Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #98223 in DVD
• Released on: 1999-08-24
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Collector's Edition, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 99 minutes

Amazon.com
Fans of the Tales from the Crypt series and The Twilight Zone should appreciate this early-Eighties anthology of horror tales. "Terror in Topanga" is the tale of a woman terrorized by a maniac when she just has to make a trip to the store for some cigarettes. "The Bishop of Battle" is notable for a very young Emilio Estevez as a teen whose obsession with video games gets the better of him. There's a definite nostalgia factor as he hustles other kids for money on the Paleozoic-era arcade games (listening to punk rock like Black Flag and Fear on an early-model Walkman the whole time). Perhaps the strongest segment involves B-movie stalwart Lance Henriksen as a priest who gives up the clergy and leaves his parish. While traveling across the desert, the hapless padre is pursued by a mysterious black Chevrolet pickup that systematically demolishes his car (shades of Spielberg's Duel). "Night of the Rat," rounding out the quartet, is just that; the story of a family who has a problem with a really big rat. While this little collection of tales tends to telegraph its punchlines well in advance, it still offers up a satisfying chill or two by way of its pacing and suspense, and with a bit more gore than the usual made-for-cable fare. --Jerry Renshaw

Customer Reviews

Four Excellent Tales of Terror
Great film...four wonderful tales...the best being the first tale "Terror in Topanga" with Christina Raines...as a woman who goes out for cigarettes, and end up with a psychotic killer in the backseat...liked the urban legend. The second focuses on Emilo Estevez as a kid obssessed with the video game--The Bishop of Battle...and gets more than what he bargained for when he ends up in the game...the third about a priest who loses faith...and the last "Night of the Rat" a story of a family with a big problem in their home...a giant rat. Excellent title brought to you by the folks at Anchor Bay...Bringing you the highest quality products, usually movies we haven't seen on video in over a decade...and excellent concept bringing new life to obscure old favorites.

nightmares on DVD
I've loved this movie since I was 7 years old and it still holds up 17 years later.The first story still has the power to give u a really good shock.The second 'bishop of battle' is my personal favorite and anyone who is a video game freak should love it.The 3rd is reminiscient of spielbergs Dual.And the 4th should scare anyone who has a rat phobia.Although a great and underappreciated horror movie the DVD could have used some bonus material. But all we get here is a full framed version (probably the way it was filmed since it was originally meant for television) and the trailer.Oh well, this a must see for any serious horror buff.

May your nightmares take you...
This presentation contains 4 chapters of shadowmantic horror. Immediately, we course through a darkened landscape cracking with magma, as if Hell is bursting up from beneath. We are met with two glowing red eyes staring deep into the soul. A splendid introduction.

Chapter One: Maniac.

A small suburban town is terrorized by a maniac lurking in the woods, preying upon unsuspecting girls. He has already struck twice, yet besides this nefarious news, a young woman ventures forth into the night to purchase cigarettes, a compulsion she cannot purge. To her annoyance and fear, she runs low on gas on the way back, and pulls into an isolated station, wherte she is met by a qiet attendant, who serves as her savior when the said deranged lunatic appears from the back seat. There is a delightful twist, as one assumes the violator to be the gaspumper, only to become her savior in the end, when the true maniac attacks.

Chapter Two: Videogames.

A crafty teenager proficient at the playing of videogames uses the Art of Deception to gain some well-earned money from a cavalcade of gangscum who initially saw him as prey - but it turns out that it was he who was the hunter, who then makes a hasty retreat back to his own environment from the delapidated garbage low town.

He becomes obsessed with a particular game, and is determined to defeat the alien personage displayed therein. His obsession leads him to excel the levels of electronic battle, until he finally reaches the previously seemingly unobtainable 13th level which became a crossover from the 2nd dimension into the 3rd. He must also do physical battle with the various nemesi therein, until final victory laboriously obtained, only now, he becomes the guide to others seeking the mysterious 13th level......

Chapter Three: The Benediction.

Of the four chapters, this is this writer's favorite. A priest {who will be recognized as the actor from 'Millenium'}, stressed by the various funerary occurrences taking place in his parish, just becomes sick and tired of it all, and decides to leave his church somewhere out in he desert. He packs his bags, and embarks upon a journey that willlead him into a confrontation with The Devil Himself, who persues him sadistically within a sinister black car, complete with tinted windows and an inverse cross hanging from the review mirror. Nice touch.

Chapter Four: Night of The Rat.

A well-to-do couple experience the toils of vermin infestation so saturated, that they know no peace. It eventually is revealed that this particular breed of rat is surnamed "The Devil Rat", and it takes the wise efforts of a seasoned kind-hearted occultist to alleviate the problem, but not without a tragic end.
Nightmares is an enjoyable film in regeur of Creepshow, with one horror leading to another. The storyteller is the dark subconcious, and the bonfire is the flame of fear. Recommended entertainment.