Fourteenth Annual FMS Scarilicious October Movie Series: #3 Nightmares & Dreamscapes

 Yes, it's another Stephen King adaptation, this time TNT's 2006 anthology "even" based on short stories from three different SK collections (not just Nightmares & Dreamscapes, to be clear).  As has been well-documented here, I love horror anthologies, despite how hit or miss they can be.  I also love SK short stories which are usually more hit than miss.  For made-for-tv / non-cable horror, N&D is okay, although I questioned some of the stories they chose to do.  I also suspect that I saw this on actual television when it came out in 2006 but that is neither here nor there.

• "Battleground" - Starring William Hurt and the helicopter pilot from The Road Warrior, whereby a hitman has to deal with the consequences of his job.  I love this short story - and it's a very short one so this episode seems a touch long - and they did a pretty good job with it.  There's no dialogue and the effects are darn good.  Best episdoe of the bunch.  The story itself is actually from the Nightshift collection and is more wierd than horror.
• "Crouch End" - I love this story too with its Lovecraftian tone, although much of what I love makes it difficult to adapt for television, especially with 2006 CGI: an American couple gets lost in an increasingly weird London neighborhood.  Starring Claire Forlani.
• "Umney's Last Case" - An homage to Dashiell Hammett et als., this is the story where private investigator Clyde Umney (William H. Macy) finds his life falling apart for a reason he could never have imagined.  Macy got excellent reviews for his dual role here.  Not horror though, by a long shot.
• "The End of the Whole Mess" - Ron Livingston and Henry Thomas play Howard and Bobby Fornoy respectively, two genius brouthers who destroy the world by trying to save it.  The short story is terrific but it really doesn't work well as a movie: the story is written as a diary entry by Howard, recapping what they did.  Depressing as hell too!
• "The Road Virus Heads North" - This one is from the Everything's Eventual collection.  It's a good story (horror writer meets haunted painting), with middling execution here.  Stephen King is just sooooo difficult to put on screen!  And they felt the need to verbally explain the symbolism rather than let the viewer figure it out.  Tom Berenger stars.  And the "New England" accents are predictably shitty.
• "The Fifth Quarter" - Jeremy Sisto is one of a group of ex-cons fighting over a treasure map.  I found this one boring, and might have dozed off a bit.  It's not much like the source story at all.
• "Autopsy Room Four" - Also from Everything's Eventual, this is another odd choice for adaption seeing how the whole story is told from the point of view of a man trapped in his body, unable to move or speak, such that everyone thinks he's dead.  It's played sort of as a comedy here and I really didn't like it.  Plus I'm not a Richard Thomas fan.
• "You Know They've Got a Hell of a Band" - This is one of my favorite SK short stories - I just like the idea with all the musicians who died too young.  Steven Weber and Kim Delaney star in this one.  I thought it was pretty good, although in the story, since you're reading, you believe the dead people are who they are (Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Elvis, etc.); here, since you've got actors made up to look like the dead musicians, there's a disconnect.  I also thought it was lacking the sense of dread from the story but still, one of the stronger episodes.