Nightmares (1983)
(In French, On Cable TV, November 2021) As yet another horror anthology film, Nightmares remains in the honest average for the subgenre — uneven stories, some striking moments, a few notable cast members but a lack of cohesion that makes it little more than a collection of short films rather than a deliberate build-up to something bigger. The anthology film is distinctive for being the work of a single director Joseph Sargent rather than several ones, but its origin as a TV series pilot does explain some of the restraints in those segments. The first story is a dull retelling of the killer-in-the-back-seat urban legends, not really setting a promising note for the rest. The second tale is far more ludicrous, and concludes on seeing Emilio Estevez using an arcade laser gun to shoot at a creature escaped from a videogame — it’s silly stuff, but I liked the throwback to the early days of videogaming. The third segment is a more sombre Duel-inspired affair involving a faithless priest, played by Lance Henriksen, confronted with a pickup from hell (yes, you read that right), but it does conclude on a decent car stunt. Finally, the film wraps with a story in which a family confronts a rodent of unusual size in their basement, with Veronica Cartwright playing the mom. All stories work themselves up to a moral of some sort and are mild on the thrills, so that’s a contrast from some of the more gore-oriented horror anthology films out there. Still, you may forget Nightmares faster than you’d think.