[miketardis]

NIGHTMARES (1983)
Directed by Joseph Sargent. Stars Emilio Estevez, Richard Masur, Cristina Raines, Lance Henriksen. A good cast and tight direction enliven this four-part horror anthology that was originally made for network television. Universal instead added a gory prologue and released it theatrically. In “Terror in Topanga,” housewife Raines goes out late at night for smokes and tangles with a homicidal maniac. “The Bishop of Battle” finds teen video game addict Estevez obsessed with the eponymous game of his life…or death. “The Benediction” finds fallen priest Henriksen in the desert battling a murderous truck with no driver a la DUEL. And “Night of the Rat” pits a suburban family against the biggest, meanest rat you ever saw. All four stories deliver decently in the horror department, although “Topanga,” at about 17 minutes, is too short to build up enough suspense for the climax to really play, and “Rat” suffers from sub par special effects. William Sanderson, Veronica Cartwright, Moon Unit Zappa, Tony Plana and Billy Jacoby fill out the cast. Writers Christopher Crowe and Jeffrey Bloom previously created DARKROOM, a horror anthology series that lasted only seven weeks on ABC. It’s possible NIGHTMARES’ scripts were originally intended for that series.