for theatrical release.

Goofs:

Continuity: In Chapter Three - The Benediction, a 1970 Chevelle Malibu 4-door sedan is used in several scenes (rear bumper with square taillights), and the car which is totalled before the segment ends is a 1972 model (rear bumper with 4 round taillights). The 1970 Chevelle used in the film has a front grille from a 1972 model, headlights from a 1971/72 (1970 Chevelles had 4 headlights up front), and turn signal lenses from a 1971.

Quotes:

[repeated line]
Bishop: Greetings, Earthling. I am the Bishop of Battle, master of all I survey. I have 13 progressively harder levels. Try me if you dare.

Movie Connections:

Features Frankenstein (1931)

Soundtrack:

Let's Have a War

For those not afraid of the 80's

For those not afraid of cheapo 80's television horror comes Nightmares. Essentially this was the remainder of the filmed episodes of Universals anthology series "The Darkroom", you know, the short lived one that was on ABC in the early eighties, had James Coburn as the host. Oh well, I tried. Anywho, the 4 story movie was very "un-scary" to most, but entertaining enough to sit through if you enjoy speculative fiction type stories. Of course the staple memory from this movie is the segment with E.Esteves called "The Bishop of Battle". After TRON failed to bag box office reciepts in the upper millions, I guess Universal thought they could do better with a video game nightmare story replete with computer graphics. Must have worked for this film as mentioning this segment, jars memories even in this day. Trivia bit: Eighties icon Moon Unit Zappa makes a guest appearance in the film, see if you can spot her.