Incubi e deliri

The beginning of this film held my interest because William Hurt,(John Renshaw),"Body Heat", makes a bad mistake with a CEO of a large Toy Manufacturing Company. Apparently, John Renshaw is a sort of high class hit man and paid very well for his services, because his apartment suite is out of this world with a large indoor pool and more than the comforts of the average person. As John sits back and has a nice cocktail and enjoys having accomplished one of his tasks, he is taken by surprise and his entire life is completely changed. John becomes trapped in his own world and almost feels like he has been in an actual battlefield. Great story by Stephen King and I look forward to more of this Mini-Series.

Warner do Brasil released on DVD the following episodes:

1) "Campo de Batalha" ("Battleground"): In Dallas, the hit man Jason Renshaw (William Hurt) breaks in the headquarter of a toys company and kills Hans Morris, the manufacturer and owner of the company. He returns to his fancy apartment in San Francisco, and later he receives a package of toys with soldiers, helicopters and heavy weapon. Suddenly he is attacked by the commando, and he tries to survive.

"Battleground" is a very silly and naive episode, without dialogs and with the character performed by William Hurt being attacked by toys. The explosions and shootout on the fortieth floor of the elegant building do not bother any neighbor. My vote is six.

2) "Crouch End": The career devoted Lonnie Freeman (Eion Bailey) and his wife Doris Freeman (Claire Forlani) are in London in honeymoon. Loonie receives a message from the important client Squales inviting the young couple to have dinner with him in his house at Crouch End. While going to the dinner party, Doris is advised by the cab driver to return from Crouch End, which would be a thin spot in another dimension. Lonnie does not accept the non-sense explanation and have a weird experience with Doris.

"Crouch End" seems to be a bad homage to "Twilight Zone". The mysterious story has a great atmosphere, but an absolutely disappointing conclusion. My vote is six.

3) "O Último Caso de Umney" ("Umney's Last Case"): In 1938 in Los Angeles, Clyde Umney (William H. Macy) is a divorce private eye successful with women. On the weirdest day of his life, he sees his world turning upside-down when he discovers that he is a character of a series of novels made-up by the writer Sam Landry. Sam is grieving the loss of his son and wants to swap position with Clyde.

"Umney's Last Case" has a stylish noir production and an original story (I believe this show was produced before "Stranger than Fiction"). I liked the whole story, but the conclusion is abrupt and seems that the original intention could be to be continued. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Nightmares & Dreamscapes Vol.1 – Pesadelos e Paisagens Noturnas" ("Nightmares & Dreamscapes Vol.1 – Nightmares and Nocturne Landscapes")

1.] "The End of the Whole Mess" - Very well done. Spot on adaptation of a neat little story. Livingston's performance is perfect - heartfelt and desperate. Henry Thomas was good too.

2.] "Battleground" - When I first read this story (about 15 years ago) I thought it would make a great TV movie - not a feature film - but at the time, I didn't think the SFX of the day could pull it off. This was a pretty good effort though, and I loved the lack of dialog. Hurt is not too bad either.

3.] "You Know They Got a Hell of a Band" - Not bad adaptation. This was a good short story, one I always try to read when I pick up Nightmares & Dreamscapes.

4.] "Umney's Last Case" - Not bad story, Macy's performance pulled it off. I always wondered why the chose to adapt this one though, especially over some of Kings other classics.

5.] "Autopsy Room Four" - Again, great story, but the adaptation leaves a lot to be desired, and only because of the hokey performances, especially from Richard Thomas and Greta Scacchi.

6.] "The Fifth Quarter" - Good performance from Sisto, but again, why do this story over something like "Grandma" or "The Jaunte".

7.] "The Road Virus Heads North" - The only thing they got right was the painting. Everything else, including Berringer's performance, was cheesy.

8.] "Crouch End" - This was a good story, but the adaptation did not capture the creepy feel King brought out in the narrative. The performances were OK, and it started off on the right foot, but things quickly went south after they started wandering around the empty streets. I think director Mark Haber, just couldn't put his finger on what the point of that story was.

If you enjoyed playing with toy soldiers as a kid (the kind that were green and came by the hundreds in a plastic or cardboard case) , you might enjoy this plot. It brings some of the battles you played out with them to full three dimensional fluid action with a full complement of smart munitions (unlike the WWII equipment some of us played with). Special effects are now cheap enough so that the quality is up to the standards of many moves. That and the up to par performance of Bill Hurt makes it thoroughly enjoyable. Also, although I did not see the other instances of this miniseries, it seems to have a quaint retro morality play theme, much as did most of the original Twilight Zone(s) and their spin offs. I suppose that is no surprise coming from a channel that is usually Law and Order around the clock (not that there is anything wrong with that).

Overall, Battleground was very good . When I heard they were doing this story, I was very skeptical and thought it would be very cheesy. Props to William Hurt for conveying so much emotion in this facial features/expressions without using any words. No words and just music actually made the episode more suspenseful and dramatic. I give it a 9/10. Crouch End was just OK. The short story written in Nightmares and Dreamscapes was much better. It allowed the reader to visualize Crouch End and the other dimension and frankly, my visualizations of this foreign place were much better than what was portrayed in the episode. Also, the policemen interviewing Doris were main characters in the original written story but not here. I don't think it was adapted to screen very well. That actress that played Doris was hot though, wasn't she? I give it a 7/10.