Unlike many an anthology movie, Nightmares has no wraparound story to link each chapter, the film consisting of four unconnected supernatural tales ranging from the genuinely suspenseful to the rather routine.Tale number one, Terror in Topanga, is easily the most intense of the group. Based on a popular urban legend about an escaped inmate from a lunatic asylum and a housewife (Cristina Raines) who unwisely leaves her home to purchase cigarettes, you'll probably know how this one is going to end way before you get there, but with sharp direction, a great central performance, and even a little gore, the familiarity of the material matters not—it's a great way to kick off proceedings.Chapter two is The Battle of Bishop, the tamest of the four stories, which stars Emilio Estevez as teenager J.J. Cooney, who is obsessed with reaching level 13 of a particularly challenging arcade machine. Breaking into the arcade after closing time to play the game, he finally finds out what finishing The Battle of Bishop involves. Like an episode of Amazing Stories, this one isn't in the least bit scary but does deliver a likable turn from Estevez and some fairly decent computer graphics for the day.The penultimate story is The Benediction, which stars Lance Henriksen as father MacLeod, a priest who has lost his faith. Leaving his parish, McLeod drives into the desert where he is repeatedly attacked by a mysterious black truck with tinted windows. Like a cross between Spielberg's Duel and '70s film The Car, this one offers up some reasonably exciting scenes of vehicular action (including the impressive sight of the truck bursting out of the ground), and its always great to see Henriksen on screen.Last of the four tales is Night of the Rat, in which a family find themselves terrorised by a giant devil rat that invades their home. This one builds the tension nicely only to spoil it in the closing moments with some cheesy special effects using a real rat made to look oversized. Veronica Cartwright is great as the terrified mother, but she really deserves better than this.

"Nightmares" is an acceptable horror anthology with 'Twilight Zone' aspirations. It was originally made for TV, but headed to theatres instead after NBC executives proved unwilling to pay for it. With the first three segments written by producer Christopher Crowe, and the fourth written by Jeffrey Bloom, it might therefore strike some hardcore horror fans as a little "safe". Still, it has an excellent cast of many familiar faces, and is paced more than adequately, with capable direction by Joseph Sargent ("Colossus: The Forbin Project", "The Taking of Pelham One Two Three"). The music score by Craig Safan is also noteworthy.There is no wrapround story or connecting thread, so I'll move right along to assessing the individual stories:"Terror in Topanga". A young wife (Cristina Raines) with a hopeless cigarette addiction heads out late at night for her fix. The fact that a knife wielding psycho is on the loose does little to dissuade her. Worth it for the twist ending that hearkens back to an old urban legend."The Bishop of Battle". J.J. Cooney (Emilio Estevez) is a kid hellbent on making it to the 13th level of the title video arcade game. Again, it's the ending that makes the story. The visual effects are pretty good for a movie made approximately 33 years ago."The Benediction". Lance Henriksen plays MacLeod, a priest who's suffered a crisis of faith, and leaves the church. While driving through the desert, he is menaced over and over by a mysterious character driving a black pick up truck. Overall, too reminiscent of "Duel" and "The Car", but there's one brilliant moment at about the one hour mark."Night of the Rat". Richard Masur, Veronica Cartwright, and Bridgette Andersen are the Houstons, a suburban family menaced by a monster rat. It may be tough going for a while since Masurs' character is so unlikable and stupidly stubborn. The special effects leave something to be desired.At its best, "Nightmares" is creepy and atmospheric, even if the stories aren't all that great. It's "The Bishop of Battle" that stands out, since it's the most unpredictable of the bunch, and due to its cool punk soundtrack.Anthony James, (an uncredited) William Sanderson, Lee Ving, Mariclare Costello, Louis Giambalvo, Moon Unit Zappa, Billy Jayne, James Tolkan (voice only), Tony Plana, Timothy Scott, Robin Gammell, and Albert Hague are also among those stopping by.Definitely worth a look for 80s horror enthusiasts and lovers of the anthology format.Seven out of 10.

Four stories are told in a regular, unlinked anthology series as chapters in the film.The Good Stor(ies): The Benediction-Suffering a crisis of faith, a priest decides to leave his church and take a trip across the desert. While traveling, he repeatedly comes across a large black truck that tries to run him off the road. When he comes to believe that the truck might be linked to his change of believe, he tries to stay alive against the demonic truck. While it's true that this one has zero suspense and a given unsurprising-surprise ending, this is still a lot of fun. Seeing a bunch of vehicular slaughter is never a bad thing, and the chasing adds some dimensions of suspense to the proceedings. The truck isn't that creepy but has a nice aura of menace, and the shot of it tunneling underground and bursting through is a spectacular surprise. While hard to really understand, it's quite enjoyable.Night of the Rat-After a succession of creepy noises haunt the household, a couple believe they have rats in the house, and after killing one, he says that the problem is solved. As the noises continue, only more destructive, they are forced to believe that this isn't a normal rat. Easily the best one of the stories, this one is pretty creepy. As the noises grow more and more obnoxious, the idea of what's behind it all is really creepy. The destruction it causes allows for plenty of nice chills, and there's even an encounter underneath the house that is really quite spooky. There's even the obligatory conflict in the darkened house that provides some great moments in there as well, and overall, this is a pretty creepy segment. The rat is never believable, but it's on-screen so shortly it doesn't really matter.The Bad Stor(ies): Terror in Topanga-After a serial killer escapes from custody, a woman decides to go out for some cigarettes. After meeting several people she thinks is the killer, she stops off at a gas station. Aware the killer is there, she fights to stay alive against the maniac. This here is just mainly plagued by how short it is. It's barely twenty minutes long and the final confrontation is quite short. Everything else is fine, it just really needed to stretch out and breathe. It is the goriest entry, with a couple of murders spread in that result in a brutal stabbing in the hand, a knife thrust repeatedly into the chest, and a gory gunshot wound, and the initial encounter is pretty creepy when the killer emerges suddenly with a loud shriek. This just needed more time.Bishop of Battle-Desperately wanting to beat a video game, a teen spends all of his time playing the game. When it gets the better of him, he sneaks back and tries it again, only for the game to sport a new twist he wasn't expecting. Easily the weakest one of the stories, this one suffers mainly from two main flaws. The main one is that this is simply isn't scary. There's nothing in here that generates any suspense or chills at all, and with it being based so steeply in a certain sub- culture, unless you're well-versed in that culture it will simply blow over and not offer any scares. The other flaw is that the segment is so predictable and easy-to-predict that anything that might generate suspense gets washed away when knowing how it will end. It does have a decent firefight in a video game room, but it's not enough to save it.Rated R: Graphic Language and Graphic Violence.

"Nightmares" is one of the lesser-known anthology horror films to emerge in the 1980s, and it's not surprising given the project's atypical fruition; made up of four segments, the film was essentially a way for Universal Pictures to recoup money from leftover segments of the television series "Darkroom" which was canceled by ABC in 1982. The four segments featured in the film had originally been intended for the series, but were left in the dark when the show was canceled. With bits of additional footage (mainly violence) added to plump up the segments, we get "Nightmares".Segment one, "Terror in Topanga," stars Cristina Raines (of "The Sentinel") as a chain-smoking California housewife who runs out late at night for a carton of cigarettes; meanwhile, a murderous lunatic is on the loose. Smart move. This segment takes a jab at the classic "man in the back seat" urban legend, which would later make for the opening scene of 1998's teen slasher "Urban Legend" (I have to wonder if this film served as inspiration, to be honest). While this segment seems to get a fair amount of dislike from audiences, I have to say that it's actually my favorite. The story itself is classic, and there are some genuinely scary moments in this. It's a bit anticlimactic, sure, but Raines is great on screen, and the late-night convenient store run gone horribly awry is both relatable and scary. Segment two, "Bishop of Battle," stars Emilio Estivez as an arcade game addict who is obsessed with reaching the mythical level 13 of the titular arcade game— little does he know that level 13 is far more real than he could ever imagine. Boasting some "Tron"-era special effects, this story is silly but perhaps the most memorable of the bunch, and highlights include Estevez's constant rocking out with his portable cassette player, and the haunting voice-over of the digital antagonist. The final scene is clever, outrageous, and still somehow unsettling at the same time.This is followed by "The Benediction," which has Lance Henriksen as a fallen priest who leaves his Southern desert parish after renouncing the church. The problem? A pickup truck driven by Satan is on his tail. There are some great sequences in this one, including car chases and trucks emerging from under the ground. Henriksen's performance is great here and, although it's not even slightly scary, it's an entertaining ride. Comparison's to Stephen King's "Duel" are apt.The final segment, "Night of the Rat," stars Veronica Cartwright as a suburban housewife who seems to be battling a gigantic rat in her home— it tears apart the house, kills the family cat, and one night, attempts to kill the family. While this segment is inarguably the most ridiculous of the four, it's actually a joy to watch. Cartwright is perfectly cast here and the silliness of the story is overshadowed by the level of engagement with the audience. The special effects with the blown-up, screaming mouse at the end are laughable, but how often do you see that on film? That's right, never.Throughout each of the "Nightmares" we have here, the television production qualities shine through, but this is part of what I think makes the film so charming; it belonged on the small screen, but somehow, even gathered together as a feature film, it's still a delight to watch— kind of like a gift bag marathon of cheap '80s TV movies that get screened around Halloween time. Each segment also seems to end with some sort of moralist lesson; for Cristina Raines, it's "smoking kills"; for Estevez, it's the slippery slope forewarning of a technology-obsessed culture; for Henriksen, it's that good and evil do exist; and for Cartwright, it's that... well, I suppose even oversized rats have feelings, too.Overall, I'd recommend "Nightmares" to fans of aforementioned '80s television films, as that's really the core audience here; stringent horror fans may be disappointed by the relative lack of scares or violence. The film is remarkably difficult to find which is unfortunate. I had to spend a pretty penny just to get a copy of Anchor Bay's now-fifteen year old DVD, as it looks like this film may not be re-released anytime soon, if ever. It's not a standout film by any means, but it's a charming piece of oddball '80s nostalgia that deserves a bit more. Bottom line: If you're up for a large dose of the TV horror of "The Breakfast Club" era, tune in; it's just like those mediocre but deliciously entertaining midnight specials of your childhood. 7/10.