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Plot

Divided into four separate independent films originally made as a television pilot, Nightmares begins with "Terror in Topanga," a story about a young woman who goes out one night to buy a pack of cigarettes, knowing full well that the infamous "canyon killer" is on the loose -- and sure enough, a subtly menacing store clerk (Anthony James) begins to loom large in the woman's journey. The second story, "Bishop of Battle" is a sequence with animation that details the saga of a video games champion who comes up against a supernatural opponent. The next vignette, "The Benediction" is about a priest who gives up on his faith and takes off down the highway, only to be confronted with a demonic minivan and good reasons for remaining a believer. The last story, "Night of the Rat" has the rodent that ate Manhattan looming large over the home of a young couple, but never fear, the husband is blasé enough to handle anything, or so he thinks. As might be expected, the low-budget production and facetious scripting of a few of these sequences work against the intended scary effect of the stories.
MPAA Rating:
R
Genre(s):
Drama,Horror,Thriller
Run Time:
99min.
DVD Release Date:
08/24/1999
Director(s):
Joseph Sargent
Starring:
Cristina Raines , Joe Lambie , Anthony James , William Sanderson , Emilio Estevez
Themes:
Assumed Identities,Woman In Jeopardy,When Animals Attack,Serial Killers,Technology Run Amok,Mind Games
Tone:
Creepy,Tense,Eerie,Paranoid,Visceral
Keywords:
death,demon,faith,family,maniac,monster,priest,rat [animal],scientist,smoking,suburbs,teenagers,video-games
Language:
English