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Title: Nightmares & Dreamscapes:
From The Stories Of Stephen King
Region: One
Genre: Horror/Thriller/Drama
Anthology Series
Disc One Episodes:
“Battleground”, “Crouch End”, “Umney’s Last Case”
Disc Two Episodes: “The End Of The
Whole Mess”, “The Road Virus Heads
Disc Three Episodes: “Autopsy Room
Four”, “You Know They Got A Hell Of A Band”
Stars: William H. Macy, Jacqueline
McKenzie, Ron Livingston, Henry Thomas, Eion Bailey, Claire Forlani, Jeremy
Sisto, Samantha Mathis, Richard Thomas, Greta Scacchi, Steven Weber, Kim
Delaney, William Hurt, Bruce Spence, Tom Berenger, and Marsha Mason
Writers: April Smith, Lawrence D.
Cohen, Kim LeMasters, Alan Sharp, Mike Robe, Richard Christian Matheson, and
Peter Filardi
Based on the Short Stories by:
Stephen King
Directors: Rob Bowman, Mikael
Salomon, Mark Haber, Mike Robe, Brian Henson, and Sergio Mimica Gezzan
Executive Producer: Bill Haber
Feature Length: 378 minutes
Extras: Behind The Drama Of
Nightmares & Dreamscapes From The Short Stories Of Stephen King, From The
Mind Of Stephen King, Page To Picture, The Inside Look Making-Of Featurettes,
Interviews With Series Stars, Battleground Special Effects Featurette
Languages: English Dolby Digital 5.1
Surround Sound
Subtitles: English Closed Captions
and Spanish Language Subtitles
Packaging: Two Slim Think Pack Cases
Within A Glossy Cardboard Slipcase
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
Sound
Year Of DVD Release: 2006
Home Video Distributor: Warner Home
Video
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera
I often imagine with the amount of
Hollywood actors and talent that have worked on bringing the literature of
Stephen King to life, I can almost visualize two artists discussing their
resumes. One boasts that he has worked on four of Shakespeare plays and the
other retorts, “Well I’ve done four films based on Stephen King…” I
actually am surprised that there is not a stage play along the Great White Way
of Broadway based on one or an ever-revolving roster of King tales. I am glad
that Stephen King as a writer has received validation for his genuine talent as
a storyteller since all too often the horror, fantasy, and science fiction
genres and their sub genres therein are written off as being just for kids, not
true literature, or just pulp. While there have been many great cinematic
adaptations based upon the work of Stephen King, my personal favorites tend to
be the television adaptations because despite whatever limits commercial
television may present in terms of how much sex, language, or violence are
allowed to be depicted, the work of Stephen King benefits greatly from having
the time to present characters and explore situations in a longer and more
intimate TV format. What is suggested is often stronger than what is shown
anyway and ultimately Stephen King did not get to where he is today by writing
stories that featured violence, colorful language, or sex alone. King is a
master storyteller. A natural talent that is often imitated, but never equaled
and his stories have very human themes that underlie the events so that one can
look just beneath the surface and discover the human drama and the implications
regarding what he is discussing through his stories and that is what I think
makes Stephen King’s work so brilliant. That and the fact that he knows how to scare the shit out of his
audience… ;)
Watching the installments that make
up the TNT anthology series Nightmares & Dreamscapes From The Stories By
Stephen King, which is now out on DVD in a three disc box set courtesy of
Warner Home Video, has me interested in visiting my local library and looking up
the actual short stories and reading them for myself and if these stories can
encourage others to exercise their minds and imaginations more by going out and
borrowing or buying a book to read, then I think everyone gets an added bonus
beyond the enjoyment of these cable television adaptations. TNT and ABC perhaps
more than any other networks have been responsible for premiering most of the
original television adaptations or made for TV programs based on the work of
Stephen King. These stories are all very engrossing, but also very dark in
nature. I think this anthology might actually contain some of the bleakest
Stephen King television dramatizations I have ever seen, but while some of the
stories do not necessarily have feel good resolutions, they all are quite
engrossing and feature a lot of talent. Originally shown in blocks of two over a
four week period this past summer, the premiere episode “Battleground”
starring Academy Award winner® William Hurt has no spoken dialogue whatsoever
and features Hurt as a professional hit man who gets an unexpected surprise when
a package of toy army men from the company whose CEO he has murdered wages a war
of revenge upon him. Look for the famous Trilogy Of Terror doll in the
display case and note this is arguably the best of the anthology episodes
effects wise with Brian Henson serving as Director.
“Crouch End” tells what appears
to be a story heavily inspired by the work of H.P. Lovecraft with a young
beautiful newlywed couple traveling to a remote area known as Crouch End in the
U.K. to have dinner with a friend and there they soon discover that Crouch End
is one of those “soft spots” where things from one dimension enter our own
and things from our own can become lost therein. Though the installment is in my
opinion anyway, Lovecraft inspired, there is also a feeling of great captured
imagery and emotion that I remember from when I was just a boy and my older
brother would tell me about the Stephen King stories he read in Night Shift.
In King’s defense, many genre writers and filmmakers as well as other artists
alike have been inspired by the work of H.P. Lovecraft to include Writer Richard
Matheson and Directors Guillermo Del Toro and of course the legendary Stuart
Gordon and believe me when I state these are just a few examples.
Five of the adaptations come from
King’s 1993 anthology Nightmares & Dreamscapes while two were taken
from Stephen King’s 2002 anthology Everything’s Eventual and the
episode “Battleground” can be found in King’s 1978 anthology Nightshift.
The other stories can be pretty bleak with William H. Macy appearing in dual
roles and looking as though he is having a lot of fun in “Umney’s Last
Case.” This story has a best selling author switch places with his gumshoe
character counterpart to escape the pain of his personal life with tragic
results. The most haunting of them all is “The End Of The Whole Mess,” which
portrays an end of the world scenario from the point of view of a documentary
filmmaker’s last hour of life as he recounts the tale of how his brother’s
best intentions have paved the way to extinction.
Other installments feature Tom
Berenger as a noted horror author being chased by the specter of a painting on
his drive home after learning he may have colon cancer. Then we have Jeremy
Sisto and Samantha Mathis play a couple reunited after her husband is finally
paroled from jail only to be pulled into a night of bloody revenge as he sets
out to find the pieces to a map where several million dollars has been hidden.
The only problem with this story is since money is marked, especially in such
high quantities, how could anyone hope to use it without being discovered?
“Autopsy Room Four” basically
tells the story of an autopsy from the point of view of paralyzed man still
alive after a snakebite, but unable to communicate it as he becomes a witness to
the gruesome exploratory procedure. This is a good episode and one of the few
with an uplifting conclusion. Finally in “You Know They Got A Hell Of A
Band” Stephen Webber turns in a somewhat creepy performance as one of the two
newest civilian citizens of Rock and Roll Heaven, where the performances go on
for an eternity and there is a hell of a catch 22 behind the free concerts.
If there is one additional positive
thing I can say about this anthology it is that watching nearly seven hours of
dark and ironic dramas felt like mere minutes since before I knew it, I’d
screened all eight episodes. Believe me when I note that I have seen items a lot
shorter that felt like hours to get through. Each episode is presented in their
matted (1.78:1) widescreen aspect ratio that preserves the manner in which they
were broadcast on TV and all are enhanced for 16 by 9 televisions too. The
picture quality is better than the original digital cable transmissions too. All
of the episodes also feature a dynamic English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
Soundtrack with optional English Closed Captions for the Deaf and Hearing
Impaired and Spanish Language Subtitles. The bonus materials are spread across
all three discs and more or less appear to be the same featurettes that were
available to view for digital cable subscribers with TNT On Demand and they
include Inside Look featurettes for “Battleground” & “Crouch
End” (3:55), “The Road Virus Heads North” & “The Fifth Quarter”
(3:23), “Umney’s Last Case” & “The End Of The Whole Mess” (3:48),
and “Autopsy Room Four” & “You Know They Got A Hell Of A Band”
(4:55). These featurettes are supported by cast interviews with William Hurt
(3:12), Eion Bailey (5:01), William H. Macy (4:22), Tom Berenger (3:01), Ron
Livingston (2:47), Jeremy Sisto (4:09), Richard Thomas (3:20), and Steven Weber
(3:10).
The special effects of
“Battleground” are explored in another short (4:41) and there are various
filmmaker comments on Stephen King’s unique perspective in From The Mind Of
Stephen King (2:20) as well as Behind The Drama Of Nightmares &
Dreamscapes From The Short Stories Of Stephen King featurette (5:09). The Page
To Picture featurette (3:56) is not a direct comparison between the original
short stories and teleplays but rather a demonstration of how the filmmakers
tried to visualize King’s prose through camera set ups and various effects and
production design. The main menu for all three discs features the theme from the
series while the subsequent menus are all standard interactive still frames that
are easy to navigate. On the packaging of the DVD set there is a sticker that
states that a bonus-unaired episode starring William H. Macy is included within
the set, but unless it is hidden as an Easter egg, I think this is a mistake
since I know “Umney’s Last Case” did indeed air on both TNT and TNT HD.
Nightmares & Dreamscapes From
The Short Stories Of Stephen King is
available on DVD now at retailers on and offline courtesy of Warner Home Video
and is top shelf entertainment that I hope will become a semi regular summer
event we can all look forward to on those warm nights where it seems everything
around us is alive with vigor and our imaginations can be caught up on the clear
moonlit starry skies afterwards as we go to sleep to have our own nightmares,
and dreamscapes…
© Copyright 2006 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved
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