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Nightmares (1983)
Topic Started: Apr 9 2016, 12:25 PM (125 Views)
Baby Firefly
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The Devil Himself
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Four horror tales based on urban legends. The first story 'Terror in Topanga', has a smoking addict going out to buy some cigarettes despite there being a killer in the neighborhood. The second story 'Bishop of Battle', has a teenager who becomes so good at a video game, that the game comes to life to collect him. The third story, 'The Benediction' (based on Steven Spielberg's 'Duel') has a priest whom has lost his faith, leaving his monastery and stalked on the road by a black pick-up truck from hell, literally. The fourth story 'Night of the Rat', (loosely based on 'Poltergeist') has a couple, along with their young daughter, battling a giant rat living in their suburban home.
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Lon Of The Dead
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This was a solid flick; far from perfect but enjoyable. Good genre cast, too, including Lance Henriksen, Cristina Raines, Veronica Cartwright, Richard Masure and William Sanderson. Originally produced for television, the studio decided to release it theatrically instead. Worth a look.
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Baby Firefly
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I heard this was originally going to be an anthology show but instead of the pilot and following episodes being aired on television, they just 'spliced' them together and released it all as a film. That true or not? :P

I'll probably be watching it soon.
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Lon Of The Dead
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Could be true. Most anthologies have a wrap-around story that contains the episodes within; this film, to my memory, had no such wrap-around story, so it could well be that it was originally intended to be a TV show, and they opted instead to jam all the episodes into a single theatrical film.

Okay, after writing that first paragraph I googled the flick, and sure enough, according to the DVD commentary, that was indeed the case. Apparently they felt the episodes were too intense for broadcast TV, so they Frankensteined them into a theatrical anthology film.
Edited by Lon Of The Dead, Apr 10 2016, 02:00 AM.
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Baby Firefly
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If only they'd tried to make this a show six or seven years later. (lol) Tales From The Crypt (the show) was becoming huge then so a "cash-in" sort of deal, even just a one or two season long thing, could've found a decent sized audience.
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Lon Of The Dead
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Well, Tales from the Crypt didn't start until '88 or '89, but I believe there were already like three or four anthology series on TV in '83. Tales From the Dark Side was one, for sure, I remember it started that year. HBO started The Hitchhiker in '83 as well, and I remember another one called, I think, The Darkroom. Don't quote me on that one, though, it may have been earlier than '83. Anyway, maybe the Nightmares folks decided there was already too much competition for a TV anthology show so they scrapped it. Beats me.

EDIT: Well, shut my mouth. Just googled Darkroom and it turns out, all four episodes of Nightmares were actually written for Darkroom, but that series was cancelled, and that's when Universal took the four stories and made Nightmares. Huh!
Edited by Lon Of The Dead, Apr 10 2016, 06:47 AM.
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Baby Firefly
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Oh wow.

Okay, I'm really hoping there's a fair amount of features on the new Nightmares Blu-ray so EVERYTHING can be 100% cleared up for us without us having to search for it all over the internet. (lol) I'll probably watch this in the next day or two and if I like it enough, I'll get the Blu-ray when I get paid.
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I've always liked this film and think it's underrated.
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Lon Of The Dead
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After all this talk about the flick, I busted out my old VHS and gave it a rewatch. First time I'd rewatched it in well over a decade, probably closer to two. The Cristina Raines story is still the best of the four to me, and I remember the first time I watched it not seeing that twist coming. Lance Henriksen's story is my runner-up. I think it's the one story that could actually have been stretched out into its own feature-length film.
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Neurotic Chainsaw
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This sounds interesting. Lots of short ripoffs in this anthology, it seems. :P
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Cherry Darling
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A collection of short stories. In one a woman who leaves her house late at night to drive to the store while a killer is loose encounters some problems. In the second an arcade whiz kid's obsession with a game leads to deadly consequences. In the third a small town priest loses his faith and decides to leave town, but in the desert is stalked by a mysterious black pick-up truck. In the final story, a family's problem with a rat is larger than they think.
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Cherry Darling
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About to start this in a little while.
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Baby Firefly
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Girl, you sloppy.

http://w11.zetaboards.com/All_Things_Horror/topic/11587208/1/#new
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Cherry Darling
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It didn't even come up when I searched for it (wary) Zetaboards needs to quit playin on da phone (coffee)
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Baby Firefly
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Zetaboards, why you so CHILDISH?!
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Cherry Darling
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I agree with Lon, this was pretty good. Definitely better than Holidays (which was one of the other most recent anthologies I watched).

I definitely agree about the first story being the best, even though I pretty much knew exactly what was going to happen, and if you're at all familiar with urban legends you most likely will too. It's a shame it was the shortest story of the bunch.

None of the stories are bad though, and if the ending of the last one wasn't so goofy it may have been my favorite, since everything up until the end of it was great. I do have to say though, Steven was a complete asshole, and Veronica Cartwright's character got on my nerves. "Steven! Steven! Steven!" (un)

Terror In Topanga > Night Of The Rat > The Benediction > Bishop Of Battle

Like I said, I pretty much liked all the stories. It's just Bishop Of Battle was the weakest for me. I love Emilio Estevez, but they could have done a little better with that. I thought the game
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That would have been alot better *shrug*

I'd definitely recommend this, and I'm surprised it's actually taken me so long to see it.
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Baby Firefly
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This was really good even though it had some pacing issues (a couple of the segments slowed down a bit much). Imo all of the segments should've been 19-22 minutes. Instead, one was like 15 minutes, two were over 25 minutes, and the other was a half hour. Eek!

I think my ranking of the segments is the same as Jared's (though I'd probably put Bishop Of Battle ahead of The Benediction since I liked the final twist of it and how it felt a bit like 'Goosebumps for adults' (lol) ). I liked Benediction though. That truck is seriously one of the more frightening killer vehicles I've seen in a movie. Night Of The Rat and Terror In Topanga are DEFINITELY the two best ones. I like that it was bookended by two really great segments. A lot of anthologies start off with the two or three best segments but then end with a couple of duds (I'm looking at you Southbound!).

This had a really good cast too. Lance Henriksen, Veronica Cartwright, Emilio Estevez, Tony Plana...yay! :P

None of the segments were particularly original and surprising but they all managed to be mostly satisfying. The singing rat ftw.
I liked the music too.


6/10 quality, 7+/10 entertainment.
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Toyland Chairman
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Not among my personal favorites, but still a very good anthology.

"Terror in Topanga" is a typical slasher, inspired by a famous urban legend. Not much to it, but it's entertaining.

"The Bishop of Battle" is the best story, and could probably have worked as its own standalone movie. Likely inspired by TRON, but it's still a neat idea.

"The Benediction" might be the weakest story. This or the next one. Lance Henriksen is great, but nothing much seems to have been accomplished in this story.

"Night of the Rat" tends to be the most forgettable, at least in my opinion. Which is odd, because the story is kind of bizarre, especially the climax.
Edited by Toyland Chairman, Jan 1 2018, 12:47 AM.
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