Pesadelos Diabólicos

Straight from the mid-80's comes the mild-mannered 'Nightmares,' a horror anthology of four seemingly unrelated tales of terror that hardly deserve the R-rating they so unjustly received (the film was released one year before 'Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,' which resulted in the PG-13 rating, a rating this film deserves, if not a PG).

Segment one, 'Terror in Topanga,' re-tells the old urban legend of a woman, an escaped psychopath, and a suspicious gas station attendant. In this case the woman is Lisa (Christina Raines), a cigarette smoker who needs a nic-fix so bad; she's willing to risk being horribly stabbed for some Marlboro 100's. I suspect the filmmakers were trying to comment on the health hazards of tobacco--something new in 1983. This is the third best, or second worst-depending on your point of view, segment of the film.

Segment two, 'The Bishop of Battle,' on the other hand, is undeniably the best! It stars none other than a very young Emilio Estevez ('the 'Mighty Ducks man himself!') as J.J. Cooney, a kid so good at arcade games, all the other kids stop playing to watch him. One game Cooney can't seem to beat is 'The Bishop of Battle,' which supposedly has 13 levels, although it is believed level 13 is a myth as nobody has gotten past level 12 (Cooney claims he heard about 'a kid in New Jersey' who did so…twice). Cooney becomes obsessed with surpassing level 12 and defeating 'The Bishop,' the digital master/boss of 'The Bishop of Battle,' he looks like an electronic-neon version of Magic Mirror from 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.' So obsessed does Cooney become, that he alienates his parents, sneaks out of his bedroom in the middle of the night, and breaks back into the arcade to take on 'The Bishop' one more time. I won't spoil the funky ending; suffice to say it evokes 'Tron,' sort of a 'Tron-in reverse.' The most enjoyable aspect of Segment two is the lacquer of 1980's youth culture it evokes. Estevez sports a neon, sleeveless shirt and a Walkman the size of a toaster that blasts punk-rock as Cooney hustles amateurs in the tough arcades of Oakland. Back at the mall, one anonymously delivered line of dialog from an unseen member of Cooney's spectators is, I kid you not, 'Totally awesome!' At one point, a flirtatious female friend asks him if he wants to 'Get a pizza!' This isn't really the 1980's I remember, it's how I'd like to remember them.

Horror legend Lance Hendriksen gives arguably the best performance of all segments in #3, 'The Benediction,' as a priest in the American-Mexican wasteland who, after witnessing the pointless death of a child, loses his faith and begins the long trip home across the desert. On the way he encounters a demonic monster truck apparently intent on killing him 'Duel' style. The truck is loud and deep black, with an upside down cross hanging in its rear-view mirror. At the stories climax, we see the truck literally burst out from the desert earth as if it were a surfacing submarine. It's a surprisingly effective, and very cool, moment in the film.

Despite a well tuned cast, 'Night of the Rat,' the fourth segment, is terrible, the worst in the film, and a poor finale. It centers on the Houston family's encounter with, as the title so eloquently eludes, a giant rat. As if that weren't enough, the rat has psychic powers as well! Wife Claire is the protagonist, played by polished actor Veronica Cartwright, who tries to convince her arrogant husband Steven (mustached character actor Richard Massur, whose demeanor mirrors his dry-toast last name) to call an exterminator. But alas, Steve refuses, and it's not until the devil-rat almost kills their young daughter (future overdosee Bridgette Andersen in a phenomenal child performance) that he whips out the conveniently closet-stored shotgun and goes-a-rat huntin'. The finale of 'Night of the Rat,' is too awfully hilarious for words to define.

Overall, 'Nightmares,' is too gentle to be scary. It reminded me of Nickelodeon's soft-core, 'Are You Afraid of the Dark?' which also had happy endings and corny fables (although I remain a fan of that series). I would recommend this film only for the nostalgic 'The Bishop of Battle,' Hendrickson's performance in 'The Benediction,' and as an overall night of laughs for 80's horror connoisseurs. 'Creepshow,' and 'Creepshow 2' are far superior horror anthologies than this film.

However I must admit I enjoyed it, in some ways, more than 'The Twilight Zone, The Movie.'

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.

I'm a fan of horror as well as the horror anthologies, this anthology is an under the radar and even slightly forgotten gem. Yeah, it's not not one of the best anthologies in my book, but I still think it's a solid and it's true the only weakness for it would be that the first and fourth tale are pretty lame but that what you get with most to all anthologies there's going to be hits and misses. So all isn't lost since there are two that I personally think are memorable and are the ones to watch, so I'm just going to talk about them.

The Benidiction: this one is my second favorite tale. It's pretty much a Christianity version of "Duel" which is cool, the tale is both thrilling but also has a good message at the end about faith. Lance Hendrickson whom is an actor I really like I think is very good as a priest whom has lost his faith after a tragedy which pushed him over the edge.

His character really is sympathetic because the questions he asks and anger with them is the same as ours depending on what faith you serve, on why is there so much suffering and why is God if he/she exists allows it to happen, why doesn't he/she do anything about it. I hate to admit it but sometimes when things don't go my way even I sometimes ask those questions.

And of course his faith is put to the test as Satan comes in driving in, like in "Duel" we never see the driver which is fine by me. But I really like the design even color of the 4 by 4 pickup truck which is just menacing looking, almost made to seem like a rolling beast.

The chase sequences are done very well and very suspenseful, the driving and stunt work is well choreographed. But I also like that it's not just a chase but also a deadly game of hide and seek, as that truck at time just appears out of nowhere and anywhere. Your constantly hopping Lance will find a way to evade and outrun the truck.

But of course the biggest highlight of the film is the second tale which is my favorite "The Biship of Battle". This tale was a dream come true for me since I'm a gamer and I've been to the video arcade myself ever since I was six. In a way this tale is sort of a time capsule since I'll admit seeing those video arcades and the cabinets really made me miss them now that most video arcades has gone extinct like the drive ins.

Anyway, it was a fun and suspenseful tale. This was a first film for Emelo Estavez and all I can say is great start, I like his performance as the character J.J. which I thought was believable, whom at first seems like a cool guy you could almost be friends with but then further on we see he's became or is an addict. I don't know whether the video game put a spell on him as there was some hints from the mom and his best friend saying he's not himself or his own free will all the same from the way he's behaving you already know he's going down. Like for example J.J. ditches a would be date just to play another round of the game; if I had a girlfriend that looked like Emma Watson and she asked me to go for pizza I'd just go because a. want to spend time with her and b. I'm hungry; so yeah J.J. doing that is not a good sign.

However the real star of the tale is of course "The Biship of Battle" game which just looks awesome, it's a shame that video game doesn't really exist. It was the use of 3D and Polygon technology for the programing and design of the game which at the time was revolutionary and was used in video games like "Tempest" and the underrated "I Robot". One of my favorite moments of the game was level 12 which predates the video game "Doom" where the game goes into first person shooter mode and the cinematography is great you really feel like your in the game going thorough the maze and shooting down the minions.

The CGI effects I think are just fantastic because they are an example of the technology used the right way and reasons, and this was way before the technology was common place and they still look great in my opinion. I really love the designs of the minions of the Biship and whey they come out of the game they don't disappoint. Along with the bishop himself voiced well by James Tolken another actor I really like. His voice acting is just excellent it has that detached friendly but also cold and slightly sinister/menacing tone which is the kind of voice I sometimes hear in the pinball games sometimes.

And the battle sequence is well chirography, Emelio had LAPD gun maneuver training for two weeks and it shows, he really does it well. It's just one of my favorite battles of all time as the video arcade becomes a battlefield and he's armed with only the laser gun, just blasting away at the minions and they also return fire both causing some explosions to their enviorment, it's just fraking awesome.

If the story has a message it's simply don't let video game be your whole life, unplug once in a while otherwise just like in the video games life will beat you. At least that's what I think.

So just like all the story in an anthology, give this one a try and pleasant dreams.

Rating: 3 stars

Thanks to good writing and excellent casting choices, this is (imho) the best of the "horror serial" movies popularized in the 1980's by films like "Creepshow." Some genuinely creepy moments and quality acting make for an excellent ride, although the first of the four stories is basically a throwaway. The special effects could be better, but this was the early 80's after all. Watch it at night after 1AM for best effect.

8/10

Directed by Joseph Sargent, it's split into 4 unconnected stories: 1) "Terror in Topanga" offers up that old chestnut about a dark night and an escaped killer on the prowl. Featuring Christina Raines and William Sanderson. 2) "The Bishop of Battle" stars Emilio Estevez as a video game expert determined to get to the final level on a new arcade game. Careful what you wish for! Also with Moon Unit Zappa. 3) "The Benediction" is a Duel take-off with Lance Henriksen as a priest who has lost his faith and may have run into the devil in the form of a menacing black truck on the highway. 4) "Night of the Rat" features a suburban family terrorized by, you guessed it, rats. With Richard Masur and Veronica Cartwright.

The effects are chintzy (including some very early computer effects), and a lot of it is one-note. But there's a camp charm to it, and it makes good viewing for those in the mood for some cheesy but not ghastly frights. Featuring some early 80's punk music by the likes of X, Black Flag, and Fear.