Average User Rating: 3 Vote(s)
 
Average User Rating
Average User Rating
Average User Rating
Average User Rating
Average User Rating
Average User Rating
Average User Rating
Average User Rating
Average User Rating
Average User Rating
Coverscan of Nightmares
Video Cover Thumbnail(s)

Distributor CIC
Catalogue Number VHA1091
Release Series
Release Date June 1984
Duration: 94m 30s
Printed Classification
Notes
User Reviews:
by Lee James Turnock
I remember seeing the second instalment of this four-part horror anthology on television back in the eighties and thinking it was pretty damn cool. Emilio Estevez (remember him?) plays a bratty video game 'hustler' who uses his joystick skills to con money out of archetypal ethnic street gangs. He also has a fixation on an arcade game called 'Battle of the Bishop', to the point of breaking into the arcade late at night in an attempt at cracking the legendary thirteenth level. Well, decades later, this is still the best part of the film, even though it's ridiculously dated and implausible. To begin with, the amusement arcade is located in a fucking shopping centre, yet Emilio is somehow able to break in through a rear exit without triggering a load of alarms. Secondly, the visual effects aren't on the same level as [i]Tron[/i]. In fact, they're closer to the old public information film [i]Say No to Strangers[/i] than anything. But enough of the bitching, let's move on to the other segments. The first one, a cautionary tale concerning just how hazardous smoking can be to your health, is reasonable. The third, about a priest undergoing a crisis of faith which is redeemed following a showdown with an apparently Satanic motor vehicle, is just boring. But the fourth almost caused me to throw the tape across the room. It's about a family being persecuted by a giant rat. Not only does the man of the house act like a complete dick from start to finish, the effects on the rat must have looked laughable even thirty years ago. They're even worse than the effects in [i]Digby - the Biggest Dog in the World[/i]. No kidding. I felt sorry for the family cat, then I envied him - at least his early death meant he didn't have to witness the shitfest that was unravelling before my disbelieving eyes.