Customer Reviews

Nightmares & Dreamscapes - From the Stories of Stephen King

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

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).

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.

AS an avid reader of King's book for the last 20 years i have read pretty much everything he has written, my favourite books are the dark tower books and his short story collections.Technically only 5 of these stories were from knightmares and dreamscapes but all 8 were of a very high standard.

This show has only one problem - but, to me at least, it's big enough to deserve a loss of two stars. In the interviews provided on the DVD you can listen to directors, screenwriters and actors alike who all praise Stephen King and his story-telling power. They all but fall on their knees when they talk about his short stories. Yet they're hypocrites because they felt the deep need to IMPROVE said stories. It's like: "Well, of course the stories are good, but look, WE can make them better!" Therefore, a true King fan will incredulously watch a different (and often WORSE) version of the story he knows, wondering why these changes were made and how anyone could possibly believe they could improve the author's original.
The ridiculous Rambo-doppelganger in "Battleground"? Not in the story. The wife driven to suicide, whose jump from a high building can mysteriously be seen in two worlds in "Umney's Last Case"? Not in the story. Or, worst of all, the completely brainless ending of "Crouch End", with a twist that is so senseless that you can only call it embarrassing. There's more: Kinnell's portrayal as a possible cancer patient gives "The Road Virus Heads North" a totally new direction not intended by King - this climaxes with the villain's words 'I'm what you don't know: I'm your fear' - if you believe it or not.
So why are there even three stars? Because the casting and the acting are great (with the exception of the nurse in "Autopsy Room Four", who I found to be completely unconvincing), the setups and the atmosphere are worthy of King and because I do support the idea of finally filming these great stories. I hope for a continuation of the series - but with the aim to film the stories, not to improve them for the worse.

I must admit to being a little disappointed that there were not more stories from the book in this series of short films. I was particularly looking forward to seeing Dolans Cadillac and Chattery Teeth on the smal screen. However, all eight of the chosen subjects were great. We watched them all over a 3 night sitting and loved them. Battleground (*****), Umney's Last Case (****), The Fifth Quarter (****) and Autopsey Room 4 (*****) are the pick of the bunch. The rest get *** from me.

If you like Stephen King short stories, then you will like this dvd collection. I bought it and expected the episodes would be mediocre, but they were really quite good. I recommend this to viewers who enjoy Stephen King.

I found these DVDs very interesting. Short stories made into films display Stephen King's incredible imagination. There is an added bonus in the inclusion of a number of Australian actors in some of the casts.

I have most of Stephen King's major movies so it was a very pleasant surprise to find this gem. The tape with the same title was incredible with all the creepyness and spell binding abilily typical of campfire stories. I was not sure that the suspense and "chills" could be adequately reproduced on the screen. This collection of several short stories--some from the tape and some from his book was no disappointment.

The special effects are high end- easily matching the theater of the mind for those who enjoy King's books and tapes. Major actors are involved and the performances are great. Because it is a collection of short stories you can pick and choose what and when to watch. Although it is hard not to want "just one more." I was messmirized by the segment involving toy soldiers in a bizzare battle against a hitman played by William Hurt. In another story, a couple steps out of a taxi ride and ends up in a new world of increasing horror. I found myself whispering don't go there to the characters on screen. Typical of King, all characters are well developed even the tiny toy soldiers. You can't help but like or hate them. You are quickly engaged. King has no road map for his stories and there are multiple surprises and twists from his seemingly bottomless bag of plots. The mounting terror so typical in Kings stories is never lost on this smaller scale. The segments are short i.e. 30+ min but they have the same impact as a 2 hour movie. As an added bonus there are features with the actors commenting on the roles as well directors on how some of those special effects were done. Great acting, special effects and the always talented writing of Stephen King make this video well worth seeing.

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.

It's the first show on disc one titled "Battleground". The teleplay was written by Richard Christian Matheson, he's the son of Richard Matheson, a well known and respected veteran writer. And he - R.C. Matheson - seems to be the only writer in this collection who knows how to write a teleplay. All of the other stories are either over written, under written or just simply nonsensical as is the case with ,"Umney's Last Case", starring William H. Macy. I don't know if Stephen King is to blame for this mess or April Smith, who wrote the teleplay, but it is absolute garbage. It is the worst show of the bunch and considering its competition, that's saying alot.