Scientists poison the water supply of a small town, turning the residents into homicidal maniacs who kill each other and anybody who passes through. One day a helicopter lands somewhere near a small American town and a white-costumed man puts a strange fluid in the town's aqueduct. After a few hours, the first men who drank the poisoned water start to act like mindless beasts and the killings begin. Someone must find what is happening here, otherwise everyone will go crazy or get killed. B movie god Wings Hauser and the always amusing Bo Hopkins are the heroes in this follow-up, of sorts, to the 1984 infection-horror flick "Mutant" (a.k.a. "Night Shadows"). A creepy albino villain (the great screen heavy Brion James) is conducting an insidious experiment on a remote Southwestern town called Canyonlands, contaminating the water supply and turning the citizens into maniacs who attack others and spew green acid instead of blood. Wings is a big city entertainment lawyer who teams up with loner Bo, local sheriff George Kennedy, and Kennedy's hottie daughter / deputy Kimberly Ross to save the day.<br/><br/>Co-written and directed by celebrated cult filmmaker Nico Mastorakis, "Nightmare at Noon" is less of an outright horror film than its predecessor, concentrating mainly on action. And it delivers action in spades: gunfire, explosions, human torches, vehicle stunts, you name it. Overall, it's pretty derivative, but it's also pretty damn entertaining for this sort of low budget fare. It's filmed using gorgeous Utah scenery, has some enjoyably nasty violence, and its story moves along more than adequately. Future "name" composer Hans Zimmer contributes to the score, along with Stanley Myers, and it's good stuff. The final helicopter chase does go on for an absurdly long time, though.<br/><br/>Wings plays a guy who is rather insufferable at first, but he becomes more engaging as he moves into heroic mode. Bo is as watchable as he's ever been. Ever-likable Kennedy, the adorable Ross, "Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter" final girl Kimberly Beck gets to chew up some scenery as Wings' victimized wife, and Neal Wheeler is a hoot as local old codger Charley, one of the first on-screen victims of the infection who goes psycho in a diner. James, who never has to utter a word, is a true sight to behold, especially when the albino and his henchmen go on horseback towards the end of the story.<br/><br/>A fun movie with a strong Western influence, "Nightmare at Noon" shows B flick enthusiasts a fairly rousing time.<br/><br/>Seven out of 10. Watching "Nightmare at Noon" turned out to be yet another personal milestone in my career as a purchaser of cinematic nonsense This unmistakably is, hands down, the movie that makes the absolute LEAST efforts to explain all the random weirdness and palaver it brings forward throughout nearly its entire running time. Everything, even the utmost absurd story aspect, is so incredibly goalless and literally nothing appears to upset the tough and hardened lead characters. Even when the little town of Canyonland is overcome with terror, and all the usually peaceful locals turn into bloodthirsty zombies, Sheriff Hanks (George Kennedy) and accidental tourists Ken Griffiths (Wings Hauser) & Reilly (Bo Hopkins) remain stoically calm and extendedly take the time to think up theories that are – in spite of the odds – accurate to the smallest details! "Nightmare at Noon" is an unimaginably dumb film with a totally incoherent script but, as a matter of compensation for that, it features a large amount of gratuitous explosions and turbulent Western-styled shootouts in the desert! Creepy albino scientist Brion James, mute and all dressed in white to fit the color of his skin, arrives with a small army of soldiers at the borders of the desolate small town of Canyonland and initiates his diabolical experiment. The water becomes intoxicated, all entries in and out of town are shut off and the infected villagers gradually begin to exterminate each other. Why and/or how exactly is a complete mystery – at least to me it was – but the heroic crime fighters in charge spontaneously guess it must be the work of some evil psychopath experimenting up in the hills. Wow, with such guessing talents they should really enroll in the fortune telling business! The first hour of "Nightmare at Noon" guarantees good brainless and unscrupulous B-movie entertainment. The old-fashioned remote Western town setting is nostalgic and the testosterone-laden interactions between the male leads are splendid highlights, for sure. Wings Hauser, Bo Hopkins and George Kennedy were all at the top of their cheesy B-movie careers here and that truly results in a couple of marvelous dialogs. After that, however, writer/director Niko Mastorakis seemingly lost complete interest to finish what he started. The last half hour is a long and dull series of desert chases and there even is an utterly pointless showdown between two helicopters that goes on for more than five whole minutes. Admittedly the cinematography and shots of desolate landscapes are professionally handled, but the whole thing is just plain purposeless. With a slightly more elaborated script and intelligent dialogs, this surely could have been an undiscovered 80's sleeper hit, but now it's just another oddball cheese-flick with nicely polished action sequences that are in vain. The two beautiful and incredibly sexy Kimberly's in the cast (Beck and Ross) are underused and aren't even offered the chance to show off their impressive bosoms. Shame.
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321 weeks ago