Product Details

• Actors: Martin Sheen, James Shigeta
• Directors: John Erman
• Format: Black & White, NTSC, HiFi Sound
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: MGM /UA Home Video
• VHS Release Date: September 1, 1998
• Run Time: 51 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6301971493
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #367,532 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Episode 10: Nightmare, July 27, 2005

By 

Raj "raj_thatsme" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Outer Limits: Nightmare [VHS] (VHS Tape)

The tenth in the series, which is based on a `War Of The Worlds' theme, this episode was one of the most interesting episodes of The Outer Limits that I have seen.

Earth is in war with Planet Ebon, and some soldiers are captured in the new planet, and made prisoners. The Ebonites have powers in which they can control all the five senses of man, and use this to control the men. The Ebonites interrogate the men, one by one, for more information, by playing with their senses. One of the soldiers suddenly dies and the men fear that the Ebonites killed him. To make things worse, one of the men have turned traitor by leaking important information to the Ebonites. The men, once united, now turn against one another and start pointing fingers. There's Pvt. Arthur Dix (played by Martin Sheen) who sees hallucinations of his mother, and fears that he might have blurted the information to her; James Willowmore (played by Bill Gunn), who loses his sight and would do anything to get it back; Col. Luke Stone (played by Ed Nelson), who says he slept but might have been in a trace and leaked out the information; and Maj. Jong (played by James Shigeta) who is tortured in the chambers and could have said anything to stop. Who is the real traitor, and will these men ever be able to escape?

What started off as a battle between the Worlds, this episode soon turns into a psychological drama of finding the culprit; it shows the human nature of people under pressure, and how they would react to one another. The ending has its own twist too, as whom we thought as the enemies turn out to be harmless, and there is a more sinister conspiracy behind the incident. The acting of the entire cast was great, especially by James Shigeta and Ed Nelson. Martin Sheen overacted a bit and at times turned out to bee a little irritating.

To quote Vic Perrin (The Control Voice): "The exploration of human behavior under simulated conditions of stress is a common placed component of the machinery called War. So long as man anticipates and prepares for combat, be it with the neighboring nations or with our neighbors in space, these unreal games must be played; and there are only real men to play them. According to established military procedures, the results of the Ebon maneuvers will be recorded in books and fed into computers for the edification and enlightenment of all the strategists of the future. Perhaps they will learn something."

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I have always been a fan, this is the best...., September 29, 2001

By 

Kevin R. Pyrtle "Wtf-Film" (NC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Outer Limits: Nightmare [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I first saw this on TNT one night when I was a kid. It was obviously low budget (like all of the other episodes) but triumphed because of it. The Ebonite make-up is freakish to say the least, the set's are almost Salvador Dali-esque in appearence, and the music is incredible. The story line for this episode is great as well, and the acting is superb. This episode is and always will be my favorite, and is a must fo any fan.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Arguably the best of the Outer Limits, November 22, 2002

By 

Larry H. Burdoin (Spanish Springs, Nevada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Outer Limits: Nightmare [VHS] (VHS Tape)

If you were to only watch one episode from the original series, this one ought to be it. There is much drama here and, as others have noted, convincing acting.

Sure, the sets and makeup are pretty basic, but the plot and acting make up for the low budget constraints of this episode.

Also, the episode is full of some intriguing zingers such as "They do not permit madness on Ebon", and "Death will truly be a mysterious adventure here" among others.

The irony in the plot is apparent when the Ebonite Interrogator demands an end to the immoral and "inhuman" experiment on the unfortunate POWs.

Many of the aliens or monsters in the series were basically humanoid in general appearance but with bizarre cranial development. The Ebonites are interesting looking aliens. I would rate the Ebonites up there with the games master of Andarra in "Fun and Games" as being the best of the weird aliens. (The gelatinous monsters of some other episodes just weren't convincing or entertaining for me. I guess it is hard to believe that a being that looks like a pile of crap is really intelligent.)

James Shigeda and John Anderson (the Interrogator) in this episode contribute some of the best acting in the series.