Nightmares was originally filmed as a two-hour pilot of a proposed television series to be broadcast by the NBC network during the 1983–1984 TV season.
During a routine traffic stop, a highway patrolman is viciously stabbed multiple times by an unseen assailant; though he survives and is taken to the hospital. The perpetrator is identified by various TV and radio reporters as William Henry Glazier, a serial killer who escaped a mental institution and is currently terrorizing the Topanga area.
Meanwhile, Lisa, a housewife and chain smoker, puts her children to bed as a bulletin warning about Glazier appears on her television. Lisa discovers that she is out of cigarettes, prompting her to rush to the store to buy some more. Her husband Phillip forbids her from leaving the house at such a late hour with a killer on the loose, and advises her to kick her habit instead. Despite this, she writes Phillip a note, then sneaks to her car and drives to the store.
During her drive, Lisa listens to a radio bulletin warning residents about Glazier, before she is startled by a hitchhiker. Lisa reaches the store and buys groceries and cigarettes. She warns the cashier about Glazier, but he claims to be prepared by unveiling a pistol. On the drive home, Lisa discovers that she is nearly out of gas, and with all the local gas stations already closed for the night, she stops at an out-of-the-way station. The attendant who approaches her happens to perfectly match Glazier's physical appearance. Lisa also grows increasingly alarmed as the attendant seems to be studying her car and herself intently. Suddenly, the attendant lunges at the car with a gas nozzle, breaking the window. He drags Lisa out of the car, then draws a pistol and shoots the actual Glazier, who was revealed to be hiding in Lisa's back seat the entire time. The attendant calms Lisa and offers to call the police.
The police drive the frightened Lisa back home. Phillip asks if Lisa got her cigarettes, and Lisa responds by showing the pack and throwing it away in a trash can, indicating that the experience apparently scared her into quitting.
The Bishop of Battle
J.J. Cooney is an immensely talented video game player who, accompanied by his friend Zock Maxwell, heads into an inner-city arcade to challenge a gang of Hispanic players to a few rounds of Pleiades, offering the winner a dollar per game with a five game minimum. After a few games, one of the gang members recognizes J.J., and tells the others that they are getting hustled, prompting J.J. and Zock to escape.
J.J. and Zock then head to the arcade at their local shopping mall, where J.J. is hoping to use the money he got from hustling to try to beat The Bishop of Battle, a notoriously difficult video game where players fight off enemies and escape from a 3-D maze that features thirteen different levels. Zock mentions how no one they know has ever made it to the thirteenth level, to the point that he and many others believe it is just a myth. J.J., however, is thoroughly convinced that the thirteenth level is real, as he heard about a player in New Jersey who reached it twice. After an argument about J.J.'s obsession with video games, particularly The Bishop of Battle, J.J. gives Zock his cut of the profits as Zock leaves. J.J. spends the next several hours repeatedly trying and failing to make it to the thirteenth level, but he only manages to make it to level 12. Determined not to give up, even after closing time, J.J. tries to play one more game, only for the owner of the arcade to throw him out.
At J.J.'s apartment, his parents also voice their concern with his obsession with gaming, primarily about how it is affecting his performance in school, leading his father to ground him until his grades improve. That night, J.J. sneaks out when his parents are asleep and breaks into the arcade to attempt to finish the game. J.J.'s parents are awoken by a call from Zock, who had a nightmare about J.J. and is worried whether or not he made it home, leading them to discover J.J. is gone. Back at the arcade, J.J finally manages to complete level 12. Suddenly, the arcade cabinet's screen begins flickering and the cabinet begins shaking violently until it collapses. The Bishop of Battle's voice rings out, commending J.J. for his skills and welcoming him to level 13, before the cabinet releases a wave of energy. Once the wave passes, the game's 3-D enemies fly out of the cabinet's wreckage and into the real world. The enemies fire lasers at J.J. that manage to do serious damage to the surrounding arcade machines, but J.J. manages to defend himself with the gun from the game's controls, which now fires real laser blasts. He flees to the parking lot, but drops the gun in the process. The Bishop of Battle eventually appears, drawing closer and closer to a terrified J.J.
The next morning, Zock and J.J.'s parents head to the arcade. They discover the damage the arcade sustained during the previous night, as well as the Bishop of Battle cabinet, which has been mysteriously reconstructed. Zock hears J.J.'s voice emanating from the cabinet, reciting the Bishop of Battle's lines. Zock and J.J.'s parents then discover J.J. on the screen, watching as he turns into the sprite of the game's player character.
The Benediction
Catholic priest Frank MacLeod is tending a field near the small parish where he serves. A doe tentatively approaches him, but it is quickly bitten and killed by a rattlesnake. MacLeod attempts to kill the snake, but instead manages to throw it away, watching as it disappears into thin air before discovering that it managed to bite his hand. This is revealed to be a nightmare as he wakes up in bed, screaming and clutching his hand.
Later that day, Frank officiates the funeral of a young boy, but is unable to provide the mourners with words of comfort. Visiting his bishop, Frank explains how he witnessed the boy's death first-hand, and how the experience has given him a crisis of faith. Ignoring the advice of a fellow priest, Frank resigns and leaves the rectory with some holy water, intending to search for a new purpose in life.
He soon encounters a black Chevrolet C-20 Fleetside with tinted windows on the road shortly after he leaves, and signals for it to pass, but it goes at the same time he does, nearly causing an accident. A while later, Frank experiences a flashback to the death of the young boy mentioned earlier; the child had been pointlessly and critically injured during a robbery of the local store, and while the parents wanted him to administer last rites, Frank wanted to call an ambulance in an attempt to save the child's life. The same truck from earlier appears out of nowhere behind Frank and rams into his car, detaching his rear bumper and forcing him off the road. Frank then has a flashback to his talk with the Bishop, where he reveals that he has been plagued with visions of anarchy, his lost faith convincing him that there is no God who would allow such suffering.
As Frank attempts to fix the bumper, the truck appears again, nearly running him over. Frank attempts to escape, but the truck catches up with him. Frank desperately asks the unseen driver what it wants before once again being forced off the road. Frank gets back on the road again, keeping an eye out for the truck. He soon hears an ominous rumbling sound and discovers a large bulge appearing in the ground. The truck explodes out of the ground and once again turns to Frank, prompting him to drive away. It is then revealed that the truck is driven by Satan himself, who remains unseen. The Devil destroys Frank's car in a collision that does no damage to his truck. Injured from the crash and left with nowhere to run, Frank climbs out of his ruined car as Satan's truck goes in for the kill. In desperation, Frank tosses the container of holy water he had been carrying at the truck, vaporizing it, before he falls unconscious. Emergency responders arrive at the scene, but they do not find evidence that the truck was ever there. Frank has one final flashback of a talk with his bishop, who mentions that only a very select few have been given signs that higher powers exist. He requests that the paramedics take him to the hospital located in his parish, having regained his faith from the experience.
Night of the Rat
On a stormy night, housewife Claire Houston hears something scurrying in the attic of her house. While she believes it is rats, her husband Steven believes it is just the wind. He advises her to go to sleep. The next morning, Steven discovers that Claire has been browsing the phone book to look for an exterminator, as she believes that there is an infestation. Having plans for a swimming pool to be put in, Steven does not want to spend any extra money and simply suggests that Claire set up a few mousetraps. After Steven leaves for work, Claire hears noises coming from the cabinets in her kitchen. When she goes to investigate, she watches as drinking glasses and cans of food are knocked off the shelves.
Later that night, Steven sets up additional mousetraps in the attic. A rat is soon caught in one of the traps, and Steven throws the dead rat in the garbage. Meanwhile, the family's cat Rosie investigates the house's crawlspace, where she is mauled to death by an unseen creature. The next day, Claire's daughter Brooke discovers that Rosie is missing and becomes worried. At the same time, the kitchen sink is revealed to be clogged with a large amount of grey fur. Claire enters the crawlspace to look for Rosie, but finds the cat's corpse and begins hearing ominous noises. She glimpses the silhouette of a large creature with glowing red eyes peering out at her in the darkness, prompting her to escape. Later that day, Brooke discovers that her room and her toys have been torn to shreds. Entering the room, Claire discovers that the only toy left untouched is a stuffed rat, just as the lights begin flickering on and off.
Eventually, Claire calls an exterminator, Mel Keefer, who discovers that the creature, which he has identified as a rat, has managed to gnaw through the pipes and get to the power cables inside, causing the flickering lights. Keefer also discovers a large, saliva-covered hole behind a cabinet in the kitchen, just as Steven comes home. Unhappy that Claire has hired Keefer, Steven asks him to leave.
That night, Brooke sleeps in the guest room as she wishes for Rosie to come back. Claire then receives a phone call from Mel, who has made a breakthrough: he has looked in an old book he owns for information about a creature known as "The Devil Rodent". According to legend, the Devil Rodent is a large, malevolent rat with large amounts of strength and intellect that used to terrorize individuals in 17th century Europe. As Mel also mentions that the Devil Rodent cannot be destroyed, Steven grabs the phone and tells Keefer not to call again. Suddenly, the family hear the piano downstairs playing jumbled notes, discovering that the keys have been gnawed on as Brooke comes downstairs. Steven manages to save her after a china cabinet nearly falls on her. Discovering more saliva-covered holes in the wall and hearing the radio suddenly turn on and off, Steven loads a shotgun and goes in search of the creature as Claire and Brooke hide upstairs. The power turns on and off repeatedly as Steven searches the kitchen. Brooke hears the creature in the ceiling, prompting Steven to go up to the attic.
The door to the guest room suddenly slams shut as Brooke begins screaming. Kicking the door open, Steven and Claire come face to face with the Devil Rodent itself. The giant rat proceeds to demonstrate psychokinetic abilities, moving furniture, opening and closing doors and windows, and damaging the room repeatedly with a loud wail. The Devil Rodent manages to telepathically communicate with Brooke, who tells her parents that the creature is a mother looking for her baby. Steven rushes into the kitchen, roots through the garbage can, and pulls out the dead rat he originally threw away. He places it in a shoebox and puts the box near the window. As the Devil Rodent moves towards the box and reclaims her baby, Steven points his gun at her, but is unable to shoot. The giant rat unleashes one last roar and disappears out the window. The frightened family reunite, shedding tears of relief as Brooke ponders where the Devil Rodent is going next.
Nightmares was initially filmed in late 1982 as a two-hour pilot for a proposed series to be aired by NBC during its 1983-84 television season, but Universal Pictures executives decided to put it out as a theatrical film instead.[5] It has been a long-held belief that the four segments of the film were initially conceived and shot for ABC's thriller anthology series Darkroom,[3] but were deemed too intense for television.[4] However, on the audio commentary on the 2015 Blu-ray release, executive producer Andrew Mirisch clarifies that the film actually began life as a pilot for an unnamed anthology series for NBC before becoming a theatrical feature for Universal Pictures.[citation needed]
Reception
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (October 2016)
The film was not well received on release. On Rotten Tomatoes it has an approval rating of 29% based on seven reviews, with an average rating of 5.5/10.[6]
In her review for the New York Times, Janet Maslin wrote, "Nothing spoils a horror story faster than a stupid victim. And Nightmares, an anthology of four supposedly scary episodes, has plenty of those."[7]
Time Out praised The Bishop of Battle, but stated, "In general, though, the scripting is unimaginative, derivative, and desperately predictable as the film limps through its jokily cautionary tales."[8]
Home media
The film was released on VHS by Universal Pictures in the 1980s, and on Betamax in 1983.[9] It was later released on VHS and DVD by Anchor Bay Entertainment in 1999 in "Full Frame (1.33:1) Presentation" and has since gone out of print.
The Simpsons is an arcade beat 'em up developed and published by Konami released in 1991. It was the first video game based on the Simpsons franchise to be released in North America. The game allows up to four players to control members of the Simpson family as they fight various enemies to rescue the kidnapped Maggie. It was a commercial success in the United States, where it was one of the top three best-selling arcade video game machines of 1991, The game also features the television shows's voice actors; Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright and Yeardley Smith reprising their respective roles as the Simpsons family.
"Lisa on Ice" is the eighth episode of the sixth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It was the first broadcast on Fox in the United States on November 13, 1994. In the episode, Lisa discovers that she possesses a skill for ice hockey. A rivalry between her and Bart ensues.
Fluppy Dogs is a one-hour animated television special that aired on November 27 (Thanksgiving), 1986 on ABC. It was intended to be a pilot for the third Walt Disney Television animated series, but the show was cancelled due to the special's low ratings. It featured five pastel-colored, or "fluppy", talking dogs that came through a fluppy interdimensional doorway and into the lives of Jamie and his teenage neighbor Claire. The dogs were the intended prey of the evil miser Wagstaff. Animation was supplied by TMS Entertainment, who had previously been contracted by Disney on another concurrently running animated series, Adventures of the Gummi Bears.
The Rat King is a fictional character in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles multimedia franchise. The character was created by Jim Lawson and first appeared in the comic Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #4 written by Jim Lawson and has made various appearances since, in the comic books and other media, such as animated series and video games.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day or T2 is a light gun shooter based on the film of the same name, produced by Midway Manufacturing Company as an arcade video game in 1991. Developed in tandem with the movie, several actors from the film reprise their roles for the game and are featured as part of the game's photorealistic digitized graphics. The game's plot largely follows that of the film, casting up to two players as the T-800 "terminator" cyborg, sent back in time to protect John Connor from assassination by the T-1000 terminator. A success in arcades, home conversions of the game were released by Acclaim Entertainment for various platforms under the title of T2: The Arcade Game to avoid confusion with the numerous tie-in games also based on the movie.
Leatherhead is a fictional character in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) comics and all related media. The character first appeared in Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #6 and was created by Ryan Brown. He is depicted as a mutated humanoid-alligator.
Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers is a 1988 American slasher film written by Fritz Gordon and directed by Michael A. Simpson. It is the second installment in the Sleepaway Camp film series, and stars Pamela Springsteen as Angela, and Renée Estevez. The film takes place five years after the events of the original, and features serial killer Angela, working as a counselor, murdering misbehaving teenagers at another summer camp.
The House of the Dead, also referred to as Curien Mansion, is a horror-themed light gun shooter video game franchise created by Sega in 1997. Originally released in arcades, it utilizes a light gun on the platform, but can be played with standard controllers on consoles and a mouse or keyboard on home computers. For the PlayStation Network releases of III and 4, they can also be played using the PlayStation Move controller.
"The Frogger" is the 174th episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld. It is the 18th episode for the ninth and final season. It first aired on April 23, 1998. In this episode, Elaine eats a vintage cake from King Edward VIII's wedding, Jerry maintains a relationship with a woman he doesn't like in order to avoid running into a serial killer, and George tries to preserve his high score on the Frogger machine at his high school hangout.
Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness is an episodic action-adventure role-playing video game series based on the webcomic Penny Arcade.
It Waits is a 2005 American horror film directed by Steven R. Monroe and starring Cerina Vincent, Dominic Zamprogna, and Greg Kean. Written by Richard Christian Matheson, Thomas E. Szollosi, and Stephen J. Cannell, the film is about a forest ranger who encounters a terrible creature who has been killing people in the remote national forest where she works. When the creature attacks her isolated ranger station and kills her forest ranger boyfriend, she goes after the creature. Filmed on location in British Columbia, Canada, It Waits was a direct-to-DVD release in the United States and worldwide.
The Devil's Nightmare is a 1971 supernatural horror film directed by Jean Brismée and starring Erika Blanc, Jean Servais, Daniel Emilfork, and Lucien Raimbourg. Its plot follows a group of tourists who spend the night in a historic castle owned by a family plagued by curses and Satanism.
The Rats (1974) is a horror novel by British writer James Herbert. This was Herbert's first novel and included graphic depictions of death and mutilation.
Necromancy is a 1972 American supernatural horror film directed by Bert I. Gordon and starring Orson Welles, Pamela Franklin, Michael Ontkean, and Lee Purcell. The plot follows an enigmatic cult leader in a small California town who attempts to harness the powers of a local woman to resurrect his dead son.
The Devil's Daughter a.k.a. The Sect is a 1991 Italian horror film co-written and produced by Dario Argento, directed by Michele Soavi, and starring Kelly Curtis and Herbert Lom. It follows an American schoolteacher living in Frankfurt who finds herself at the center of a plot devised by a Luciferian cult.
Plasma Sword: Nightmare of Bilstein, released in Japan as Star Gladiator 2: Nightmare of Bilstein, is a 1998 3D weapon-based fighting video game released by Capcom for the arcades. It is the sequel to Star Gladiator and runs on the ZN-2 hardware, an improved version of the PlayStation-based ZN-1 hardware its predecessor ran on. A Dreamcast port was released in 2000. The arcade version is set to be re-released in 2025 as part of Capcom Fighting Collection 2.
Shake, Rattle & Roll XI is a 2009 Filipino supernatural horror anthology film produced by Regal Entertainment, and the eleventh installment of the Shake, Rattle & Roll film series. It is directed by Rico Gutierrez, Don Michael Perez and Jessel Monteverde.
Wyrmwood is a 2014 Australian action-horror film directed by Kiah Roache-Turner and starring Jay Gallagher, Bianca Bradey, Leon Burchill, Keith Agius, Berynn Schwerdt and Luke McKenzie. The screenplay concerns a mechanic who finds himself faced with zombie hordes. Roache-Turner's directorial debut, it had its world premiere on 19 September 2014 at Fantastic Fest.
Nightmare Nurse is a 2016 American crime thriller television film directed by Craig Moss. It stars Sarah Butler, Steven Good, Lindsay Hartley, and Traci Lords. The film premiered on March 5, 2016, on Lifetime Television.
Alice Johnson is a fictional character in the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. She first appears in A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988) as a teenager that inherits dream superpowers from the victims of enigmatic serial killer Freddy Krueger. In this film, she was portrayed by Lisa Wilcox—who reprises the role in A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989).
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
