Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King (2006) User Reviews

The first four were expectedly good, and I can't wait to see the rest...

[jackiepratschner78 · 8/10 · 24 July 2006]

I will tell you what...I partially agree with the previous comment on the length of the shows. However, in the first show "Battleground" I felt that the utter lack of dialog added immensely to the tension, and although I was skeptical about how to animate the army men, I was incredibly impressed.

I didn't like "Crouch End" when I read it, so I wasn't anticipating liking the show, and I didn't. It was very long and unnecessarily melodramatic. I felt that they could have picked a comatose actress to play the lead and she would have been better. Not a big fan of the overly expressive actors. Play it down folks.

As for "Umney's Last Case", the show was a lot different than the story, but it was still a good piece. I don't know that I would've chosen William H. Macy as Umney (although he is a great actor, don't get me wrong).

"The End of the Whole Mess" was the most faithful adaptation of book to movie, but it also felt the longest of the four that I've seen. I was curious as to how they were going to show the depletion of the narrator, because in the book he was writing, and you could tell that he was slipping by the way that he spelled some words or had to break off in the middle of a sentence. I thought the video-camera was a nice touch.

I'm looking most forward to "You Know They Got A Hell of A Band" and I'm also very curious about "The Fifth Quarter", but if I had to guess, I think the best of the eight episodes will be "The Road Virus Heads North" only because from a literary standpoint, the visuals in that story are the most compelling.

I'm a huge fan of Stephen King's, and I will always watch any film or T.V. adaptation that he gets behind, but I am often of the persuasion that a movie takes away from some of the individuality and imagination of actually reading the book. Ever after, the re-reading of those stories will be tainted by certain actors that played certain roles, or changes in the movies will effect the way you read the books, and I find that to be kind of a shame.

Some episodes are better than others...

[ThrownMuse · 6/10 · 13 December 2007]

This fares better than much of Stephen King made-for-TV adaptations, though the episodes are hit or miss:

BATTLEGROUND 8/10 - easily the best episode AND an homage to the greatest made-for-TV horror ever, "Trilogy of Terror." There's even a cameo by our friend the Zuni Doll! It goes the "no dialogue" route, and William Hurt pulls it off well. The FX are ace. Loved this one. Unfortunately, it's mostly downhill from here.

CROUCH'S END 5/10 - this is pretty awful and Claire Forlani has got to be the worst working "name" actress, but there's something eerie in it's Lovecraft-ness that I appreciated for a bit.

THE ROAD VIRUS HEADS NORTH 4/10 - Meh. It's good to see Tom Berenger and Marsha Mason working again. I guess.

UMNEY'S LAST CASE 7/10 - It has a neat noir-ish feel, mostly created by the inimitable character acting of William H. Macy.

THE END OF THE WHOLE MESS 6/10 - eh, this didn't translate too well, but it's watchable.

THE FIFTH QUARTER 7/10 - This one's sort of a heist story with great performances (Sisto, Samantha Mathis) and a surprising homoerotic subplot. Good stuff here.

AUTOPSY ROOM FOUR 4/10 - another King adaptation ruined by Richard Thomas! YOU KNOW THEY GOT A HELL OF A BAND 4/10 - I remember reading this as a youngster and finding it REALLY eerie. What's not to be scared of by evil dead rocknroll icons? Well, how about really lame evil dead rocknroll icon impersonators? This does not translate well to film.

Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From The Stories of Stephen King...

[sternn01 · 7/10 · 7 November 2006]

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.

King's anthology; decent tribute to his short stories

[george.schmidt · 7/10 · 12 January 2007]

Stephen King seems to be the proverbial limitless well of creativity, a modern- day Edgar Allan Poe/O.Henry with his twisted, original and ultimately unsettling tales of the human condition basted with science fiction, terror and eerie horror that has no equal with his contemporaries, often putting him in a class by himself. And that is also a conundrum since variably the adaptations of his works are often hit-and-miss with few classic exceptions in film ("The Shining" , "The Dead Zone"), television mini-series ("The Stand"), and now in the retro- anthology ala classics like "The Twilight Zone" and "Alfred Hitchcock Presents…" with his compendium of 8 tales with his unique blend of blatant uneasiness and sprinklings of gallows humor.

The eight include:

DISC ONE: "BATTLEGROUND" - One of the series better offerings featuring William Hurt in a dialogue-less interpretation about a professional assassin whose latest victim, a toy magnate, gets his revenge in the unlikely form of a package including a set of Army toy soldiers which come to life and wreck unholy havoc in his cold, efficient apartment in a battle to the death. The shrewd teleplay by Richard Christian Matheson (the son of legendary genre master, Richard Matheson - "The Incredible Shrinking Man") eschews chatter for chills (and a nice nod to his pop's most famous monster, the Zuni fetish doll from the TV movie classic, "Trilogy of Terror", makes a cameo (!) ) Directed by Brian Henson (son of Muppeteer Jim) employs CGI and green screen effect economically building enough tension in a familiar tale (I recall a similar effort in the '80s short-lived anthology series on ABC, "DarkRoom" with host James Coburn, featuring Ronny Cox as a Vietnam vet facing his ghosts in the form of tiny attackers).

"CROUCH END" - A so-so adaptation about an American couple (Eion Bailey - best known for HBO's "Band of Brothers" and "CSI: NY"s Claire Forlani) abroad in England for a new job perspective who unknowingly wander into an odd, out- of-the-way town where things are not as they appear in this decidedly HP Lovecraftian twister. Kim Le Master's adaptation isn't bad but not very terrifying and director Mark Haber does his best with the limits of the plot.

"Umney's Last Case" - William H. Macy has a field day in a dual role as a '30s era LA gumshoe named Umney who suddenly faces the fact that he is the imagined character of an author (also played by Macy) who decides to change his life for his creation's to escape his painful life. April Smith adds some fun to the mix in her take on the affectionate ode to pulp fiction while veteran director Rob Bowman ("The X-Files") gives the outing a polished look overall.

DISC TWO: "THE END OF THE WHOLE MESS" - Arguably the best of the bunch, and one of my favorite unnerving King treats, about two brothers (Ron Livingston and Henry Thomas) who concoct a method of wiping out mankind's proclivities to violence with devastating results in a sharply skewed take on the old chestnut of messing with Mother Nature. Penned by frequent King adapter Lawrence D. Cohen ("It", "Carrie") and directed by Miakael Salomon (who helmed the second go-around TV mini-series of King's "'Salem's Lot", also for TNT), the chapter is a tight, nerve-shattering fix that Rod Serling would've gladly called his own.

"THE ROAD VIRUS HEADS NORTH" - Tom Berenger gives a mannered yet thoughtful turn as a King-like author who acquires a disturbing painting on a pit- stop during a road-trip and discovers its unearthly power : it's frequent changing of its portrait into a horrific prophecy. Peter Filardi (who wrote the aforementioned ""Salem's Lot" mini-series) manages to make things quite unpleasant and director Sergio Mimica-Gezzan (tv's "Prison Break") keeps things at a pulse-quickening pace.

"THE FIFTH QUARTER" - Jeremy Sisto plays a recently paroled con who desperately wants to go straight but finds himself immersed in a treasure-hunt of deadly intentions while his girlfriend Samantha Mathis tries to make sense of the whole damn thing for her man. Played as a morality play by Alan Sharp ("Rob Roy") and Bowman directing again making the proceedings a noose- tightening fable of a criminal's mind.

DISC THREE: "AUTOPSY ROOM FOUR" - Classic ala Hitchcock offering Richard Thomas as a golfer bitten by a poisonous snake during a game and assumed to be dead, depicts his plight on the morgue table with his fate in the hands of his would be coroners. Well-acted by Thomas, who literally remains motionless in fear for an hour - no-easy feat- and enough taut, tension thanks to Smith and Salomon's expert teaming here.

"YOU KNOW THEY GOT A HELL OF A BAND" - The weakest of the series with Steven Weber ("Studio 60 on The Sunset Strip") and Kim Delaney (late of "CSI: Miami") as a couple on a road trip detouring into a "Twilight Zone" slice of Americana: a town inhabited by nefarious deceased rock-and-roll gods whose idea of heaven is really a living hell for its inhabitants. Quaint King and listless adaptation by Mark Robe make for a forgettable exercise in the cult of personality.

now that's what I call horror!

[knoedel77 · 7/10 · 14 July 2006]

The first episode of Dreamscapes & Nightmares was an acceptable adaption of Stephen King's short-story, but not more. The second episode contains everything what makes a short-story by Stephen King fun to read. It is not what you see so often in nowadays' horror-movies. In those, let me call them modern, horror movies there's a lot of shockers and blood, but the episode "Crouch End" doesn't need that. Like the short-story it creates an atmosphere of horror, which neither the protagonists, nor the viewers can escape from. And this "all-around-horror-atmosphere" is what's missing in so many horror movies, but in not one of Stephen King's stories/novels and particularly not in the episode "Crouch End". Because of that, this is a show worth watching for everyone who loves the atmosphere and feeling Stephen King creates in his pieces of art! I'm very curious, if the following episodes are an exceptional adaption of Stephen King's style of writing, because this one definitely is!

Does Everything That Hollywood Doesn't to a Stephen King Story.

[Evil_Magus · 9/10 · 12 July 2006]

Just to avoid any possible confusion, the above summary of Nightmares and Dreamscapes is a compliment. I cannot tell you how many times I've seen Hollywood completely decimate and almost sacrilegiously destroy King's brilliant writing. Needful Things and The Runningman are the worst of these atrocities, although they are far from the only ones. The remake of Carrie... the sequel that has nothing to do with King's novel... The Lawnmower Man (Which King sued to be disassociated from)... Christine... among others.

This mini-series, however, does justice to King's works, and treats them with the respect that they deserve. The acting is incredible. I can hardly believe that they were able to get William H. Macy, William Hurt and the majority of the other actors and actresses that they did manage to get for the project. Each is casted perfectly for their role, from the well-known stars to the little known gems. The direction is smart and clean; the set designs stunning; the animation (Battleground) superb, and the adaptations flawless. Each episode perfectly embodies the story from which it was based off of, and I cannot find any flaws in their translation into this mini-series.

I find it ironic that some of the upcoming episodes don't feature stories from the actual collection Nightmares and Dreamscapes, although I suppose that they mean the title as a general one, as opposed to a specific one. At any rate, they were all well chosen, and I hope that more adaptations of King's work fall under this level of care and craftsmanship. I don't even mean novels specifically. I hope that ALL of his stories are likewise adapted as such, although I would indeed love seeing more adaptations of his short stories done this way (Especially "All That You Love Will Be Carried Away" and "In the Death Room").

From Good To Bad In One Dreamy Leap

[nebk · 6/10 · 12 December 2013]

Nightmares & Dreamscapes is a collection of 8 made for TV episodes based on a collection of short stories by Stephen King. The title is slightly misleading since not all of the episodes are based on the stories from the book of the same name.

Overall the episodes vary from very good to just plain bad. As always there are problems with adapting King's work for the TV screen. Even if we allow for the changes that have to be made, some of the stories lack all the components that made them a good story whilst others have added padding in order to get them to the 45 minute mark or so.

The best segment is Battleground. It is the opening episode and is the best of the lot due partly to the acting ability of William Hurt who plays an assassin being pursued by a group of miniature toy soldier as he killed their creator. Given that this is a TV episode the effects of the soldiers and their weapons are actually very well done. Another great thing about this episode is that William Hurt does not have any dialogue, so everything is expressed through physical acting. Alas this is not true of the next episode.

The second episode is Crouch End is on the opposite side of the spectrum and is probably the worst of the lot. The acting is average at best and the effects are way below par. It's in tradition of H. P. Lovecraft, and is about a couple who gets lost in a London suburb and enters into a parallel dimension where strange things lurk. Quite a forgettable telling of the story.

The third story is Umney's Last Case and it is about a fictional private detective from the 1930's and the author who created him (both played by William H. Macy). The author decided to switch places with the character he created as he is sick of his real life since he lost his son in a tragic accident whilst the detective has numerous affairs and never experiences any loss, grief or unhappiness. An OK story but slightly extended for the TV so it looses momentum and feels forced at times. Still worth watching.

The fourth story is The End Of The Whole Mess and it's about a documentary film maker telling a story about how his brother and him managed to kill all of humanity by using a drug that they introduced into the atmosphere in order to try and bring an end to war and conflict. The super genius brother discovered a chemical compound that has a calming effect on anyone who is exposed to it. The enhanced compound however also has a horrible side effect of giving everyone fast acting Alzheimer's. Overall an average story. I preferred reading it.

The fifth story is The Road Virus Heads North, and is about a writer (Tom Berenger) who buys a painting at a yard sale and ends up being pursued by the figure in the painting. Whilst the story itself is good, the TV adaptation is not great at all. When I was reading it, the story was engrossing, when I was watching it I couldn't wait for it to be over.

The next story is called The Fifth Quarter and it's about a criminal who vows to go straight upon being released from prison but a dying friend gives him a quarter of a map that leads to 3 and a half million dollars. He wants to provide for his family and goes on to try and get the other pieces of the map from three other criminals. They are obviously not just going to hand over their map segments. Overall a good story with decent acting.

The seventh story is Autopsy Room Four and is about a man who finds himself on the autopsy table whilst he is still alive but completely paralyzed due to a snake bite. And no one seems to notice. Most of the story is about him trying to alert the morgue staff before they start cutting into him. The morgue staff is paying more attention to flirting and arguing amongst themselves. Some suspense so overall an O.K story.

The final story is called You know they've got a hell of a band and it's about a couple who gets lost taking back roads and ends up in an idyllic looking town called Rock N Roll Heaven. Some of the inhabitants are not that friendly and soon the two protagonists are being chased by dead rock stars including Janis Joplin, Buddy Holly, Ricky Nelson, Roy Orbison and others. They want them to stay for the concert...and never ever leave. An enjoyable story for rock and roll fans.

Overall the collection is worth watching if you are a fan of Stephen King's work and want to check it out, just don't expect anything too spectacular, although there are stories which are good and keep more or less true to the story on which they are based. I would rate it between 5-6.

Battleground Was Fantastic

[whpratt1 · 10/10 · 14 July 2006]

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.

Crouch end

[happy_clappy01 · 29 October 2006]

There are honestly no words that can adequately describe how awful that episode was. First of all that episode was not set in London at all, in no way. I've been to London many times and it does not look like it did in that episode, it was so SO obviously some back lot somewhere in America. and maybe if you've never been to England you'd have thought it was fine but contrary to popular belief we are not all called " Archie " and say "bloody" every 5 words.

That was set in the modern day i'm assuming, to be honest there are no red phone boxes anymore. And just because they randomly placed some doesn't make it anymore like England.

And what was with that old mans accent??! seriously one minute it was cockney then the next it was some kind of Yorkshire! There was no purpose for basically anything that happened, the giant cat i think it was, offering the women a cigarette or a "fag" was so pointless and stupid and what the hell was with the ending really? A giant tentacle monster thing came out of the ground and took her husband away ( and turned him into a cat i think?). it made no sense what so ever! AND then the old man said something like " Oh no its happened again"? if something like that had happened before people would know.

I am a huge Stephen King fan but if I were him, I would not have put my name to that at all, i'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt and say maybe it makes a better book than it does programme and I can only hope that next weeks one is better.

Good Stories, Disappointing Conclusions

[claudio_carvalho · 6/10 · 5 January 2008]

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")

Jumbo-Sized Adaptation Of King Junk Food

[Sandoz · 4/10 · 21 July 2006]

The majority of Stephen King's short stories are little gems, with original ideas that don't take a long time to develop; basically lean and mean--he sets them up quickly in a scarce number of pages, you read 'em, and you're finished before you know you've begun. They're like the equivalent of a carton of McDonald's fries--they taste Really good and you know there's not much nutritional value in them (re: from a literary standpoint, they don't say much about the universal human condition), but you're still gonna scarf 'em down, just don't be a pig and go for the extra-super-sized portion and fill up on too much grease ("too much grease" is a metaphor for the prose in King's novels when find yourself reading one of them and saying come on--enough with the pop-cultural observations or clever Yankee asides--get on with the story already!) He has compiled four books of short story collections. I've read them all--from NightShift to the latest, Everything's Eventual, and they all display an efficiency of getting-to-the-point which is sometimes sorely lacking in his tome-sized novels.

But his short stories never overstay their welcome...which brings us to the TV adaptations of Nightmares And Dreamscapes...

How in the hell did they (the series' producers) get a green-light to turn stories that usually averaged 15 pages into 50 minute episodes? I'll tell you how--two words--"Stephen King." Stories with his name on them probably didn't come cheap, and one hour shows enable more advertising than half hour ones, so...what should have been an anthology of mostly 23 or 24 minute episodes is turned into double that length, and double the commercial time...Ka-Ching!

I'm not going to waste time synopsizing the plots of these stories--this review supposes you have already read the stories and/or seen the show; what follows is merely my gut reactions to what TNT presented... Of the four installments so far, here's my ten cent assessment (from first to worst):

Battleground-- Not a classic by any means, but hey, how could anyone argue with keeping William Hurt from opening his trap by filming this episode without a single line of dialog? And the tongue-in-cheek reference and destruction of the killer Zuni doll from Trilogy Of Terror proved to me the producers (and the writer of the teleplay, who is Richard Matheson's son--the writer of TOT) knew their mission with this one was to make the action deadly, yet at the same time, fun. It took longer to get to Hurt's apartment than it should have, but I think it fulfilled it's objective. 8/10

Umney's Last Case-- Liked this one primarily because of William H. Macy's performance. I think the writer/Umney should have appeared in the story sooner into the private eye/Umney beginning because he was the actual reality of the story, and anyone familiar with the King short story (probably half, if not more of the audience) knew the Chandleresque set-up was due to get interrupted by the writer's reality, so let's get on with it already, and cut-out the cute and clever hard-boiled repartee' Private Dick banter already. Once the writer/Umney's family tragedy began to reveal though, I thought the show developed an emotional connection that made the viewer feel sympathy for the real-life Macy's attempt to escape his sorrows by usurping his fictional creation's exciting life. 6/10

The End Of The Whole Mess-- Uh, this title is how I felt about this episode when it was over. After twenty minutes, I was ready to scream at the TV--OK, we get it already, the younger brother is a Mega Mensa Genius Prodigy Extraordinaire! We know from Ron Livingston talking to the camera ("time is running out for me" ...not fast enough, I thought) that the young whiz kid is going to discover something really bad for humanity--we know this because he's already built an airplane but almost died because he couldn't steer it out of the path of a tree; and, he blew up his chemistry lab while teaching himself (just think: the end of the world could have been prevented if only this kid had had some more parental supervision). So much time was wasted on establishing the uber-genius of Henry Thomas that when we finally get to the resolution of his discovery--the end of the world through unintended, contagious idiocy--how much do we actually get to see of the world "ending?"--a cheap video shot of a reporter starting to forget what she's reporting on, and brief radio broadcasts announcing the day of judgement is at hand. Oh, and the brother's parents drooling and singing old songs. My point is, if your story is really about the "end of the whole mess", I wanna see the "mess" as the world goes up in flames and crashes and burns. Talk about ending with a whimper, indeed. 2/10

Crouch End-- This episode just ticked me off totally. I could have lived with the taking-forever exposition of the happy couple arriving at their hotel, playing slap-and-tickle, having lunch, and getting a taxi (that was half the episode right there), if once they finally crossed-over into Crouch End the episode delivered the chills, but it failed miserabley. Not only wasn't it scary, it was practically laughable. Ooh, look--a kitty...wait, it turns...oh my god! Look at it's scary eye! Uh-huh. They could have gone a long ways toward achieving chills by filming the Crouch End sequence at night instead of in daylight, too; things you might unintentionally find funny can become scarier when you see them in the shadows of the night. But I guess the budget wasn't high enough to afford shooting at night on the fake London sets they slapped together for this one. On the page, this is a very scary story about tourists wandering into places they shouldn't and the terrible things that might lurk there just around a corner. The only terror in this adaptation was the directing and acting--those were truly horrifying. 1/10

Overall Series Average (so far): 4/10

Exit Reality and Enter The Mind of Stephen King. The Nightmares and Dreamscapes of Stephen King.

[SilentBob417 · 10/10 · 13 July 2006]

Nightmares and Dreamscapes is a total of 8 stories each are an hour of odd encounters and events. Episodes based on stories from the Nightmares and Dreamscapes collection are "Umney's Last Case", "You Know They Got a Hell of a Band", "The End of the Whole Mess", "The Fifth Quarter", and "Crouch End". The balance of episodes are adaptations of "The Road Virus Heads North", and "Autopsy Room Four", collected in Everything's Eventual: 14 Dark Tales and, "Battleground", from the anthology Night Shift.

The show is currently on TNT showing 2 episodes a night on Wednesday Nights at 9:00 p.m. And 10:00 p.m. with an encore of the previous nights episodes on Thurdays nights at 11:00 p.m. And 12:00 p.m.

/Battleground\ Jason Renshaw (Hurt), a professional hit man, Successfully murders the CEO of a prestigious toy company, only to face the biggest fight of his life when a package from the toy company is delivered to his house with surprising, deadly contents.

/Crouch End\ A newlywed American couple (Bailey and Forlani) honeymooning in London goes to Crouch End to have dinner with a friend. They soon learn the town is not what it appears to be, and the more they get lost, the more they become trapped in another dimension

/Umney's Last Case\ After the death of his son, writer Sam Landry (Macy) is so desperate to lead another life, he writes himself into his own book, forcing his long-time character (also played by Macy) to change places with him and live in the modern day. But things get deadly when Landry realizes Umney is trapped and cannot write himself out of his new reality.

/The End of the Whole Mess\ The world had changed. Violence, war and hatred have been replaced with kindness, peace and love. But at what price? Renowned filmmaker Howie Fornoy (Livingston), with just one hour to live, recounts the details of his brother's (Thomas) worldwide experiment gone terribly wrong.

/The Road Virus Heads North\ Richard Kinnell (Berenger) is a famous writer who, at a doctor's visit, learns he may soon have to deal with his own mortality. On the drive back to his home, he buys a mysterious painting. Each time he looks at it, it changes to become more menacing and sinister. He pieces together that the painting is trying to kill him…but not if he can destroy it first.

/The Fifth Quarter\ Willie (Sisto), a just-released convict, learns from his dying friend of a map in four parts that reveals the location of several million dollars from a robbery. Seeking revenge for the death of his friend and the money, as well, Willie hunts down the others who hold the remaining three parts to the map, risking his family and his freedom.

/Autopsy Room Four\ Businessman Howard Cottrell (Thomas) is on vacation playing one of his many games of golf. Chasing the ball into the undergrowth, he is bitten by a snake and completely paralyzed, showing no signs of life. At the hospital, unable to communicate, he is the key witness to his own autopsy.

/You Know They Got A Hell of a Band\ A wrong turn on a lonely road turns frightening for Clark and Mary Willingham (Weber and Delaney) as they stumble upon a town not on any map - Rock and Roll Heaven, Oregon. There is a free concert every night, but the price of admission is high - once the audience enters, it can never leave.

Surprising tight rendition of plot for a TNT series

[Zak-20 · 7/10 · 12 July 2006]

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).

Dreadfully boring, not a good sign in horror or anything else...

[wigandjm · 2/10 · 16 December 2011]

Many reviewers have never read any of the Stephen King short stories made into these 45 minute pieces of torturous boredom. My problem was I had very much enjoyed "The Road Virus Heads North." Seeing it there on the screen as a tedious emotionally-hollow piece of garbage was the final straw.

I tried to get through the whole set but couldn't force myself to do it. Not everything King wrote was horror but he writes compelling stories and make you want to keep turning the page. These adaptations merely make you sleepy.

For the five of the eight that I could get through: 1) Battleground: This is the only reason it is a 2 instead of a 10. This one was absent any dialog and was an entertaining visual battle between hit-man Renshaw and the green army men of his last victim, toymaker Hans Morris. Intense and worth a watch. The same can't be said of the others.

2)Crouch End: A nod by Stephen King to his predecessor H.P. Lovecraft becomes second rate with terrible actors and bad visual effects. The newlyweds stumble into another dimension through a thin spot and encounter nightmarish things in this other place. There is nothing suspenseful about it and it goes on far too long.

3)Umney's Last Case: The fictional private eye and the writer who created him switch places after the writer loses his son. Escaping from reality, the writer regrets his choice by the end while the private eye tries to get back into the fictional world with no easy routes back. In 2006, William H. Macy (who is great in so many other things) actually got nominated for this hammy role. Its a cheesy character in many ways and feels forced. It is a fair episode at best.

4)The End of the Whole Mess: Howard Fornoy describes how his genius little brother, Bobby, destroyed the world. They altered the water of the world to make everyone more peaceful and end war BUT gave everyone Alzheimer's Disease as a side effect. TEDIOUS. The whole unwatchable episode (not sure how I got through it) focuses so much on describing the genius brother that the mass Alzheimer's Disease outbreak is barely shown.

5)The Road Virus Heads North: An author (played by Tom Berenger)picks up a disturbing painting at a yard sale and begins to realize that the thing in the painting is following him and intends to kill him. They added a subplot involving a colonoscopy and iffy test results... By doing this and a slight romantic subplot, they take a hard edged story about a man running from a monster from "the basement of the universe" into a tiring tale of mortality with the thing pursuing being unimportant until the end. BORING, NOT SCARY.

The Bottom Line: These did not transfer well from King's short stories. They were short punchy stories that were stretched too far in most cases. I know the End of the Whole Mess and Umney's Last Case weren't meant to be scary but the other three were supposed to be and failed miserably at it. They became the worst thing in horror: boring. If a story meant to frighten comes off as repetitive and boring it clearly isn't holding your interest as a good piece of horror does.

Short stories CAN become good television BUT Nightmares & Dreamscapes fails to do this.

The good, the bad and the horrid

[stryker1121 · 13 July 2006]

Battleground—A fun, suspenseful, if overlong adaptation of King's mediocre "Night Shift" tale. The action certainly dragged in spots, but William Hurt was effectively unpleasant as the beleaguered assassin, and the special effects were very good for TV.

Crouch End-I was looking forward to this one. It's one of my favorite stories from King's N & D collection. Unfortunately, what was on paper a creepy Lovecraftian yarn was turned into a schlocky TV-14 amalgamation of shock cuts, moody music and slow motion sequences to indicate mental distress. The special effects were especially atrocious; so bad it was hard to ignore them. The leads, particularly Claire Forlani as Doris Freeman, came off stilted and awkward. Perhaps they were hampered by a script full of rambling about "leather balls" and "thin spots" and "dimensions" that read much better than they sounded on TV. Easily one of the worst King adaptations I've ever seen, and honey, I've seen a lot of bad King adaptations. This will go right up there with Tommyknockers, Graveyard Shift, Pet Semetary, and the King-directed Max Overdrive.

Needs More Nightmares

[secretagent_007 · 6/10 · 8 January 2008]

I do like a good horror anthology series (Tales From the Crypt is coming soon…), but this series is only half horror. The other half is not that good (thriller, action, crime, etc). All the episodes are based off of Stephen King's short stories, and the guy is not strictly a horror writer, I admit. I just wanted a show with the word "nightmares" in its title to scare me, not make me chuckle at a goofy William H. Macy performance. Only a couple episodes really stand out, one of which is the Lovecraft-inspired "Crouch End." I know… Me? Like Lovecraft? Don't act so surprised! The episode starring William Hurt as an assassin besieged by green army soldiers come to life is different because of the lack of dialogue. It's an interesting choice, and cool at first, but after a while I just wanted Hurt to at least scream an obscenity at the toys instead of grunting like a cave man. Other episodes have their own methods of storytelling that work better, like in "The End of the Whole Mess," which has the main character telling much of the story into a video camera.

Since I'm not an avid reader of King's, I don't know if there are better shorts of his that remain untapped. All I know is that half of these stories probably shouldn't have been made into a TV show. Interviews on the discs indicate that some of the original short stories were less than 10 pages long. Turning that into a 50-minute show means an awful lot of pointless filler. Most of the draw lies in the fact that each episode has some recognizable star power. That doesn't mean Jeremy Sisto, Claire Forlani, Ron Livingston, and Steven Weber never act in crap. Still, I feel safe recommending this series to King fans. They can watch "Umney's Last Case"in flesh and blood at last instead of a "Dark Tower" movie.

http://www.movieswithmark.com

Good -- but t-o-o l-o-n-g-!

[driker22 · 6/10 · 13 July 2006]

Stephen King is a prolific and excellent writer but quite frequently he tends to use far more words than are really necessary. I found TNT's first two "Nightmares and Dreamscapes" episodes to accurately reflect Mr. King, at least in the too many words area. OK, there certainly weren't too many words in Combat, but I found myself falling into an "enough already stupor" around minute 35. I certainly hope Karen Black did not watch this episode or she will spend another twenty years avoiding her bathroom.

"Crouch End" put us into a quaint village, then a ratty warehouse district, then a largish downtown. I will admit to not having read Mr. King's story, but the shooting locations and the script (and frankly the acting)left me generally uninterested in this "little bit of everything" production.

First week excellent, second week a bit of a bore

[LindaM72 · 9/10 · 25 July 2006]

/1/ Battleground had great production values and excellent cast in William Hurt. The first half was slow but it made up for when the doo-doo hit the fan later in the movie.

/2/ Crouch End is one of the few attempts at interpreting King's Lovecraftian inspired tales into a movie, and it mostly excelled at that. Great cinematography, good cast, imaginative directing and creepy special effects make this episode a perfect compliment to Battleground during the first week.

/3/ Umney's Last Case is unfortunately a victim of an over zealous writer intent on changing a lot of Stephen King's work in the original short story. Macy does a good job of trying to salvage this movie, but I would skip this story when renting the DVD.

/4/ End Of the Whole Mess will come across as slow, talky and a bit conventional to many, the writing is probably the deepest of the four aired so far, but that can't help the slow pace and melodramatic performances.

Not bad.....

[lisakeys2003 · 7/10 · 14 June 2011]

As a considerable Stephen King fan, especially of his short stories, I was anxious to see this series. I bought the DVD set as I don't have cable and have watched it several times. While I agree with much of the content in the reviews, I have some notes to add. I guess I will go through each show... 1. Battlefield: Excellent. Special effects were of high quality. Agree with another reviewer that the people downstairs probably would've heard something...... 2. Crouch End: One of my very favorite of SK's short stories, however, I will regretfully agree that Claire Forlani's acting was atrocious and it did not translate well to the small screen at all. I completely agree with the commenter who said that what they envisioned in their mind while reading was much better than what was presented. I did enjoy the Melbourne scenery, though! 3. Umney's Last Case: Not my favorite short story, but well done thanks to William Macy. 4. The End of the Whole Mess: Rang true to the original story and was well executed. Yes, he could've done a bit more research on the La Plata population, but I guess time was of the essence. 5. The Road Virus Heads North: A great story by SK, remember it really effecting me when I read it, and quite frankly, this one really bit the big one. Something was missing for sure. 6. Autopsy Room 4: Good suspense, but I don't really think in real life that the hospital staff would be that disrespectful, inappropriate or pathetic. The attempts at sexual tension over the body were laughable. 7. They Got a Hell of a Band: Good story, but really should have picked a different story all together. It didn't really translate well. 8. The Fifth Quarter: Good story, well presented. Not horror, of course, but good just the same. Relatively happy ending for King. Hardly recognized Cody from Let Me In, what a great little actor he is.

I wish they would do another, though. Call me a sucker for punishment.

Battleground - very good, Crouch End - OK

[justinrothfuss · 8/10 · 13 July 2006]

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.

The best so far, and not a word of Dialogue

[PurpleReign1961 · 6/10 · 13 July 2006]

William Hurt has not aged well, but maybe the soul of the hit-man, is showing through on this one. Heartless hit-man (How can you kill a toy maker)gets his, plus more Mr. Hurt delivered a worthy performance without a word of dialog. My hats off to him. You have to give the few grunts and groan a skip, and just watch Mr. Hurts facial expressions. I have to tell you, if you could not hear, this short would "Talk" to you , without opening it's mouth. And, as a former resident of San Francisco, I would love to know, what part of the Bayview, was the apartment ? It was breathtaking ! The ending...well, all I can say is maybe the toymaker's best idea girl should consider working for the Military... Honestly, who would have seen this coming ?

As far as the second story, I skipped it, because I didn't like the story. But, from the guides of Television, I have to tell you, I'm looking forward to"The end of the whole mess","You know, they've got a hell of a band" and "Autopsy room 4" which reminds me of an old "Twilight Zone " episode.

If you have not read the stories yet, wait... Then compare.

top cast, rubbish adaptations,

[jonathan45 · 3/10 · 12 January 2007]

The first episode set the bar quite high i thought. It starred William Hurt as a hit-man who is contracted to kill a toymaker. We are given very little information on his character or who is paying him to kill, indeed the episode is notable for having no dialogue at all. Returning to his modernist penthouse he is delivered a package containing toy soldiers, this gives him a smile but he dismisses it and goes about his business. But he is in for a night of hell, the soldiers are alive and are about to wage war, driving jeeps, shooting machine guns and bazookas and even flying helicopters!. The special effects are good for a TV show and it becomes quite tense as he dodges around the apartment using his wits to survive, sometimes getting the upper hand and other times not. I wont spoil the ending but suffice to say it was a clever little twist. This gave me hope for the rest of the series but i was in for a disappointment, the other episodes were all rubbish and i lost interest by the fourth one. Stephen King adaptations are always a mixed bag and these are no exception

Faithful and Well Acted

[rushhour3 · 10/10 · 2 August 2006]

I have to say that I loved this miniseries. I had read about TNT doing something on it last year and came into it with great anticipation. I actually went out and bought all the books so I could read the stories prior to viewing. The books are great so I advise anyone who hasn't read them to do so and there only about six dollars each. Now onto the stories, I actually liked just about every story on screen better than on paper simply because of the fantastic acting and music. Also my favorite to read and watch was The End of the Whole Mess. If your someone who likes horror movies but thinks that the same stories are told over and over this should be a nice change. I highly recommend this to all horror and Stephen King fans because your in for a ride and the stories are very faithful to the books.

This King more like a Prince.

[jeff-coatney · 4/10 · 26 July 2006]

Man, I really wanted to like these shows. I am starving for some good television and I applaud TNT for providing these "opportunites". But, sadly, I am in the minority I guess when it comes to the Cinematic Stephen King. As brilliant as King's writing is, the irony is that it simply doesn't translate well to the screen, big or small. With few exceptions (very few), the King experience cannot be filmed with the same impact that the stories have when read. Many people would disagree with this, but I'm sure that in their heart of hearts they have to admit that the best filmed King story is but a pale memory of the one they read. The reason is simple. The average King story takes place in the mind-scape of the characters in the story. He gives us glimpses of their inner thoughts, their emotions and their sometimes fractured or unreal points of view. In short, King takes the reader places where you can't put a Panavision camera. As an audience watching the filmed King, we're left with less than half the information than the reader has access to. It's not too far a stretch to claim that One becomes a character in a King story they read, whereas One is limited to petty voyeurism of that same character when filmed. For as long as King writes, Hollywood will try shooting everything that comes out of his word processor, without any regard to whether or not they should. I don't blame the filmmakers for trying, but it takes an incredible amount of talent and circumspection to pull off the elusive Stephen King adaptation that works. The task is akin to turning lead into gold, or some arcane Zen mastery. Oh well, better luck next time.

creepy, psychological fun/thought-provoking

[girlyB · 10/10 · 30 July 2006]

I have enjoyed all of the episodes I have seen with perhaps the exception of Crouch End, which lost me after about ten minutes. End of The Whole Mess was brilliant -- the direction and the writing were so, so good. Battleground has exquisite acting and I especially liked Road Virus Heads North --I found it mesmerizing, contemplative, and unsettling. It resonated with me far longer than the others I think because it is most like a real nightmare -- the really vivid kind that stays with you. The antagonist is unknown, not immediately indentifiable and unrelenting. I found it subtle and intelligent in its understanding of what is truly scary.