nightmares n' dreamscapes - sorry if im repostin

[obliv326]

did anyone catch these last night? knowing what a big fan you are, mike, i would have to imagine it, at the very leasy, made it into tivo.

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the first was the one where the toymaker sends the hitman the box of living army guys who enact an offensive on his apartment. i had always thought it would make a great short film. in fact, it was pretty good. wm hurt plays the hitman.

it was pretty close to the short story, although i dont remember there being a special forces commando, but it has been awhile since ive read it.

anyway, i was quite impressed. it was better than anything in cats eye, and most of creepshow...

the second one, not so much. it feels like one of those late era king stories when he lost any sense of editing. didnt dig it so much...

you can tell these are low budget, but even at that, there seems to be wildly divergent quality, the first, does a number of things quite cheaply, and it works. proof that atmosphere and style dont cost a lot of mioney.

anyway, i was impressed enough to invest an hoour or two every week.

anyone else? mike?

[Michael West]

I didn't get to see it "live," but it did make it onto TiVo. The kids and I watched them last night. ;D

The first episode, "Battleground," was utterly amazing. This was one of my favorite tales from King's Night Shift. Back in the 80's, there was a show called Darkroom. It was a Twilight Zone style anthology series that didn't last more than six episodes, but one of those episodes was so close to "Battleground," other than a different motivation for the action of the soldiers, that I am surprised King didn't sue. Anyway, I was happy to finally see a faithful translation of it brought to television.

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The fact that there was no dialogue, that it was all told through action and some text was brilliant! (One thing I would have changed however is the fact that you could hear the girl's heels on the tile over the monitor. If it were a video only monitor, that would be a good reason for her not to say anything. He couldn't hear it. However, you would think she would at least let him know "Hey, this package came for you.")

The special effects were so well done! The mini-rockets zooming by, the helicopter POV, the way the toys were moving and then actually came apart when Hurt stepped on them, and that poor burnt soldier writhing around on the point of the knife...all aces!

I also got a big kick out of seeing the Zuni doll from Trilogy of Terror on display.



(This was an inside joke as Richard Matheson wrote both teleplays.)

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The second episode, "Crouch End," was an utter mess.

I must confess, I don't remember even reading that story before (although I did pull my copy of Nightmares & Dreamscapes off the shelf this morning and intend to do just that this weekend), so I can't really say which of my gripes are directed at King and which would be aimed at the filmmakers.

I will say that this episode scared the hell out of my children and they threatened to sleep in my bed if I didn't walk them to their rooms and keep the hallway light on, so if their goal was to frighten 8-11 year-olds, they more than succeeded.



For the rest of us, however...

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The opening opening credits, with huge spiders and black goo pouring from the eyes and mouths of statues, was marvelous! And the first 10-15 minutes was really nice character stuff. The couple seemed very much in love, and quite likable. Then, when they approached the Jamaican cabbie, asking for directions to "Crouch End," it all went to shit. When a Jamaican tells you a place is bad, and that you shouldn't go there, LISTEN!

But do they listen? Noooooooo.

Then they get into the second cab and he starts saying things like "this is were there are thin spots and sometimes there is a tear that allows other dimensions in." Okay, if this guy were a mad scientist, I might buy it, but he's a freaking cab driver!

And then we're treated to 45 minutes of bad editing techniques that make it look like some horrible music video, children ripped off from John Carpenter's superbly under-rated In the Mouth of Madness, fights between the main characters that totally contradict the dynamics of the relationship seen earlier in the episode, and Lovecraft mythology thrown in during the last five minutes!

There were two things I did like about it, however. When the wife is walking under the bridge, a huge hand grabs her shoulder and she looks up into the face of a giant cat-demon-thing, that was pretty darn effective. And, at the end, when the Cthulhu reject comes out of the ground, the visuals were nice and disturbing.

Other than that, a waste of air time.

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I hope the remaining episodes are more like the first and less like the second, but I know I will be watching them all.

[obliv326]

gotta say i am with you on this one. battleground was pretty astounding. i agree the lack of dialogue was perfect. i have always really liked the story. every once in a while ill take it out and read it over, just because i think kt is everythinmg great about king in one little package. i mean its a brilliant idea, he gets you in the mind of the character...all of it just pure brilliance that he showed in large flashes for kuch of his career...

crouch end...yeah, that was a weird one for me too. i also dont remember the story but it seems like the polar opposite of battleground...sloppoy idea, badlt plotted, with negligible character development. even then, there were a couple good crteepy moments...just like much of th past, say, 10 years of king?

to be fair, i havent read a lot of him since, say, the mid 90s, but i did read insomnia...mmmm....the man has earned enough respect from me that i will say no more about this novel...

i did check a book on tape from the 'brar' a few years back and it was a collection of later stories...maybe nightmares and dreamscapes...they seemed a little half baked....

but then again, you read the guy b/c you are reading the man who wrote dead zone, firestarter, 'salem's lot, most of 'it'...he's earned our indulgence.

i will be watchingh the rest of nightmares and dreamscapes. battleground has earned my viewership...and hey, crouch end did deliver a couple good jolts...so, hopefuly, we'll have more of the former than the latter!

[Michael West]

Last night...

Didn't get to watch the second episode yet (I fell asleep, but I was watching it off TiVo at like midnight), but the first episode really infuriated me! You have William Freaking Macy, a hilarious beginning, an intriguing middle, and then you give us crap for an ending!