Product Description

This hair-raising miniseries is comprised of 8 mind-bending stories each featuring an all-star cast and cutting-edge special effects. Each episode is adapted from on of King's short stories and will feature such notable performers as Oscar nominees William H. Macy, William Hurt, Tom Berenger and other favorites as Kim Delaney, Steven Weber, Henry Thomas, Samantha Manthis, Claire Forlani and others. The series will premiere this summer in a 4-week television event on TNT starting July 12, 2006.

DVD Features:
Featurette
Interviews
Production Sketches

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10216 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2006-10-24
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• ESRB Rating: Teen
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Spanish
• Number of discs: 3
• Dimensions: .45 pounds
• Running time: 378 minutes

Amazon.com
Filter a Twilight Zone vibe through Stephen King's brain and you get Nightmares & Dreamscapes, an uneven but generally entertaining collection of eight tales that originally (2006) aired on TNT. There is no unifying theme here; although King's short stories provided the source material, there are six directors and seven screenwriters represented, so the episodes offer a variety of looks and styles, with content ranging from monsters to mind games, from pure fantasy to pulp fiction, from genuinely scary to merely unsettling. Still, a certain ineffably "King-ian" sensibility, combining elements of horror, terror, suspense, and whimsy, is always in evidence, as are the popular writer's own preoccupations (with authors who may or not be stand-ins for King himself, rock 'n' roll, and guys who won't ask for directions while their wives complain, inevitably leading them into very nasty situations).

Among the highlights: In "Battleground," a merciless hit man (William Hurt) offs a toy manufacturer and then finds himself attacked in his own apartment by a battalion of indefatigable toy soldiers; directed by Brian Henson, the episode has no dialogue and some terrific effects work. In "Umney's Last Case," William H. Macy is amusing as a crime writer who cruelly toys with his literary alter ego, an arch, fedora-wearing gumshoe (also Macy); it's an acting tour de force and a story that takes some deft and intriguing turns. "The Road Virus Heads North," with Tom Berenger as a horror novelist who finds himself pursued by… well, by a painting (guess you had to be there), is perhaps the scariest of the lot; it's also the best shot, with a cool jazz soundtrack and a nifty ending. Less successful is "Crouch End," set in a sinister part of London where "thin spots" in the earth lead to creepy new dimensions (nice premise, but it's overwritten and fails to sustain its Twilight Zone weirdness), while "You Know They Got a Hell of Band" is only fitfully effective in its depiction of Rock & Roll Heaven, Oregon, a town where Elvis is mayor and the rest of the living dead range from Hendrix and Joplin to Duane Allman and Buddy Holly. The three-disc set's decent if unexceptional special features include "inside looks" at the making of several episodes, actor interviews, and more. --Sam Graham

Customer Reviews

8 Mind-Bending Stories
Stephen King, in the course of 30 years, has become a gargantuan commercial success. And why not? He is wicked scary and chillingly entertaining. But part of King's success is attributed to his ability to raise common, fundamental truths and write characters with universal human flaws in his warped, fantastical stories - truths which any audience can latch onto and flaws which everyone can identify with. It's no different with the fabulous TV cable rendition of his Nightmares & Dreamscapes. Themes of isolation, alienation, mortality, the human condition, and social disintegration are touched on.

This lavish, all-out TNT production doesn't stinge in its mini-series adaptation. I was amazed by the acting talent brought on board: William Hurt, William H. Macy, Kim Delaney (still sexy), Tom Berenger, Samantha Mathis... Stephen King's stories are magnificently and thoughtfully realized by wonderful, fully committed acting, production values of superb quality, and across-the-board earnest efforts by the writers and directors, who honor Stephen King by cleaving close to the spirit of the author's works. The 8 episodes are selected for their diverse storylines and are uniformly excellent. They are, in turn, comedic, meditative, tense, gentle, allegorical, apocalyptic, and, YES, scary. Personal favorites of mine are "Battleground," "Umney's Last Case," and "You Know They Got a Hell of a Band."

For the completists, of the eight episodes, only five are actually from King's Nightmares and Dreamscapes short story collection. "Autopsy Room Four" and "The Road Virus Heads North" are from Everything's Eventual, while "Battlefield" is from Night Shift. TNT's motto is "We know Drama." But, it seems, they also know horror.

Here are the 8 episodes:

"Battleground" - In this terse, funny, cool f/x-laden episode, William Hurt stars as an icy professional hit man who assassinates the CEO of a prominent toy company and ends up waging a one-man war against living plastic toy soldiers from a Jungle Army Footlocker. The little Savage Commando at the end is awesome! No dialogue in this one, which, in a way, enhances Hurt's acting even more. This episode, pretty much a one-man show, pays homage to the 1975 horror movie Trilogy of Terror, which starred Karen Black and the Twilight Zone's classic "The Invaders."

"Crouch End" - A newlywed American couple, superstitious Doris and the more practical Lonnie (Claire Forlani and Eion Bailey), honeymooning in London, are invited to dinner in the neighborhood of Crouch End. A London cabbie earnestly warns Lonnie not to go there but of course, the couple pays no heed. In Crouch End, strange things begin to happen - and weird, scary denizens begin to menace them - and, gradually, they come to realize they've ended up in a "thin spot" - an alternate world. This is an unsettling, spooky tale, as the more they get lost, the more desperate the circumstances become. Another instance of a normal, initially happy couple being faced with weird events and having their personal relationship gradually fall apart.

"Umney's Last Case" - Clyde Umney is a private eye plying his trade in 1938 whose world is upended when a man who looks just like him, named Sam Landry, shows up, claiming to be from the future of 2005. Sam has been writing a series of detective novels, with Clyde as the leading character. Sam and his wife Linda are suffering from the loss of their child, and Sam can't handle it; so he swaps places with Clyde. Everyman William H. Macy, as usual, is superb in both the roles of Clyde and Sam.

"The End of the Whole Mess" - Ron Livingston plays an award-winning filmmaker who, in his final hour of life, narrates the story of how his altruistic brother (Henry Thomas), by chemically finding a cure for all violence, instead brought about the end of the world. This is probably my least favorite story. It has its merits, but it moves at a plodding pace.

"The Road Virus Heads North" - Richard Kinell (Tom Berenger) is a famous horror writer shockingly diagnosed with a form of cancer. When driving to Boston for a book-signing event, he chances upon a garage sale and purchases a painting of a car travelling on the road. Eerily, this painting gradually changes and grows more menacing as Kinell goes along. Now, is the painting real or is Kinell delusional? Or is the painting, in reality, controlling his destiny? The painting is obviously a metaphor for Kinell's suddenly shortened mortality, but knowing that doesn't diminish the viewing of the episode.

"The Fifth Quarter" - Willy Evans (Jeremy Sisto) just never has any luck. Caught in a vicious loop of always making wrong choices, he repeatedly ends up in jail. Finally released but desperate to land that one big score and provide for his hardluck family, he goes in search of a treasure's burial site, aided by one quarter of a treasure map. Will his luck change this time? I couldn't help but root for Willy and his wife Karen (Samantha Mathis), who are inherently good people, but who are stuck in an impoverished situation, with no other recourse but crime. I mean, what would you do? Very good, dramatic character study.

"Autopsy Room Four" - King does his version of the "buried alive" scenario with this "bottle" episode. The story is mainly told thru the eyes of Howard Cottrell (Richard Thomas), who is bitten by a snake and pronounced dead. He is taken to the autopsy room, where the coroners begin talk of cutting him open. But here's the thing: Cottrell isn't dead, merely paralyzed, and desperately trying to let the coroners know it. Richard Thomas does a very good job conveying vulnerable, stark terror while - due to his frozen position on the slab - unable to properly emote. This is nerve-wracking stuff.

"You Know They Got a Hell of a Band" - This is a very cool episode. Kim Delaney and Steven Weber star as a troubled couple on a road trip thru Oregon who get lost and end up in a quaint little town called Rock & Roll Heaven, where the great musical icons of the '60s and '70s are alive and well. It seems like Shangri-La, there's a free concert every night. But, admission comes at a cost: once you enter, you can't leave. Uncanny resemblance between the actors and the musical legends they portray.

I only wish other stories from the Nightmares & Dreamscapes collection had been adapted to the small screen. It would've been interesting to see these following stories interpreted on television: "Suffer the Little Children," "The Ten O'Clock People," "The House on Maple Street," and "The Doctor's Case" (a kind-of posthumous Sherlock Holmes story). *Sigh* but you can't have everything. And what we do have, in these 8 stories, are certainly good enough and thought-provoking enough to tide us over until the next Stephen King project.

From what I understand, extras on this beautiful, slipcase three-disc set include additional scenes, featurettes, interviews and production sketches. Running time: 480 minutes. Screen aspect: Original Aspect Ratio - 1.78, Widescreen (16:9 Transfer).

Moments of Greatness, Moments of Despair-- A Typically Inconsistent Anthology
Anthology series are problematic at best. There will always (hopefully) be episodes that you love, but also those that strain even the most patient of viewers. I don't care if it's "The Twilight Zone," "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," "The Outer Limits," "Tales From The Crypt," "Masters of Horror" or any of the many others I could list--it's always true. So, it's with trepidation that I approach this review. With 8 episodes, I have 8 chances of making someone angry! However, the one thing of which I am certain--this series, while ambitious, is not a 5 star review!

I would categorize only one episode as a five star rating. This honor belongs to a familiar story that's done extraordinarily well. In "Battleground," William Hurt gives a memorable, intense performance as a hitman battling a squadron of toy soldiers come to life. This is done brilliantly without dialogue--part of what makes it so dynamic. We've seen this concept before, but here it is expertly executed.

Three episodes qualify as four stars. "Umney's Last Case" stars a terrific William H. Macy and works as a comedic detective noir as an author battles his fictional character. "End of the Whole Mess" is perhaps the most complicated and intriguing tale. It's an intelligent script thoughtfully performed by Ron Livingston about no less than the end of the world. And "Fifth Quarter," with Jeremy Sisto, a criminal double-cross story that's entertaining and twisty.

One episode ranked at three stars. "You Know They Got A Hell of a Band" depicts a rock and roll heaven (or is it Hell)? I admired much in this tale with Steven Webber and Kim Delaney--it's a great concept, but ultimately a little uneven.

One episode ranked at two stars. "Road Virus Heads North," with Tom Berenger, is an interesting failure. I liked Berenger's performance, but the overall concept never really gelled for me. I felt like I'd seen it before, only better.

And lastly, there are two legitimate one star messes! "Crouch End" is an incoherent and uninteresting look at a couple trapped in an alternate reality. Supernatural hokum with no real logic, I found the whole escapade to be tedious and tiresome. But nothing could prepare me for perhaps the worst hour of TV I sat though last year! That dubious distinction will have to go to "Autopsy Room Four" with Richard Thomas. The characters in this are so silly, and the ongoing, insufferable and ridiculous narration by Thomas was a disaster in scripting. After 10 minutes of listening to it drone on and on and on and on, saying the same thing over and over and over--I wanted to scream, "OK, I get it!!! Now put me out of my misery!"

Look, I had no intention of writing about this show--but reading other effusive customer reviews, I didn't want anyone to get blindsided by the inconsistencies between episodes. I'd recommend the show--definately--but it's hit or miss just like any other anthology. KGHarris, 10/06.

Decent Collection of Stories
Disc One:
1.Battleground- A killer for hire recieves an unexpected delivery of toy soldiers. Tiny terrors on a mission of vengeance... This one was one of the best in the set. It actually reminded me of a Twilight Zone episode i once saw.
2.Crouch End- london cabbie warns 2 american honeymooners not to go to ''Crouch End''. This one was bad. Really cheesy effects too.
3.Umney's Last Case- a writer swaps places with a 1930s private eye he created. The plot thickens.. This one wasnt bad, starred William H Macy.

Disc Two:
1.The end of the whole mess- about a filmmaker whos genius brother conducts a worldwide experiment that goes horribly wrong. Nice premise, poor execution. Decent story overall.
2.The Road Virus Heads North- a mysterious painting and a writer. This one started off good then ended lackluster.
3.The Fifth Quarter- ex con and his wife grab their one get rich quick chance to escape a miserable life. It was ok.

Disc Three:
1.Autopsy Room Four- man on the slab is still alive and can hear and feel everything thats going on, Docs think hes dead. This one was probably the best out of them all.
2.You know they got a hell of a band- married couple enters unmapped burg called rock and roll heaven but the price of admission is high. This one was ok.

Maybe some of these would have been better left in the book. With Stephen King's movies and mini-series theres hits and misses. Some of his movies are great and then there are some things like this that would maybe have been better as whole movies per story or not done at all and left in the book. If youre expecting stories as good as the Twilight Zone, dont bother. If you want something decent to entertain you with hits and misses or you are a big Stephen King fan then get it. Overall it was ok but i dont think i'll watch them again. Maybe ill read the book instead.