This Arrow Video Blu-ray release is currently available at most retailers.
Like many low-budget independent genre filmmakers in the 1980s, Greek writer/director Nico Mastorakis found a nice niche for himself through the decade shooting monster movies and action pictures. Arrow Video have released Blu-rays of Death Has Blue Eyes (1976) and Blood Tide (1982). Both were made by Mastorakis and both have been reviewed on this site. The latest of the filmmaker’s titles to arrive from Arrow is Nightmare at Noon, an over-the-top and admittedly silly action picture featuring a better-than-average cast and some crazy stunts.
It’s safe to say that this effort represents the most elaborate and complicated of the filmmaker’s works (on a technical level). The plot is as simple and straight-forward as it gets, but there is a reckless abandon on display as characters are punched, shot, sent though windows, run down by vehicles, hurled into the air and/or blown up. It is something to behold. This movie all about macho gun-toting excess and it does deliver on that front.
The story revolves around a covert organization named APE (Agency for the Protection of the Environment), who in no way are interested in helping with nature conservation. Instead, lead member The Albino (Brion James) releases a green chemical into the water supply of a small Utah town called Canyonlands. The substance causes anyone who drinks it to turn into a homicidal maniac. Just as this occurs, Los Angeles-based lawyer Ken Griffiths (Wings Hauser) and his wife Cheri (Kimberly Beck) arrive in the area driving a ridiculously oversized camper. They pick up a hitchhiker named Reilly (Bo Hopkins) and stop at a local diner, only to witness the start of the chaos. Sheriff Hanks (George Kennedy) and his daughter/deputy Julia (Kimberly Ross) appear to provide police assistance, but it immediately becomes clear that a sinister plot is afoot and that the unaffected will have to fight to survive.
After an intro featuring The Albino silently smirking and staring menacingly at a green computer monitor, it only takes a couple of introduction scenes before the leads witness a series of crazy assaults. Reilly, Hanks, Julia and some of the others do their best to stop the threat and, on many occasions, are forced to fire upon and eliminate their assailants. Despite the low-budget, Mastorakis is very good at filming car chases and gunfights. The constant action is peppy and even exciting at times.
Another positive is a surprising subplot that finds a couple of the leads succumbing to the drug. It is revealed that one has consumed water and the person immediately goes on the rampage, attempting to maim another co-star. There is also an amusing subplot involving nice-guy Sheriff Harks, who consumes a coffee before work and secretly attempts to hide his worsening condition from the others. He does manage to hold off going mad for a considerable amount of time. This, of course, leads to a lot of unanswered questions. Namely, are well-intentioned or sweet people able to hold off the effects of the chemical for an extended period of time? And are jerks more likely to become homicidal immediately?
At least it adds to the surreal and silly tone and, in this instance, makes the film an amusing experience rather than a heavy and brooding ordeal. These and other logic queries are present throughout the film. It seems awfully odd that the heroes aren’t more shocked by the green blood that spills out of those whom they fire upon. They note it but don’t appear all that disturbed by the lime ooze spraying out of bodies. And after Reilly evades death and visits a radio disc jockey to try and get a message to the Army, he doesn’t seem to care that the DJ before him is drinking out of a coffee mug. At the close, everyone seems too unfazed by what they’ve experienced. A budding romance is addressed and the surprise fate of one character at the very end should really make all involved reconsider their violent acts earlier in the movie.
Of course, in B-movies these strange and contradictory behaviors become a charming trait. So yes, there’s not a lot here that makes logical sense. However, the movie provides plenty of goofy fun and impressive live stunts, fight choreography, car crashes and explosions. And it allows B-movie fans the opportunity for some amusing cracks when a strange story anomaly appears.
Overall, I had a good time watching the title. I have seen this film before, but only on VHS back in the day (which is how most people my age saw the picture). As you might have already guessed, the Blu-ray offers a great improvement in picture quality. Pay no attention to the images on display in this article… the Blu-ray image is remarkably clean and the outrageous action really pops. It’s always fun to see these flicks present a fight with a character or characters being thrown through a window pane. With this new edition, you can see every little bit of glass fly out at the screen and bounce on the sidewalk. Additionally, there’s a wonderfully shot helicopter chase through Arches National Park that features choppers flying under and around rock formations. It’s an excellent-looking disc.
There are also a couple of notable bonuses. There is a lengthy series of behind-the-scenes home movies that were shot during production. This feature runs about 45-minutes in length, shows set-ups and the planning of various action bits. It does give viewers a sense of how these elements came together. Additionally, the disc contains a trailer, as well as an image gallery accompanied by the film’s score (which isn’t half-bad and was co-composed by Hans Zimmer). Cast interviews shot during the production are also included. There’s a good one with Brion James who talks about his issues with playing bad guys (and slowly realizing that the parts have had an effect on his own personal behavior that he has been trying to overcome).
But the highlight is a 30-minute-plus making-of featurette with behind-the-scenes clips and finished scenes that features the voice of Mastorakis sharing his recollections of the production. He’s very honest in his comments. The filmmaker found Wings Hauser to be an absolute nightmare on set. Mastorakis says that the actor was a cocaine addict at the time and was almost impossible to work with. The director adds that one night during the shoot, Hauser and his brother got into a fist fight. The actor was arrested and the production had to bail him out of jail to continue the shoot. He mentions that many who worked with the actor received apologies from him for his behavior after he cleaned up.
By contrast, George Kennedy was described as an absolute gentleman who was exceptional on-set despite suffering from painful knee problems. And other, more disturbing memories suggest that there was great danger onset while shooting various stunts. One artist who planned out an elaborate motorcycle gag was seriously injured after soaring past the padded landing area.
In the end, Nightmare at Noon is an insane little B-movie that mixes elements of the horror film The Crazies with over-the-top action spectacle that was trendy in the 1980s. It’s bizarre and cheesy, but it certainly isn’t dull. The movie provides fans of low-budget cinema with plenty of memorable moments and odd behavior from its characters. Arrow Video have also done an exceptional job with the Blu-ray, presenting an excellent transfer of the film with added insight from Mastorakis himself that provides more layers to the movie itself. It’s a disc well worth picking up.