We have a brand new trailer for the upcoming horror anthology movie Nightmare Cinema. Horror history is littered with great horror anthologies, such as Creepshow, Trick 'r Treat and Tales From the Hood. This one has been making the festival rounds for a bit now and it's nearly time for the project to make its way out into the world this summer. As such, the studio has decided to drop this new trailer, which features Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler, Spun) playing host to some unsuspecting victims into this twisted world. It's a lot to process.
The trailer itself sets up the connective tissue that exists between all of these segments. Former Hollywood heavyweight and Oscar-nominee Mickey Rourke is a creepy theater projectionist who is leading these poor souls through these various horrors. We get glimpses of each segment, but not enough to really totally understand what any of them individually will consist of. Lots of grabby imagery. Someone about to get a surgery we can only guess won't go well, creepy nuns, body dysmorphia. There's an awful lot going on in a short span of time. Almost too much, one could argue, for the sake of a trailer. Rourke punctuates the whole thing with a line befitting someone of his character's stature.
"Welcome to my nightmare."
Nightmare Cinema centers on five strangers who are drawn to an abandoned theater and forced to watch their deepest and darkest fears play out before them on screen. Lurking somewhere in the shadows of this theater is a man known simply as "the Projectionist." He preys upon their souls with his vast collection of disturbing movies that he's acquired over the years. As each reel spins its sinister tale, the characters find that there are terrifying parallels to their own lives.
The big hook with this movie is that five rather notable horror directors all contributed segments. This includes Mick Garris (The Stand, Riding the Bullet), Joe Dante (Gremlins, The Howling), David Slade (30 Days of Night, Hard Candy), Ryuhei Kitamura (Versus, The Midnight Meat Train), and Alejandro Brugues (Juan of the Dead, The ABCs of Death 2). The various segments are titled The Thing in the Woods, Mirari, Mashit, This Way to Egress and Dead. The cast includes Annabeth Gish (Mystic Pizza), Elizabeth Reaser (Twilight), Maurice Benard (General Hospital), Richard Chamberlain (The Towering Inferno), Sarah Elizabeth Withers (Play by Play and Zarah Mahler (Major Crimes).
In addition to the trailer, the studio has also released a rather unsettling poster, with one of the hideous beings we're set to encounter along the way. So far, critics who have screened the movie have been quite kind to it, as it boasts an 88 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with 16 reviews counted. Nightmare Cinema is set to hit select theaters and on demand platforms on June 21. Be sure to check out the new trailer and poster from Cranked Up Films below.
