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 Nightmares & Dreamscapes - From the Stories of Stephen King :: 0740767526
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| 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:
Additional Scenes
Featurette
Interviews
Production Sketches
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Reviews
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Author: Guest
I did not get to see this series when it was shown on TNT, but I did pick up this dvd set the day it came out. I am a big Stephen King fan and sometimes I cringe when people make movies out of his books and short stories. Having said that, this is well done. You can tell that there is enthusiasm and genuine passion given by the actors and the directors who made this set a pretty solid project. As some have stated some of the stories are good and some are bad, well I would say that most are great and a few are good. I don't feel that any of them are bad.
I really like the actors that were onboard for this production. William Hurt is great in the very impressive "Battleground". He plays a hitman who collects souvenirs from each of his victims and keeps them in a protective case in his lush penthouse. But his recent "job" was taking out a big time toy maker. The fun begins when he receives a package of toy soldiers at his door step. Very well done on this episode, great special effects.
The Road Virus Heads North- stars Tom Berenger as a very popular horror writer who picks up a strange painting at a yard sale and finds that the picture foreshadows his impending doom. This also one of the great ones in this set.
Crouch end has good atmosphere and a mysterious setting to add to the uneasy feeling. I liked this episode a lot. And Claire Forlani does a good job with her American accent. If you watch the special feature for this one you can hear that she may be British?
The interview sections on each show are insightful and interesting. Most people comment on their love for Mr.King's books and vision. I think somewhere in his Bangor Maine estate he is proudly watching these.
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Author: Guest
This 8 episode TNT series takes stories from the title book and also one from NIGHT SHIFT and EVERYTHING'S EVENTUAL and gives them the standard television treatment. ALthough not one of the best King adaptations, the acting is above average and a couple of the stories well handled. Here's a quick rundown:
BATTLEGROUND - William Hurt stars as a hitman besieged by deadly toy soldiers in an episode with no dialogue. It's all pretty predictable but Hurt is good and the episode maintains a level of suspense and terror. **** stars.
CROUCH END - Confusing, muddled and hopelessly dull, this spooker focuses on the release of a deadly other dimension. Claire Forlani and Eion Bailey are trapped in this nightmare. * star.
UMNEY'S LAST CASE - Even the talented William H. Macy in a double role can't save this muddled mishmash about a novelist and his private eye creation who switch places. The story plods along and then just ends with no resolution. ** stars (for Macy's efforts).
THE END OF THE WHOLE MESS - intriguing tale about a genius who comes up with a way to stop wars and fighting, but at a crippling cost. Ron Livingston and Henry Thomas do well in their roles. *** stars.
THE ROAD VIRUS HEADS NORTH - reminiscent of other King stories, this puzzling tale focuses on Tom Berenger, a man who might have cancer, and his doomed trip home. The plot never fully explains itself and has a weird resolution. Marsha Mason co-stara as his sweet aunt. ** stars.
THE FIFTH QUARTER - Jeremy Sisto and Samantha Mathis give good performances in this thriller about an ex-con and his revenge on the robbers who killed his best friend. Not a typical King story, but well done. *** stars.
AUTOPSY ROOM FOUR - seriocomic tale follows Richard Thomas who has supposedly died from a heart attack, but as he lays on the coroner's table, he desperately tries to convince them he's alive. Meanwhile coroner Greta Scacchi and another doctor express their true feelings. It has good bits of humor and a slithery ending. **** stars.
YOU KNOW THEY GOT A HELL OF A BAND - TWILIGHT ZONEish tale of a young couple who stumble into a town called Rock and Roll Heaven and find people there who resembled dead rock stars like Janis Joplin and Ricky Nelson. Although the actors aren't dead ringers, their resemblance is uncanny. Kim Delaney and Steven Weber do okay but don't seem to be totally into their performances. ** stars.
Not a classic collection but should please the legion of King fans.
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Author: Guest
let me start by saying that im a hardcore horror fanatic usually but have always had a sweet tooth for stephen king even though his movie/tv adaptations are nowhere near as gruesome as most of the things i watch.
in the order in which i watched them. took me 4 days to finish.
THE FIFTH QUARTER: thumbs up! good story with some great acting by the very talented jermey sisto. solid effort.
THE ROAD VIRUS HEADS NORTH: thumbs down! while intrigueing at first the episode is missing something and the ending sucks bad. tom berenger gives a decent performance.
CROUCH END: thumbs down! i'll tell what i liked about this episode. the atmosphere and the location, sadly thats where it ends. the 2 leads are miscast and do not click with each other not to mention some of the acting by the lead male is very weak. the cgi effects are laughable at best. i hate cgi but when its as bad as it is in this episode there is no hope. this episode never should have been aired.
YOU KNOW THEY GOT A HELL OF A BAND: thumbs down! some tension, some suspense. ultimately a failure.
AUTOPSY ROOM FOUR: thumbs up! now this is a very guilty pleasure. i happened to enjoy this episode more then i thought i would. kept me entertained.
UMNEY'S LAST CASE: thumbs up! very good performance by macy in a very interesting story and he had me cracking up with some of the things he was saying as clyde umney.
THE END OF THE WHOLE MESS: thumbs up! teriffic end of the world tale told by ron livingston who plays the part of howard the older brother in his final hour of life. i remember reading this short back when i first got into king growing up. it also stars henry thomas (ET).
BATTLEGROUND: thumbs up!!!!!!!!! A MASTERPIECE easily the best episode of the collection its almost worth buying just for this segment alone. great performance by william hurt who gets plenty a hurtin in this one as he plays an assasin who kills the owner of a huge toy corporation only to receieve a package at his luxury apartment door the same night that he'd wished he never opened. FANTASTIC!
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Author: Guest
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
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Author: Guest
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).
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