Nightmares: Blu-Ray Review
Arriving on Blu-ray this week is the 1983 horror anthology “Nightmares”, courtesy of Scream Factory. What many people may not realize is that the four segments that make up “Nightmares” were originally shot as episodes for ABC’s anthology television series, “Darkroom”. The show was canceled in 1982 and Universal Pictures released the four unaired segments theatrically as the feature film, “Nightmares”.
“Terror in Topanga” is the first segment. Lisa (Cristina Raines) is out of cigarettes and decides to dive down to the store and grab some. Addicts can’t wait till morning to get their fix. Her husband (Joe Lambie) stresses to her not to go, because there is a an escaped mental patient on the loose, killing people in the area. As you would have guessed it, the two cross paths.
The second segment is “The Bishop of Battle”, which sees the video game obsessed J.J. Cooney (Emilio Estevez) breaking into an arcade in the mall afterhours, only to get more than he bargained for after reaching the thirteenth and final level of “The Bishop of Battle”.
In the third segment, “The Benediction”, a priest (Lance Henriksen) has lost his faith and decides to leave his perish, only to have a run-in on the road with a black Chevrolet 4×4 that is out for blood.
In the fourth and final segment, “Night of the Rat”, a giant evil rat terrorizes Claire (Veronica Cartwright). She fears for herself and her daughter, but her husband, Steven (Richard Masur) doesn’t want to spend the money to bring in an exterminator. He thinks he can handle things himself and that is a big mistake.
I hadn’t seen “Nightmares” in nearly three decades and “The Bishop of Battle” was the only segment I actually remembered. It feels like a horror version of “TRON”. The rest segments are easily forgettable, which is probably why I didn’t remember them. However, I will say that the 4×4 popping up from underground in “The Benediction” was actually pretty damn cool. This is the first time “Nightmares” has been released on Blu-ray and if you are a fan of the film, then I will say the transfer looks really good, but other than that, i can’t really recommend it.
Bonus Features
• Available In Two Versions: Widescreen (1.78:1) And Full Frame (1.33:1)
• Audio Commentary With Executive Producer Andrew Mirisch And Actress Cristina Raines
• Original Theatrical Trailer
• Radio Spots
By: Marc Ferman