Nightmare Cinema

Let´s travel back in time to the year of 1982. A year some of you might remember for the release, of Australian rock band INXS album Shabooh Shobaah. Not one of their best albums ( i still consider their 1992 album Welcome To Wherever You Are to be their best ), but have some classic songs. 1982 was also the year when singer Rod Stewart was mugged on 50.000 dollars for a stolen Porsche. The car was recovered 6 days later, but im sure Rod does not want to remember this day. This was also the year when director George A Romero released his horror anthology film Creepshow. This film tells different horror stories, almost told from a comic book perspective, and managed to do this really well. I personally feel that each story works, and the great cast of Leslie Nielsen, Ted Danson, Ed Harris, Viveca Lindfors, Stephen King ( who is actually playing a main character in the story known as The Lonesome Death Of Jordy Verril, and Jon Lormer. As a horror anthology, Creepshow managed to balance the different stories in a positive way. In 1987, a sequel was released known as Creepshow 2. A sequel that may not be as good as the original film, but i still enjoy this film. Director Michael Gornick did a good job with the different stories, and you still felt the comic book influences in this film as well. In 1993 we got Another great anthology horror film known as Body Bags, directed by legendary directors John Carpenter and Tobe Hooper. What made Body Bags unique, was that each story is presented by John Carpenter himself as The Coroner, and the great cast of Mark Hamill, Stacy Keach, Robert Carradine, David Warner and many more. Earlier this year i saw a trailer of a new horror anthology film called Nightmare Cinema. This film looked like fun, so i had to see it on VOD. Do we have another great anthology horror release with this film, or should this film have been left on a shelf for good ?

In a cinema, known as Nightmare Cinema, a man known as The Projectionist ( Mickey Rourke ) play 5 stories on screen for 5 selected people. Each story will tell each person´s future, and what destiny they have waiting for them. When each story begins to play at Nightmare Cinema, nothing will ever be the same again.

It has been a while since i have seen a good horror anthology film, and i am happy to say that Nightmare Cinema is a positive surprise. The stories we get to experience in this film, are all very different from each other. You could probably say that this is the point with Nightmare cinema, each story is chosen for a certain reason. Let´s talk about the cast for a while. Legendary actor Mickey Rourke ( from classics such as Year Of The Dragon and of course The Wrestler ) as The Projectionist, is a really good choice for this character. Rourke may be getting older, but he knows how to make characters in his own unique way. Legendary actor Richard Chamberlain ( most known for his classic TV mini-series Shogun ) is one of the highlights in this film, as the surgeon Dr. Mirari. It has been a long time since i have seen him do any films, and to see him do his performance surprisingly good, is of course a positive surprise. Actor Adam Godley ( who you probably remember from TV series Breaking Bad ) as the character Dr. Salvadore. This is the kind of character that you would like to see in a full feature Movie, since he is very interesting. And actor Adam Godley knows exactly how to make his character powerful. There are of course other performances i could mention, but let´s talk about the stories. My favoruite story of Nightmare Cinema, is without a doubt the story called Mirari, directed by legendary director Joe Dante. This story shows you the disturbing world of plastic surgery, and how obsessed some people can be of fixing bodies. I also really enjoy the story called Mashit, directed by Ryuhei Kitamura. A story where the religious tone shines bright, and the battle between good and evil is very brutal. The final story Dead might be the weakest of the stories, but is not bad in any way. Each director have managed to tell their stories, in their own unique way. If you enjoy classics such as Creepshow, then Nightmare Cinema will guaranteed please your horror taste. It´s been a while, but it looks like horror anthology films could be coming back, and i think we should thank Nightmare Cinema for that.

Rating: DDD