Night Wars (1988)

Best movie of this year hands down!

Purely Joyful Movie!

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Jim Lowery (Smith) and Trent Matthews (O'Connor) are 'Nam buddies who, nine years after the war, are both haunted by the specter of their compatriot Jhonny O'Connor (that's how they spell his first name, it's not a typo) (Hood). Jim and Trent must feel guilty for Jhonny's becoming a POW. But when their dreams are so vivid, their injuries and cuts appear in their waking lives, they know there's a serious problem. The torment of rogue mercenary McGregor (Horton) and his torture tactics have gotten to Jim and Trent so badly, Trent's concerned wife Susanne (Foors) calls in psychologist Dr. Mike Campbell (Haggerty) for help. But the boys must "sleep together" in their fatigues to defeat the enemies in their dreams. When dreams and real life blur, who knows what the truth really is?Night Wars is a good attempt at seriousness from AIP, but, once again, comes off as silly most of the time. That might be because of the constant, uncanny casting of goofy-looking sweaty people in almost every role. But there are some cool ideas and effects mixed in with the standard machine-gun firefights. This movie asks the question: what if the emotional trauma of returning Vietnam vets mutated into an actual, physical horror after the war? Try to imagine Jungle Assault (1989) crossed with A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984). What if Freddy Krueger was a Vietnam vet?The role of Jim Lowery should have been played by Wings Hauser, and he and Trent surely are the Bill and Ted of AIP movies, but mention (not necessarily honorable) must go to Dan Haggerty as the "cool" psychologist with the necklace and the pared-down beard. He's really showing his range here. He's not Grizzly Adams or the guy from Elves (1989). He's a doctor. It's really one of his best sweaters, er, performances.There are the prerequisite torture sequences, but this time, they are really heaped on. There's also the typical jungle/war clichés, but this time they are mixed with a dash of spookiness. Also it must be noted that this film has the most amount of people bellowing "NOOOOooooo!!!!!" that we've seen to date - it occurs four times during the movie.While the ideas in Night Wars can't exactly be described as original (many are lifted wholesale from Elm Street), the attempt to marry the Vietnam war film with the phantasmagoric dream film gives this AIP outing an interesting and noteworthy edge above some of the others. It really gives new meaning to the term "Dream Warriors". Dokken take note.For a war/horror hybrid film served up AIP style, look no further than Night Wars.for more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com

The movie was alright..The used car man was hot! The salesman..those eyes. They don't make men like that in the 2000's. He is played by David Ott. Are there any other films featuring him (topless hopefully).The car chase doesn't last long enough.He's cute.Acting is OK but he is quite the comic relief.At first glance he looks like the late Michael Hutchance from INXS.Would like to see him today.Thought I caught him uncredited in Vanilla Shy but that is some years later.Possibly has short role in "Sex and the City"

I have commented before on how I generally find David A. Prior's ideas to be really cool, but his direction to be very poor. The big exception to this was `Lock ‘N Load,' which I found to be great. Other good Prior movies are the higher-budgeted `Raw Nerve' and the silly but fun `Invasion Force.' I watched `Night Wars' not really knowing what to expect. The plot sounded neat, but it was still a low-budget AIP movie with only one name star, Dan Haggerty. But as it unfolded, I was really surprised.Two Vietnam buddies, Trent and Jim, trying to live normal lives, start to have bad dreams nine years after their time in the war. Their nightmares are always about the war and a third friend, Johnny, who they left behind in the hands of an American turncoat, McGregor. Eventually, the nightmares begin infesting themselves in the daylight hours when Trent and Jim start to fall asleep at any given moment, and that's when events in the dream start to cross over into reality, like when one of them gets cut in a dream, they get cut in reality. That is when the two friends realize they must somehow enter the nightmares willingly and either get Johnny out this time or die trying. At the same time, Trent's wife has contacted a psychologist (Haggerty), also a Vietnam vet, about her husband's odd activity. Concerned, he tries to intervene at the worst possible time. This movie has a lot going for it and for once an AIP movie is not at all hindered by its budget. Prior's early dream sequences are quite good. He makes good use of lighting to make them scary. He keeps early dreams dark and adds neat touches like red tints which makes soldiers wearing dime store rubber skull masks look convincing and freaky where in any other way they would have looked silly. There are also some rather impressive effects. The scene where Trent sees McGregor in the mirror and McGregor sticks a gun into the mirror is a radical and inexpensive special effect. The soldiers rising out of the dirt had a good effect, too. And the scene where Haggerty, having given Trent and Jim sedatives, is racing to Trent's home to try and save Trent's wife is exceptionally done. And of course it is all made better by a fine musical score by Tim James and Steve McClintock. I was all set to give this movie an 8 or 9, surpassing `Lock ‘N Load' as the best of Prior's movies, when the ending happened. I won't reveal what it consisted of, but I will say that it was a cop-out. Gone was the adrenalin in my blood for what would happen next. Gone was the hope that an explanation of how the events were happening would arrive. Gone was the atmosphere that had been looming so well over the whole movie. This is the only black mark on an otherwise great low budget film (well, other than spotting a crew member's hand tossing a gun onto the screen after a soldier was shot), but it is a serious one. The result for me is that it ties `Lock N' Load' as Priors best movie (out of the twelve I have seen). Zantara's score: 7 out of 10.

Viewers will find it easy to criticize this low-budget, no-name effort found only on the dusty backshelves of a few video stores. It suffers from the flat dialog, so-so acting, haphazard scripting, and awkward pacing so often found in these Grade-Z productions.And yet there's something about the merger of nightmare and reality in "Night Wars" which gives it an odd, almost haunting quality which softens the edges of all its many faults. Or, putting it another way, considering the vast resources spent on "Pearl Harbor" versus the scant resources spent on this movie, which one is really the more satisfying achievement? Aside from that blurring between waking and dreaming, the most distinctive feature here comes in the form of two torture scenes occurring in Vietnamese POW camps. In the first scene, Cameron Smith has a red-hot metal rod pressed against his bare chest while he's tied between two posts, and in the second, Brian O'Connor -- tied between two trees -- has strips of barb-wire tightened around his naked torso. Unlike many Hollywood movies in which the hero suffers stoically, these two men scream with open-mouthed agony. (You can even count the fillings in Cameron Smith's teeth.) And unlike many Hollywood heroes, these two men don't have perfectly-chiseled physiques. (O'Connor especially shows signs of middle-aged flab.) The result is unnerving because the torture seems to be inflicted on real men rather than movie actors. Top-billed Dan Haggerty has little to do in his part and Steve Horton overdoes the wild-eyed look as the sadistic villain, but Jill Foor invokes suitable sympathy as Brian O'Connor's bewildered wife. As for the two tormented ex-POWs, O'Connor is earnest and almost even appealing and Cameron Smith has the born-to-be-tortured look which is just right for this part.