Nightmares (1983 film)

During a routine traffic stop one night, a highway patrolman is viciously stabbed multiple times by an unseen assailant leaping from the bushes, who escapes as quickly as they arrived. The perpetrator is identified by various TV and radio reporters as William Henry Glazier, a murderous escapee of a mental institution who is terrorizing the Topanga area, which mention that the cop, currently undergoing surgery, is his fifth victim.

Meanwhile, Lisa (Raines), a housewife and heavy smoker, puts her children to bed as a news bulletin warning about Glazier appears on her television. Lisa discovers that she is out of cigarettes, prompting her to rush to the store for some more. Her husband Phillip (Joe Lambie), knowing about her addiction, forbids her to leave the house at such a late hour with a madman on the loose, advising her to kick her habit instead. Despite this, she writes Phillip a note, then sneaks to her car and drives to the store.

During the drive, Lisa listens to a radio bulletin warning residents about Glazier, before she is startled by a hitchhiker. Lisa reaches the store and gets some groceries, as well as her cigarettes. The cashier that rings her up warns her about Glazier as well, briefly showing a gun he is carrying for protection. During the drive home, Lisa discovers that she is almost out of gas, and all the local gas stations are already closed for the night. She finally stops at a more out-of-the-way station. The attendant (William Sanderson) who approaches her happens to perfectly match Glazier's physical appearance. Lisa also grows increasingly alarmed as the attendant seems to be studying her car and herself intently. Suddenly, the attendant lunges at the car with the gas nozzle, breaking the window. He drags Lisa out of the car, then draws a pistol and shoots the actual Glazier (Lee Ving), who was revealed to be hiding in Lisa's back seat the entire time. The attendant calms the crying Lisa by offering to call the police.

Sometime later, the police drive the frightened Lisa back home, where she embraces Phillip. Phillip asks if Lisa got her cigarettes, as Lisa responds by showing him her pack, throwing them in a trash can, and answering no, implying that the experience has cured her of her addiction.

J.J. Cooney (Estevez) is an immensely talented video game wizard and arcade game hustler, hanging out with his bespectacled friend Zock Maxwell (Billy Jayne). The two of them head into an inner-city arcade to challenge a gang of Hispanic players to a few rounds of Pleiades, offering the winner a dollar per game with a five game minimum. After a few games, one of the gang members recognizes J.J., and tells the others that they are getting hustled, prompting J.J. and Zock to make a run for it.

J.J. and Zock head to the arcade at the local shopping mall, with J.J. hoping to use the money he got from hustling to try and beat The Bishop of Battle: a maddeningly difficult video game that centers on players trying to fight off enemies and escape from a 3-D maze that features thirteen different levels. Zock mentions how no one he or Jerry know has made it to the thirteenth level, to the point that he and many others believe it is just a myth. J.J., however, is convinced that the thirteenth level is real, as he heard a kid in New Jersey got to it twice. After an argument about J.J.'s obsession with video games, particularly The Bishop of Battle, J.J. gives Zock his cut of the profits as Zock leaves for home. J.J. receives a warm welcome as he enters the arcade. He inserts a quarter into the Bishop of Battle cabinet, prompting an introduction from the game's villain, a 3-D face known as The Bishop of Battle, who invites players to try and beat all thirteen levels. J.J. repeatedly tries and fails to make it to the thirteenth level, but only manages to make it to level 12. Determined not to give up, even after closing time, J.J. tries to play one more game, only for the owner of the arcade to force him to leave.

At J.J.'s house, his parents also voice their concern with his obsession with gaming, primarily about how it is affecting his performance in school, leading them to ground him until his grades improve. That night, J.J. sneaks out when his parents are asleep and breaks into the mall arcade to finally finish the game. J.J.'s parents are awoken by a call from Zock, who is worried if J.J. made it home or not, leading them to discover J.J. is gone. Back at the arcade, J.J finally manages to reach the thirteenth level. Suddenly, the arcade cabinet's screen begins flickering various colors and shapes, and the cabinet itself begins shaking violently until it collapses. The Bishop of Battle's voice rings out, telling J.J. that he is a very good player and welcomes him to level 13, before the cabinet releases a wave of energy. After the wave passes, the game's 3-D enemies fly out of the ruins of the cabinet, escaping into the real world. The enemies fire lasers at J.J. that manage to do serious damage to the surrounding arcade machines. J.J. manages to defends himself with the gun from the game's controls, which is now able to actually fire lasers as well (Estevez went through a two-week gun training session with the NYPD to realistically perform his gun maneuvers for the scene). Jerry escapes the arcade and flees to the parking lot, but drops his gun in the process. The Bishop of Battle appears in reality, drawing closer and closer to a terrified Jerry.

The next morning, Zock and J.J.'s parents head to the arcade in search of J.J. They discover the damage the arcade sustained during the previous night's battle, as well as the Bishop of Battle cabinet, having been mysteriously reconstructed. Zock hears J.J.'s voice emanating from the cabinet, reciting the Bishop of Battle's lines from the game. Zock and J.J.'s parents then discover J.J. on the screen, watching as he turns into the sprite of the game's player character, hinting that he is now trapped in the game, ready to be controlled by other players.

Frank MacLeod (Henriksen), a Catholic priest, is seen tending a field near the small Hispanic parish where he serves. A doe tentatively approaches him, but it is quickly bitten and killed by a vicious rattlesnake. MacLeod attempts to kill the snake, then manages to throw it away, watching as it disappears into thin air, before discovering that it managed to bite him on the hand. He wakes up in bed, screaming, revealing that the experience was a nightmare.

Later that day, Frank directs the funeral of a young boy to a crowd of weeping mourners, but is unable to provide the mourners with comfort. Visiting his Bishop (Robin Gammell), Frank explains how he witnessed the boy's death first-hand and how the experience has given him a crisis of faith, mentioning how he has lost his belief in the concepts of good and evil. Ignoring the advice of his fellow priest, Luis, Frank resigns his position and leaves the rectory with some holy water that he considers mere tap water. He takes off across the desert in his car, searching for a new purpose in life.

He encounters a black Chevrolet C-20 Fleetside with tinted windows on the road shortly after he leaves, and signals for it to pass, but it goes at the same time he does, nearly causing an accident. A while later, Frank has a flashback to the death of the young boy mentioned earlier. The child had been senselessly killed during a robbery of the local grocery store, and while the parents wanted him to administer last rites, Frank wanted to call an ambulance in an attempt to revive the child. Afterwards, the same truck from earlier appears out of nowhere behind Frank and bumps into his car, detaching his rear bumper and forcing him off the road. Frank then has a flashback to his talk with the Bishop, mentioning that he has been plagued with visions of anarchy, his lost faith convincing him that there is no God who would allow such suffering.

As Frank attempts to fix the bumper, the truck appears again, nearly running him over. Frank attempts to escape, but the truck manages to catch up with him as he desperately asks its unseen driver what they want, before once again being forced off the road. Frank gets back on the road again, keeping a sharp eye out for the truck. He soon hears an ominous rumbling sound, and discovers a large bulge appearing in the ground, as if something is buried underneath. The truck explodes out of the ground and once again turns to Frank, prompting him to drive away. At this point, it is revealed that the truck is Satanic in origin, has an inverted cross hanging from the rear-view mirror, and is possibly driven by Satan himself. The demonic truck picks up speed and destroys Frank's car in a collision that does no damage to the truck, further proving its supernatural properties. Injured from the crash and left with nowhere to run, Frank climbs out of his ruined car as the Satanic truck closes in for the kill. In desperation, Frank tosses the container of holy water he had been carrying at the truck, vaporizing it, before he falls unconscious. Police and an ambulance crew arrive at the scene, not seeing any evidence that the truck was ever there. Frank has one final flashback of a talk with his Bishop, who mentions that only a very few individuals have been given literal signs that powers that be exist. He requests that the paramedics take him to the hospital located in his parish, having regained his faith after the harrowing experience.

One stormy night, housewife Claire Houston (Cartwright) hears something scurrying in the attic and walls of her house. While she believes it to be rats, her husband, Steven (Masur), believes it to just be the wind, advising her to go to sleep. The next morning, Steven discovers that Claire has been browsing the phone book to look for an exterminator, as she is still believing that there is a rat infestation. Steven does not want to spend any extra money, since he and the family are already saving up to have a swimming pool put in, and simply suggests that Claire set up a few mousetraps. After Steven leaves for work, Claire hears noises coming from the cabinets in her kitchen. When she goes to investigate, she watches as drinking glasses shatter and cans of food are knocked off the shelves.

Later that night, Steven sets up mousetraps in the attic. A rat is soon caught in one of the traps, prompting Claire to have Steven get rid of the carcass. As Steven throws the dead rat in the garbage, the family cat, Rosie, investigates the house's crawlspace, where she is mauled to death by an unseen creature. The next day, Claire's daughter, Brooke, discovers that Rosie is missing and becomes worried. At the same time, the kitchen sink is revealed to be clogged with rat hair. Claire sets out to find Rosie, entering the crawlspace to look for her. She finds Rosie's corpse, but also begins hearing ominous noises and seeing the silhouette of a large creature with glowing red eyes peering out at her in the darkness, prompting her to escape. Later that day, Brooke discovers that her room and her toys have been torn to shreds, thinking that Rosie is responsible. Entering the room, Claire discovers that the only thing left untouched is a stuffed rat doll, just as the lights begin flickering on and off.

Soon enough, Claire calls an exterminator, Mel Keefer (Albert Hague), who discovers that the creature, which he has identified as a rat, has managed to gnaw through the pipes and the power cables inside, causing the flickering lights. Keefer also discovers a large, saliva-covered hole behind a cabinet in the kitchen, just as Steven comes home. Steven is unhappy that Claire has hired Keefer, still insisting that he'll fix everything himself despite the fact that Claire tells him he can't. Steven ignores Claire and tells Mel to leave.

That night, Brooke sleeps in the guest room as she hopes for Rosie to come back. Claire then receives a phone call from Mel, who has made a breakthrough regarding the rat problem. He has looked in an old book he owns for information about a creature known as "Das Teufel Nagetier", translated to "The Devil Rodent". According to legend, the Devil Rodent is a large, malevolent rat with large amounts of strength and cunning that used to terrorize villainous individuals in 17th century Europe. Mel also mentions that the Devil Rodent cannot be destroyed, just as Steven grabs the phone and tells Keefer not to call again. Suddenly, the family hear the piano downstairs playing jumbled notes. They discover that the keys have been gnawed on as Brooke comes downstairs. Steven manages to save her after a china cabinet nearly falls on her. Discovering more drool covered holes in the wall, and hearing the radio suddenly turn on and off, Steven loads a shotgun and goes in search of the creature as Claire and Brooke hide upstairs. The power turns on and off repeatedly as Steven searches the kitchen. Hearing a clanging noise, Steven shoots the pantry, prompting Claire to warn him in vain that he can't kill the creature. Brooke hears the creature in the ceiling, prompting Steven to go up to the attic.

The door to the guest room suddenly slams shut as Brooke begins screaming. Kicking the door open, Steven and Claire come face to face with the Devil Rodent itself. The giant rat proceeds to demonstrate psychic abilities, moving furniture, opening and closing doors and windows, and damaging the room repeatedly with an ear-shattering roar. Claire tries to get Steven not to shoot the creature out of fear that he'll shoot Brooke instead. The Devil Rodent manages to mentally communicate with Brooke, who tells her parents that the creature is a mother, and is looking for her baby. Steven rushes into the kitchen, roots through the garbage can, and pulls out the dead rat he originally threw away. He places it in a shoebox and puts the box near the window. The Devil Rodent moves towards the box and reclaims her baby, as Steven tries once more to kill it. Ultimately, Steven refuses to shoot the Devil Rodent, who unleashes one last roar, and disappears out the window. The frightened family reunite, shedding rears of relief. Brooke asks her parents where the Devil Rodent will be going next.