Nightmare at Noon – Arrow

Directed by: Nico Mastorakis
Written by: Nico Mastorakis
Starring: Wings Hauser, Bo Hopkins, Kimberly Beck, George Kennedy, Brion James, Kimberly Ross
Year: 1988
Country:  USA
Running time:  96mins
BBFC Classification: 18

Quite possibly Nico Mastorakis’ masterpiece (at least to this two-bit, B-movie loving reviewer!), Nightmare at Noon is an insanely fun mix of sci-fi, eco-horror, stunt-packed action and 80s cheese. It’s an absolute hoot, not to be taken seriously, features many recognisable 80s genre great, and is stuffed with bonkers action.

Vacationing couple Ken and Cheri Griffiths (Hauser and Beck) are cruising through the Utah landscape in their ridiculously oversized RV when they pick up cool-as-a-cucumber hitchhiker Reilly (Hopkins). They then rock up in a small town and no sooner have they ordered food and beers than all hell breaks loose. Said town’s water supply has been infected by the mysterious Albino (James) and his army of tooled up goons, using the small Utah town as a testing ground for experiments that turn the residents into blood crazed mutants’ hell bent on destruction. Soon the town is in chaos leading to Griffiths’ and Reilly to team up with the local Sherriff and his daughter (Kennedy and Ross) to fight off the ever-marauding infected townspeople. Crazy stunts, endless gunfire, and much madness ensues.

A loose remake of earlier ace B-movie Mutant (1984), which coincidentally also starred Wings Hauser and Bo Hopkins, Mastorakis’ flick amps everything up to Nth Degree creating one zany flick that could only have come from the decade that taste forgot. There are endless raged zombie residents running around town in manic glee; Brion James ramps up the creepiness by never saying a word the entire film (and wears huge 80s style shades – cool!); there’s gore, hot babes, sci-fi silliness and oodles of awesome (and dangerous looking) stunt filled action. From epic squibs to shotgun blasting mayhem, to vehicular destruction and a cool helicopter chase through Arches National Park: Mastorakis’ pack in as much as he can into the loony tune narrative and wallops us around the head with it.

Then there’s Wings Hauser. Never one to do subtle, he’s through the stratosphere here (with apparent off-set drug and alcohol issues fuelling his penchant for the intense!) he’s madder and more manic than any of the town’s infected marauders and he certainly brings some frantic energy to proceedings. Hopkins is the opposite, all calm and cool playing to the western vibes his character gives off and their supported by the great George Kennedy and the two Kimberley’s, Ross and Beck, who give spunky performances as the tough shooting sheriff’s daughter and Hauser’s peppy wife come rampaging zombie.

They sure don’t make them like this anymore and Mastorakis cranked a few more cool and cheesy flicks post Nightmare (Hired to Kill, In the Cold of the Night) but this was perhaps his last great flick firing on all cylinders. It’s a Mastorakis/Omega Entertainment flick through and through and why the more serious cinephiles out there may baulk at enjoying anything this trashy (it has an early score from the great and very classy Hans Zimmer – so you know, it’s ok to like it!) but for those of us who enjoy B-movies that go big and want a fix of old school stunt filled action then Nightmare at Noon is a winner.

Arrow Video will release Nightmare at Noon on Blu-ray 5th December 2022

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS

• Brand new restoration from the original negative
  • High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation – flick looks great and the restoration makes the colours pop and benefits the great Utah lensed locations, especially in the red rock Arches National Park set helicopter chase finale.
  • Original uncompressed stereo audio
  • Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • Optional Greek subtitles
  • Behind-the-scenes footage – this is a superb look behind the scenes of this low budget opus and at nearly an hour long, packs in loads of great BTS footage and how they filmed all the stunts and action. There’s no voiceover just lots of making of footage showing how Nico and his crew really did take over the town of Moab, Utah to shoot the movie. The feature shows scenes and stunts being set up and filmed and then shows the completed the version for comparison, giving a real insight into how low budget action/horror films are made (or were made). There’s also some painful footage of the incredible motorcycle stunt (performed by stuntman John Stewart) that goes very wrong for the poor fella and shows how dangerous it really was! For lovers of B-movie cinema, like myself, behind the scenes stuff like this on lesser-known movies is awesome stuff.
  • The Films of Nico Mastorakis: Nightmare at Noon, featurette on the making of the film with commentary from director Nico Mastorakis – another cool feature where Nico discusses the making of the film with more BTS footage. It does unfortunately repeat a good amount of footage seen in the previous (and longer) BTS feature and the below interviews, but still includes enough new stuff and some great stories from Nico about the making of the film and what it was like working with Wings Hauser.
  • Original onset interviews with actors Wings Hauser, Bo Hopkins, Kimberly Beck, George Kennedy and Brion James – great set of interviews with the principal cast shot at the time of making the film with George Kennedy, Kimberley Beck and Brion James coming off the best with their filmmaking stories and warm likability. Bo Hopkins is certainly a cool cat but mumbles too much and seems disinterested and Wings Hauser is, well, Wings Hauser! He sure is entertaining but succumbs to the age-old-adage of the “the actor” proclaiming “I hate action movie, never watch them, hate making them!” attitude despite starring in a load of them and saying how much he’s enjoying making Noon!
  • Trailer – awesome old school trailer that sells the madness of the flick and manages to feature pretty much all the stunts and explosions giving away the entire movie!
  • Image gallery accompanied by the film’s score from Stanley Myers and Hans Zimmer – cool little feature featuring before- he-was-mega-famous-and-every-fanboy’s-favourite-composer, Zimmer’s score for the movie.
  • Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys